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Is my culture influencing me?: Client experiences of mental illness and psychotherapy in a transitional Indian culture
The client therapy experience has been the focus of many bodies of literature in psychotherapy, even across cultures. While researchers have emphasized on the use of indigenous approaches in Indian psychotherapy, how much of this is applicable in the present scenario? The experience has become increasingly tricky to understand given the complexities arising from the influence of urbanization and westernization. Thus, the present study aimed to explore the experience of mental illness and psychotherapy in modern day India. Using the integrated, holistic idea of the person and their needs, the study conducted semi-structured interviews with ten cis-gender, urban Indian participants between 21 and 39years of age. Data analysis using thematic analysis uncovered the global theme of Transitional Culture Impacting the Therapeutic Experience. The major organizing themes and basic themes have been elaborated as well. In essence, the study concludes that the increased awareness and acceptance of psychotherapy in urban India, combined with the exposure to Western methodologies, may be related to an increase in the expectations for similar therapeutic services. Implications and recommendations have been discussed. The Author(s) 2023. -
Is Open ready for investment? A venture capitalists dilemma
Learning outcomes: Upon completion of the case study, student will be able to discuss valuation of new-age ventures and understand how it is different from the valuation of organisations with a longer history; analyse the considerations (quantitative and qualitative) while evaluating investments in new-age ventures; and develop a framework involving the various dimensions of investment readiness. Case overview/synopsis: The fintech space in India has seen an upsurge of activities since 2016. The growth of Paytm, RazorPay and many such ventures and the drastic improvements in this ecosystem have been significant catalysts for this segment of new-age tech companies. Funding and valuations have seen a sharp increase, especially when businesses worldwide felt the after-effects of the pandemic, with India being home to a large number of unicorns, second only to the USA. Open Financial Technologies Ltd (OPEN TECH) is one such venture that claimed its spot as the 100th unicorn of India within a span of five years since inception. With a strong focus on disrupting the banking sector in India, this neo-bank aspires to be the equivalent of Stripe in India and eventually be a strong competitor in the international market. Richard ONeil is an active investor in the fintech space, based out of the UK, and he is currently looking to expand the market by considering investment options. In the process, Richard and his team have identified India as a viable and competitive market, as new venture support and funding are increasingly emphasized through policies such as Startup India, Make in India and many such more to sustain and propel its benefits. As the team was exploring ventures worth investing, Open Financial Technologies caught their attention. However, Richard, given his experience across fields and being a seasoned private equity investor, realised that valuing new-age companies is as much an art as it is a science. Multiple quantitative and qualitative aspects need to be considered while relevance of traditional valuation techniques to put a value on such entrepreneurial ventures is questioned. At this juncture, he finds it crucial to evaluate the investment readiness of OPEN TECH. This case allows students to understand how valuation of new ventures is different from that of established companies and analyse the crucial factors worth considering while evaluating an investment proposal as a venture capitalist, which eventually helps shape the funding pitch of an entrepreneur in the space. Complexity academic level: This case study can be useful for students undertaking graduate- and executive-level courses on business valuation and strategy and entrepreneurship, as well as entrepreneurial finance elective at the undergraduate level. One could use this case in courses on entrepreneurship and innovation, such as an introductory course on entrepreneurial finance and a course on venture capital and private equity. It also allows discussion on fintech and neobanking and the valuation of privately held companies. Supplementary materials: Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code: CSS 1: Accounting and finance. 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Is robotics education and training gender dependent? A suggestive robotics syllabus for teacher training
Application of robotics is rapidly increasing in all fields of life. Though robotics education became popular in the 21st century, its teaching and training has not gained much importance across the world, especially in developing and low-income countries. There are various reasons for its neglect and one of them could be gender-science stereotypes. Research studies are yet to explore the reasons for its slow emergence. The present study explores the need and training for educational robotics considering the role of students, teachers, teacher-educators and parents, determining whether it is gender-dependent or not. The study also proposes to come up with a syllabus for robotics training. The study employs exploratory, sequential, qualitative-quantitative mixed-method research design and applies purposive sampling techniques. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews, including five science teacher-educators, five science teachers, and five trainee teachers majoring in sciences to understand the need, scope and benefits of robotics education. They recruited 100 high school students, 50 teacher-educators, and 100 parents to test whether their interest in robotics is gender-dependent through Chi-square analysis. The study revealed the need for robotics education under four themes and seven subthemes. It has been found that the interest of students and parents and the readiness of teacher-educators for robotics education is gender-dependent. The study came up with a suggestive syllabus for robotics training. It recommends that future researchers should focus on the implementation of robotics teaching for teacher and school education. 2021 Authors. -
Is the effect of oil price shock asymmetric on the Indian stock market? Firm-level evidence from energy-intensive companies
Purpose: This paper aims to examine the asymmetric impact of the oil price increase and decrease on stock returns at the firm level. Design/methodology/approach: To ascertain the impact oil price can exert on the stock price at the firm level, this study uses panel structural vector auto regression with various linear and nonlinear measures of oil price shock on a data set, containing 1,168 firms listed in Indian stock markets. This study also considers stock index returns, Fama-French factors and inflation as control variables. Findings: This paper finds evidence that at firm level, net oil price increase and decrease have an asymmetric impact on stock returns. Other oil price shock measures, namely, shock because of oil price increase and decrease, do not show any sign of asymmetric impact on stock returns. Originality/value: The comparison of firm-level return on its response towards oil price fluctuation can give valuable insights into a firms features. 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited. -
Is the Electronic Market the Way Forward to Overcome Market Failures in Agriculture?
