131 research outputs found
HERBAL MONOTHERAPY OF SIDHASARASAMHITA
No full textSidhasarasamhita is one of the important texts of Indian traditional medical literature. The exact period of the work is unknown, but according to the available evidence the work may be placed in the 8th century AD. Ravigupta’s distinctive contribution to Ayurvedic literature seems to have been the arrangement of the traditional knowledge into 31 chapters, each dealing with a different subject. The author of sidhasarasamhita included many single and simple recipes useful in particular disease conditions. In total 151 single drug recipes are included in Sidhasarasamhita. After a thorough analysis of the Charakasamhita, Susruthasamhita and works of Vaghbata 16 recipes were noted, which may be considered as the contributions of Ravigupta to the Ayurvedic materia medica. It appears that medieval ayurvedic compendia have religiously followed Sidhasarasamhita in formulating various therapeutic recipes.</jats:p
Research project work plan for trends and challenges posed by medium-duty trucks to the operation and safety of Oregon highways
No full textsubmitted by Salvador Hernandez, (Associate Professor (PI)), Oregon State University and Avinash Unnikrishnan, (Associate Professor (Co-PI)), Miguel Figliozzi, (Professor (Co-PI)), Portland State University for Oregon Department of Transportation, Research Unit.Title from PDF title page (viewed on October 28, 2020)."SPR-846."This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English.Covers OCLC #120214963
The Welfare Effects of Social Assistance Programs for Women in India
No full textLiterature has established that the alarming female poverty rate is a crucial factor contributing to missing older women in India. Given this, the following research examines the role of an unconditional cash transfer programme (Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme) implemented in India on the household budget share incurred on cereals, pulses, vegetables; fruits and nuts, meat; eggs and fish, milk and milk products when the program recipient is an elderly woman. The paper uses the longitudinal household-level data (2004-05 and 2011-12) released by the India Human Development Survey and utilises a quasi-experimental framework of propensity score matching combined with fixed effects to estimate the effects of the pension on the disaggregated food budget share incurred by the pension recipient households. The findings in this paper suggest that women’s access to pension has a positive effect on budget share allocated on vegetables, fruits and nuts and meat, fish and eggs. The positive effects persist for continuous program recipients. Further, to address any concerns on endogeneity, an instrumental variable strategy has been used. This paper provides evidence that female pension recipient households in India do move towards nutrient-rich food items. <br/
Impact of truck platooning on loading of bridges in Oregon
No full textsubmitted by Michael Scott, Professor (PI), Oregon State University and Thomas Schumacher, Associate Professor (Co-PI), Avinash Unnikrishnan, Associate Professor (Co-PI), Portland State University for Oregon Department of Transportation, Research Unit.Title from PDF title page (viewed on October 28, 2020)."SPR-848."This archived document is maintained by the State Library of Oregon as part of the Oregon Documents Depository Program. It is for informational purposes and may not be suitable for legal purposes.Mode of access: Internet from the Oregon Government Publications Collection.Text in English.Covers OCLC #120215050
Capulopsyche keralensis Unnikrishnan & Sobczyk & Jose & Jose 2023, sp. nov.
No full text<i>Capulopsyche keralensis</i> sp. nov. <p>(Figs. 1–10)</p> <p> <b>Type material.</b> <b>Holotype,</b> ♂ India, Kerala, Idukki, Nariyampara, 9.7424° N, 77.0939° E, 28.xi.2022, with larval case, leg. Usha A U (Fig. 1). Holotype will be deposited at the Zoological Survey of India Museum, Calicut, Kerala after submission of thesis of the first author and is at present at St. Thomas College, Thrissur.</p> <p> <b>Paratypes:</b> 2 ♀, (both with larval case) same data as holotype, 16.xii.2021, leg. Usha, A. U. (Fig. 2 a–b); 2♂ (both with larval case) same data as holotype, 30.xi.2022, leg. Usha, A. U.; additional 24 larval cases with pupal exuviae, same data as paratypes, leg. Usha, A. U.; 4 larval cases with pupal exuviae, Nelliyampathy, Palakkad, Kerala, 10.5013° N, 76.6768° E, 15.ii.2022, leg. Usha, A. U. (Figs. 2 a–b).</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis.</b> See the diagnosis for the genus.</p> <p> <b>Etymology.</b> The specific epithet <i>keralensis</i> is derived from the state of Kerala in India. The binomial <i>Capulopsyche keralensis</i> means ‘coffee psychid of Kerala’.</p> <p> <b>Description. Male</b>. Small-sized brownish black moth, wingspan 8–8.4 mm, body length 2.9 mm, forewing length 3.7mm including fringes, width 1.4 mm.</p> <p> <i>Head</i>. Vestiture yellowish brown, the base of the antennae thickly covered with dark yellowish-brown scales with bidentate apices. Antennae total length 1.7 mm, flagellomeres with 24 segments (Fig. 3). EI 1.13 mm.</p> <p> <i>Thorax</i>. Reddish brown, barely covered with scales on the dorsal side. Forewings covered with dark brown scales mixed with yellowish scales (Fig. 4). Scales broad (class 5–6), with 5-8 tips. The darker scales are mainly in the area of the front and outer margin and are partly arranged in irregular transverse bands. Fringes dark, wide, multi-pointed Hindwings dark greyish brown (Fig. 4), slightly lighter at the base. Width 1.4 mm, WI 2.6 mm. Wing venation as described for genus (Figs 5 a–b).</p> <p> <i>Abdomen</i>. Small, covered with blackish scales, length 1.6 mm.</p> <p> <i>Leg</i>. As described for the genus (Figs 6 a–c).</p> <p> <i>Genitalia</i>. Length 0.46 mm. Valva broad, curved inwardly, surmounting the posterior border of the tegumen, rounded distally, with numerous setae. Sacculus attached basally, ending in a strong curved spine. Phallus short, tubular, length 0.23 mm. (Fig. 7).</p> <p> <i>Female.</i> Length 2.5–3 mm. Body pale yellowish, around the abdomen loosely covered with very narrow, distally rounded brownish black scales. Eyes are very small, EI 2.3 mm. Legs short, reduced. Femur and tibia present, tarsi reduced to 2-3 segments, with two prominent claws, pale yellowish brown. Antenna short, filiform, 0.5 mm long, with 6-9 different scaled segments. The two basal segments are wider than the others. The distal end of the abdomen with long ovipositor, surrounded by an anal hair-tuft consisting of long golden-brown hairlike scales.</p> <p> <i>Larva</i>. (Fig. 8a and b) Body whitish cream, head distinctly sclerotized, first and second thoracic segment dark brown, strongly sclerotized dorsally, third thoracic segment more strongly sclerotized at the posterior margin. The abdominal segments were without sclerotized fields, the anal shield only slightly more sclerotized. Fully grown larva 4 mm in length.</p> <p> <i>Male and female pupal exuvia</i>. (Figs. 9 a–b) Dark golden-brown, male exuvia 3.0– 3.5mm in length and 1 mm in width, female exuvia 3.8–4.0 mm in length and 1.5 mm in width.</p> <p>A single row of spines dorsally on abdominal segments IV-VIII. The spines are directed backwards. Each row is comb-like and with numerous tiny hair-like spines. These spines probably serve to fix the pupa, and later to move it towards the exit and to hold it in place during emergence. In female pupae, the spines are shorter and reduced.</p> <p> <i>Larval case</i>. (Figs. 10 a–b) The larval case of this species is an elongated tube-like, wrapped with a sheath made up of bark tissues from the trees. An adult male case has a length of 12–13 mm, and the width of the outer sheath is 5–6 mm. Female case has a 15–16 mm length and 6–7 mm width, and the attached thread of each case is 7–9 mm long. Double-walled larval cases reported from Psychidae are the triangular larval cases of <i>Diplodoma</i> Zeller, 1852 which also hung up on threads. But in <i>Diplodoma</i>, the inner case has a distinctive triangular shape and is not visible from the outside. The outer case also has a triangular basic shape in cross-section.</p> <p> <b>Distribution.</b> Larval and pupal cases were collected from the coffee plantations of two localities from Kerala state, Nariyampara and Nelliyampathy of Idukki and Palakkad districts (Fig. 11) respectively. Pupal cases were seen hung on the twigs and und <i>er</i> side of leaves of the <i>Coffea arabica</i> plant (Fig. 12).Altitude at the sites of the collection was 960 m and 887 mASL. Both collection sites were situated inside private coffee plantations. The soil type of the region is described as ‘Clayey mixed ustic pale humults and rock land(very deep,well-drained,clayey soil on moderately steeply sloping high hills with thin vegetation, with moderate erosion, associated with rock outcrops and deep well-drained gravelly loam soils on gentle slopes) in Soil Maps of India (1996). In Nelliyampathy the summer temperature ranges from 20°C to 33°C and in winter15°C to28°C. In Nariyampara the average temperature is20°C.Summer temperatures range from 19°C to 29°C and winter temperatures are in the range of 15°C to 24°C. Average rainfall according to Centre for Earth Studies Resource Atlas of Kerala (1984) for South West Monsoon is 150 cm at Nariyampara and 250 cm at Nelliyampathy. For both sites, Northeast Monsoon was 40 cm and ‘Other rains’ was reported as 30–50 cm.</p> <p> <b>Biology.</b> The larvae of this species were found scraping on the bark of trees, they seem to feed on the bark tissues and depositions (algae) on the bark. The pupal cases are attached by a thread to the branches and underside of the leaves of plants (Fig. 12).</p> <p>The life span of an emerged male adult was up to 4 to 5 days. There are many eggs wrapped with silken cases were seen inside the female cases, and female adults lay eggs using their ovipositor inside the case after mating. Each yellow-coloured egg was found wrapped inside loosely spun silken cocoons. Eggs clustered together to form a group egg mass (Fig. 13) inside the sheath of the case. The larval case is made of silk and covered with bark tissues, and other substances present in the bark.</p> <p> <b>DNA barcode and phylogenetic analysis.