This paper examines the performance of agricultural markets through analysing the primary data from 856 farm households in six states along with secondary data. It argues that adequate physical and storage infrastructure is crucial even for the functioning of the electronic market, and other related policy measures are needed to have a significant improvement in agricultural marketing. The results indicate that farmers obtained 3.75% higher prices in these markets vis-vis the prices received before selling to these markets. This is significant as the prices plummeted by 8.34% in the manual transactions. 2022 Economic and Political Weekly. All rights reserved. -
Is there a Broad-Basing process in the Indian economy?
Chapter 8 is by Malini L. Tantri and Shruthi Mohan Menon. They answer the title question, Is There a Broad-Basing Process in the Indian Economy?' with the help of three criteria: food security, poverty and unemployment. Though economic growth in terms of GDP has been significant in the last two decades, the achievements on the fronts of food security, poverty reduction and employment growth have not been equally impressive. The states which have high levels of poverty are showing a slower decline in poverty. The number of the poor is declining, though still high. Employment growth is taking place mainly in the non-farm sector, but it is in the farm sector where there is a crisis. Even within the non-farm sector, informal employment is increasing more than the formal. Thus a large portion of the workforce - in agriculture and also non-farm sector - does not have job security, paid sick leave, medical reimbursement and retirement benefits. Economic growth has not yet brought the marginalised into the mainstream of the advantaged. The authors recommend greater stress on employment generation, skill creation, a boost to education and health sectors ensuring benefits to the marginalised, and a massive push to the village economy. 2020 selection and editorial matter, M. V. Nadkarni. -
Is there spill-over effect among metals?
This paper was aimed at examining the existence of volatility spill-over between precious and industrial metals by estimating Multi-variate GARCH model. Metals chosen for this study were aluminium, copper, gold and silver. Data from 1st march 2004 to 31st March 2018 were used for the analysis. Significant clustering effect was found in the variance of all the metals studied. Significantly strong volatility spill-over was found between aluminium and copper when compared to other metals. It was also noted that the persistence of volatility spill-over between copper and aluminium is the least among other metals. Since there is significant spill-over between aluminium and copper, portfolio managers are advised to avoid investing in them together in their portfolios. 2019 SERSC. -
Islanding detection technique of distribution generation system
Islanding is a condition in which the micro grid is disconnected from the main grid which consists of loads and distribution generation. Islanding is required whenever there is a fault and whenever the maintenance is required. Under normal condition or stable condition, the system works under constant current control mode. After islanding the system switched to voltage controlled mode. There are different methods that can be used to detect islanding situation such as active and passive methods. In this paper DQ-PLL detection technique used for detecting islanding condition is carried out. This paper also explains in detail the advantages of DQ-PLL method for islanding detection The implementation is validated by using MATLAB/SIMULINK software. 2016 IEEE. -
Isolation and Characterization of Antidermatophytic Bioactive Molecules from Piper longum L. Leaves
Piper longum L. (Piperaceae) commonly known as "long pepper" is a well known medicinal plant in ayurveda. Different parts of this plant, such as root, seed, fruit, whole plant etc. are used traditionally in various ailments. Here we have investigated the antidermatophytic activity of sequentially extracted petroleum ether, chloroform, methanol and water extracts from P. longum leaf against Trichophytonmentagrophytes, T. rubrum, T. tonsurans, Microsporum fulvum and M. gypseum. Better activity of chloroform and methanol extracts was observed. The chloroform extract was selected for further study and the MIC value was recorded as 5.0 mg ml-1 against the test organisms. In the chloroform extract, tannins and phenolic compounds were detected. Further activity-guided fractionation of chloroform extract by silica gel column chromatography yielded nine major fractions. Among these, fraction-1, 4, 5 and 7 showed higher antidermatophytic activity. Fraction-4 on further purification by repeated column chromatography yielded a potential antidermatophytic fraction showing MIC value of 0.625 mg ml-1 against T. mentagrophytes and T. rubrum as determined by broth microdilution method. The major compounds were identified as 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester (C24H38O4] (41.45 %), 2,2-dimethoxybutane (C6H14O2] (13.6 %) and ?-myrcene (C10H16) (6.75 %) based on GC-MS data. 2012 Association of Microbiologists of India. -
Isolation and characterization of plant growth promoting bacteria (PGPB) from the rhizosphere of Spinacea oleracea L.
As the years pass by, there is an increase in abiotic stress conditions around the environment that directly or indirectly affect agriculture around the world. Therefore, there is a dire need to increase the sustainability of plants. Plant Growth Promoting Bacteria (PGPB) play an important role in maintaining the physiology and growth of plants under various stress conditions. This study looks into the isolation and characterization of different PGPB from Spinacia oleracea L. and their tolerance against salinity and commonly used commercial pesticides against the Spinacia family. The techniques used are isolation by serial dilution, 16sRna sequencing, characterization of different PGPB assays for confirmation such as ammonia production, catalase test, phosphate solubilisation, potassium solubilization, siderophore production, indole-3-acetic acid production, biofilm formation assay, halotolerance and tolerance study using Minimal Inhibitory Concentration (MIC). PGPB were isolated and characterized from Spinacia oleracea L., which was under an abiotic stress environment. Isolates were Bacillus clarus, Bacillus licheniformis, Paenibacillus alvei SJ6 and Paenibacillus alvei SJ8, having quantities as high as 78.10.004 mgL-1 phosphate solubilization, 43.8 mgL?1 of indole-3-acetic acid production, 14.5660.011 psu of siderophore production and 0.62 0.027 mol mL?1 of ammonia production. All isolates also had considerable amounts of halotolerance up to 10%, whereas Bacillus licheniformis had 12.5% halotolerance. The bacterial isolates had considerable tolerance against commonly used commercial pesticides against green leafy vegetables such as chlorpyriphos + cypermethrin combination and fungicides such as mancozeb. Therefore, this study looks into the isolation of potential plant growth promoting bacteria that have considerable amount of halotolerance and pesticide tolerance. 2025 World Researchers Associations. All rights reserved. -
Isolation and characterization of polyhydroxyalkanoate producing halotolerant Bacillus subtilis SG1 using marine water samples collected from Calicut coast, Kerala
Halotolerant bacterial strain isolated from the Calicut coast, Kerala, India, was screened for its potential ability to synthesize polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) using Sudan black B and Nile blue staining. The quantitative analysis for PHA production was done in modified M9 media and a PHA yield of about 1.52 g/L was observed with the most potential isolate SG1. Further, the biochemical and molecular characterization of the PHA-producing halotolerant bacteria was done using standard biochemical tests and 16 s ribosomal RNA sequencing respectively and the isolate was identified to be Bacillus subtilis SG1. Further, the PHA recovery was done using solvent extraction method employing acetone and diethyl ether followed by precipitation using chloroform with a maximum PHA yield of 1.52 g/L. Further, the material properties of the extracted polymer were studied using Fourier transform infrared, X-ray diffraction, nuclear magnetic resonance, thermo gravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetry analysis. Further investigations are necessary to optimize PHA production and to carry out its application study in various fields. 2024 Sneha Grigary, et al. -
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Isolation of Fungal Endophytes From Hulimavu Lake Flora and Characterization and Optimization of Fungal Enzymes
The present work was aimed at isolating fungal endophytes from Hulimavu Lake, newlineextracting their secondary metabolites and fungal enzymes to subsequently probe the newlinebiological properties of these fungal endophytic bioactive compounds and enzymes. newlineHulimavu Lake, known for its notoriously high levels of pollution contributed by newlineanthropogenic factors, was chosen for this study with the literature-evidence backed newlinehypothesis that plant habitat stress also positively favors the type and quanta of bioactive compounds with novel features produced by its endophytes. Literature survey was performed to identify the probable types of plants found in this lake that could be used for the study and these were subsequently collected, identified and processed under laboratory conditions. These plants were authenticated by a certified botanist and were identified as Alternanthera philoxeroides, Ricinus communis and Persicaria glabra. Fungal endophytes were then isolated from different plant parts collected and were screened using preliminary LCB staining followed by DNA sequencing analysis. Based on ITS region sequencing, nucleotide homology and phylogenetic tree mapping, these fungal endophytic cultures were identified as Aspergillus niger, Talaromyces amestolkiae, Cladosporium phaseolorum and Diaporthe phaseolorum. Crude extracts obtained from these fungal endophytes displayed bacterial growth inhibition and significant free radical scavenging/ reduction potential that was comparable to standard ascorbic acid, hence depicting antioxidant activity of these extracts. Owing to their biological properties these crude extracts were further tested for cytotoxic properties on newlinedifferent models like that of Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Baker s yeast), Artemia salina newline(Brine shrimp) and MCF-7 cell line. The presence of fungal endophytic enzymes like newlineprotease, amylase, laccase and lipase was detected qualitatively and estimated newlinequantitatively. -