</b> COI sequencing of the species collected from the two locations Nariyampara and Nelliyampathy was done and the sequences have 641 and 654 base pairs respectively. The sequences were uploaded in the NCBI GenBank with the accession numbers OP960232 and OP957497.</p> <p> The evolutionary relationship is depicted in the tree with the highest log likelihood (-3908,46) (Fig. 14). Based on the tree constructed using these two COI genes and other available species from GenBank and BOLD SYSTEMS, a hypothetical taxonomic unit representing a Taleporiinae ancestor splits into two branches with three genera <i>Bankesia</i>, <i>Pseudobankesia</i>, and <i>Taleporia</i> forming one group and <i>Sciopetris melitensis</i> forming the second group with <i>Capulopsyche keralensis</i> <b>gen. et sp. nov.</b>. The distance between <i>S. melitensis</i> and <i>Capulopsyche keralensis</i> <b>gen. et sp. nov.</b> indicates that they are two distinct species. In addition <i>S. melitensis</i> is a Mediterranean palaearctic species.</p>Published as part of <i>Unnikrishnan, Usha Ayyath, Sobczyk, Thomas, Jose, Roby Thekkudan & Jose, Joyce, 2023, Capulopsyche keralensis gen. et sp. nov., a new genus and species of the subfamily Taleporiinae (Lepidoptera: Psychidae) from Kerala, India, pp. 270-284 in Zootaxa 5258 (3)</i> on pages 272-282, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5258.3.2, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/7780180">http://zenodo.org/record/7780180</a>
Political meddling in social assistance programme: Panel data evidence from India
No full textThis paper examines the role of the horizontal and vertical network in aiding eligible individuals to receive Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme. A vertical network refers to a household's political connection, and a horizontal network denotes the interconnectedness with others in the society. We have used data from all India representative individual level (2004–2005 and 2011–2012) panel data released by the India Human Development Survey. Our estimated results from the individual level fixed effects model suggest that programme eligible individuals with vertical networks have a higher probability of receiving the programme. Sub-sample heterogeneities are detailed in the paper
The Welfare Effects of Social Assistance Programs for Women in India
No full textLiterature has established that the alarming female poverty rate is a crucial factor contributing to missing older women in India. Given this, the following research examines the role of an unconditional cash transfer programme (Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme) implemented in India on the household budget share incurred on cereals, pulses, vegetables; fruits and nuts, meat; eggs and fish, milk and milk products when the program recipient is an elderly woman. The paper uses the longitudinal household-level data (2004–05 and 2011–12) released by the India Human Development Survey and utilises a quasi-experimental framework of propensity score matching combined with fixed effects to estimate the effects of the pension on the disaggregated food budget share incurred by the pension recipient households. The findings in this paper suggest that women’s access to pension has a positive effect on budget share allocated on vegetables, fruits and nuts and meat, fish and eggs. The positive effects persist for continuous program recipients. Further, to address any concerns on endogeneity, an instrumental variable strategy has been used. This paper provides evidence that female pension recipient households in India do move towards nutrient-rich food items.</p
Municipal electoral competition and the economic condition of households:: evidence from the slums of Kolkata
No full textThe effect of political competition on growth and other economic outcomes has largely been examined in the context of developed countries. Most available literature examines the effect of political and economic variables at the regional and national levels, which conceal several heterogeneities. We address these limitations by taking the case of a developing country – India – and examining the effect of competition and fragmentation on economic outcomes such as employment, income, expenditure and inequality at the urban local body level (the lowest tier of urban governance). For this purpose, we collected primary data in slums in the major metropolitan region of Kolkata in 2012 and 2022. Our empirical findings suggest that political clout, political competition and political connection influence the choice of occupation in slum households. The positive effect of the political clout variable on some employment categories (government sector) and not others (small businesses) highlights the close link between economic mobility and political connection, which can perpetuate socioeconomic inequality. We also observe similar effects on per capita income and consumption. Further, competition reduces inequality. The results suggest the need for India to consider planned development rather than development through political incentives. The current pattern of development through political incentives fails to develop skills and entraps slum dwellers in poverty.<br/
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