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Isolation of Plant Growth-Promoting Bacillus cereus from Soil and Its Use as a Microbial Inoculant
Modernization has introduced intensive agricultural practices wherein the pesticides play an important role both in stabilization and in increase of agricultural products. As a consequence, humans and members of other ecosystems are exposed to increased levels of compounds that have detrimental effects on their health, thereby signifying the importance of microbial inoculants. In order to achieve this goal 7 different bacterial species were initially screened for isolation of plant growth-promoting Bacillus sp. The isolate CUAMS116 was confirmed to be Bacillus cereus through biochemical and molecular characterization. The in vitro plant growth-promoting ability of the isolate was screened through standard tests. Different concentrations of bacterial inoculant (25%, 50%, 75%, 100%) were evaluated for its plant growth promotion ability using Phaseolus vulgaris L., under pot culture conditions. At the harvest stage, the mature control plants measured 16.53cm and mean treated plant height was measured to be 27.75cm, showing a maximum percentage increase in length of 67.87%. The results suggested that the B. cereus CUAMS116 isolated in this study can be extended as a PGPM through further field trials in other plants for improving crop yield and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. 2020, King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals. -
Isolation, Characterization and Evaluation of Potential Plant Growth-Promoting Bacteria From The Rhizosphere of Coffea arabica L. From Kodagu District, Karnataka
Agriculture is fundamental to food security and economic stability. The utilisation of newlineplant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) an eco-friendly alternative to chemical newlinefertilisers is particularly promising as these microorganisms enhance nutrient newlineavailability, stimulate plant growth, and improve resistance to biotic and abiotic newlinestresses. This study aimed to isolate and characterise PGPR from the rhizosphere of newlineCoffea arabica L. in the Kodagu District of Karnataka, focusing on their potential as newlinebiofertilizers. Soil samples collected from ten different locations within Kamath Coffee newlineEstate led to the isolation of fourteen distinct bacterial colonies, labelled NJ01 to NJ14. These isolates were evaluated for various plant growth-promoting (PGP) traits like indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) siderophore and ammonia production, nitrogen fixation, newlinephosphate, and zinc solubilization and hydrogen cyanide (HCN) production. Further newlinestudies were carried out using 3 isolates with significant PGP traits. Enzyme activity newlineassays indicated that NJ01, NJ04, and NJ14 had positive results for protease, cellulase, newlineamylase, and catalase activity. These strains also displayed varying degrees of newlinehalotolerance, with NJ01, NJ04 and NJ14 tolerating up to 8%, 10% and 11% NaCl, newlinerespectively. Heavy metal tolerance tests revealed that NJ01 tolerated Pb up to 250 newlineg/mL, NJ04 tolerated Pb up to 1500 g/mL and Cd up to 50 g/mL, and NJ14 tolerated Pb up to 1000 g/mL and Hg up to 100 g/mL. Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) production was confirmed in all isolates, with NJ01 yielding the highest amount (6.4 g/L). The isolates exhibited significant antifungal and the 16S rRNA sequencing identified NJ01 as Bacillus albus (OP784795), NJ04 as Bacillus licheniformis (OM780221), and NJ14 as Bacillus subtilis (OM780222). A consortium was prepared after confirming the plant growth promoting abilities of these PGPR strains by carrying out an initial plant growth studies. The optimisation of media parameters was by using a two-factor interaction model. -
Isolation, Identification and Characterization of A Potential Probiotic Bacteria and its Application in Aquaculture
In the current study, Bacillus subtilis PKB1 was isolated from dried anchovies and identified using morphological and biochemical analysis followed by 16S rRNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. The antibacterial and anti- haemolytic properties of the bacteria were also examined. Probiotic qualities were assessed by measuring the isolated strain's tolerance to artificial gastric juice. To assess the isolated strain's capacity for stress tolerance, additional exposure to varied pH, temperature, and organic solvent concentrations was given. Bacillus subtilis in MRS medium produced exopolysaccharide (EPS) which was purified and a maximum yield of 1928mg/L was achieved. The novel exopolysaccharide was purified and characterized to be a heteropolysaccharide. The polysaccharide present had a molecular weight of about 20 kDa overall. FTIR spectroscopy revealed the presence of carboxyl, hydroxyl, and methylene groups in the EPS. The extremely cross-linked structure of the EPS with lumps that resembled spikes was revealed by atomic force microscopy. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) revealed that it possessed rough, asymmetrical lumps. Emulsification activity was also observed in the EPS. The current study's findings suggested that this EPS might make a good candidate for further applications. Utilizing probiotics derived from unconventional sources may improve the variety of probiotics accessible for use in aquaculture procedures. Probiotics are used in the field of aquaculture in order to improve immunity and to protect against pathogenic microbes. Species such as Aeromonas hydrophila and Vibrio parahaemolyticus are responsible for increasing mortality, decreasing production efficiency and forcing antibiotic overuse. In this study, the role of the isolated probiotic in promoting growth performance in Nile tilapia was examined using growth and challenge studies. The experiment was conducted for a duration of 30 days. Weight gain, histology and mortality rates were studied in the presence and absence of pathogenic microbes. Bacillus subtillis PKB1 supplementation for Nile tilapia helped to maintain the integrity of gill filaments and improved survivability and weight gain when used at a concentration of 1x104 CFU/ml. The study showed that the isolate improved the survival rate of Nile Tilapia against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Aeromonas hydrophila. -
Isolation, Screening and Characterisation of Endophytes from Madiwala Lake for Biosurfactant, Bioremediation and Plant-Growth Promotion Properties
The significant surge in population, combined with the degradation of the environment, has imposed substantial stress on worldwide food newlinesecurity. The concerning pace of population growth, along with escalating environmental harm due to heightened industrialization, newlinehas indeed exerted considerable pressure on the global food provision. Considering the existing situation, the sustainable approach to enhance agricultural yield and facilitate environmental bioremediation entails utilizing endophytes that reside within plants. Endophytic microorganisms possessing the capacity to promote plant growth and exert biocontrol can significantly boost plant development amidst fluctuating environmental factors, both biotic and abiotic in nature. The current research aimed to extract bacterial and fungal endophytes from Alternanthera philoxeroides and newlineAlternanthera paranichoides and evaluate their potential for enhancing plant growth and controlling pests. Among the isolated newlineendophytic bacteria, Klebsiella pneumoniae exhibited various characteristics conducive to plant growth, leading to enhanced newlinegermination and vegetative growth in Vigna unguiculata plants. The isolate exhibited good Indoleacetic acid (IAA) production newline(48.752.95 g/mL) and potassium solubilization (2.130.07 ppm). The IAA production by K. pneumoniae was further enhanced by 4- fold using the RSM optimization to 195.662.51 g/mL. The newlineendophytic bacteria Bacillus amyloliquefaciens and Bacillus subtilis newlineshowed good extracellular enzyme production and antimicrobial activity along with plant growth promotion. The endophytic bacterium B. amyloliquefaciens showed good newlinebiosurfactant production and bioremediation efficiency. The strain displayed notable resistance to Cr and Pb concentrations upto 2000 mg/L. It was found to possess maximum metal removal efficiency for Pb, 92.3% at pH 9 and 86.2 at 25 oC. -
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. -
Isothermal autocatalysis of homogeneousheterogeneous chemical reaction in the nanofluid flowing in a diverging channel in the presence of bioconvection
The nonlinear differential equations play a prominent role in the mathematical description of many phenomena that occur in our world. A similar set of equations appear in this paper that govern the homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reactions in the nanofluid flowing between two non-parallel walls. Since the concentration of the homogeneous species is substantially high, quartic autocatalysis is considered for the analysis. It is found to be more effective than the cubic autocatalysis. Further, to avoid the deposition of nanoparticles on the surface, self-propelled microorganisms called gyrotactic microorganisms are allowed to swim in the nanofluid. This movement of microorganisms constitutes a major phenomenon called bioconvection. The set of governing equations thus formed are made dimensionless and the resulting system of equations are solved by Differential Transformation Method (DTM) with the help of Padapproximant that reduces the power series into rational function. This transformation helps in achieving a better convergence rate. The fluid flow analysis is interpreted through graphs and tables where it is observed that the heat source enhances the temperature of the nanofluid. Further, the homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical reaction parameters have significant impacts on the concentration of the reactants. Also, the outcomes indicated that the reaction profiles and motile density profiles increase with the increase in Schmidt number. 2021 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.