112 research outputs found
Microcredit as a poverty alleviation strategy, women's empowerment and gender relations
No full textThis dissertation is about how women are empowered when they gain access to small loans (microcredit) and how that alters or reinforces existing gender relations. My study shows that “the poor” is not a monolithic entity but is an aggregation of differentiated categories with the most vulnerable segments of society occupying the lowest rung of society. The state-civil society synergy that is so characteristic of the state of Kerala does not percolate down to the poorest and most vulnerable segments of society and the tribes for a variety of reasons. If these segments of the population have to benefit, the structure of microcredit has to be redesigned to make it more appropriate and responsive to their special needs. Microcredit provides the entry point but it is the networking that empowers impoverished women who lack material resources. Networking itself is an umbrella term that entails different kinds of networking. My conclusion is that the women-centric microcredit program sponsored by the state marks a departure from the earlier paradigms of developments in which women were not placed at the center of developmental activities. The new paradigm is the state’s attempt at negotiating privatized strategies of development in the larger context of liberalization espoused by the Indian state. My study reveals that microcredit does help women tide over the emergency needs of the family without relying on others. But it is not a substitute for long term structural problems of poverty. The social solidarity generated by different kinds of networking helps women’s empowerment by way of expanding their consciousness through new knowledge including legal literacy and through exposure to other people with other ideals and ethics. I also find that the social capital generated by the networking of over 3.7 million women through self help groups has not transformed into organized demand cutting across party politics for radical changes like redistribution of resources especially arable land. Microcredit has functioned to depoliticize what could have been a progressive politics for gender equity.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Kumar Bhargavi Valsala Kumar
Desarrollo de una tecnología portátil para la detección precoz de úlceras por presión en residencias de ancianos
Get PDFAs the body deteriorates and develops various ailments, aging inevitably impacts health. When dealing with these issues, healthcare is crucial to healing. Hospital patients' physical and emotional health is worsened by age-related pressure ulcers (PU). This study suggested developing a wearable device for nursing homes to use in the early diagnosis of PU. We also use data augmentation methods to increase our dataset's size and improve our model's robustness. The suggested system uses a wearable gadget to continuously track the patient's location and wireless communication with a tablet to notify the nurse when a patient turn is approaching, following the hospital's policy. The hospital's cloud technology allows for centralized monitoring by recording and updating the turning operation and the patient's position, which is continuously tracked. In a controlled environment, the system could track the patient's posture continually and precisely identify typical patient poses. A Water Wave Optimization with Convolutional Neural Network (WWO-CNN) method is described to prevent PU better. Our method achieves an overall accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score, which is encouraging. Our practice offers a more effective and precise solution for the detection and classification of PU when compared to existing research that essentially uses WWO-CNN-based algorithms. Our method can potentially enhance early diagnosis and treatment of PU, leading to better patient outcomes and lower medical costs.A medida que el cuerpo se deteriora y desarrolla diversas dolencias, el envejecimiento repercute inevitablemente en la salud. A la hora de tratar estos problemas, la atención sanitaria es crucial para la curación. La salud física y emocional de los pacientes hospitalizados empeora con las úlceras por presión (UPP) relacionadas con la edad. Este estudio propone desarrollar un dispositivo wearable para que las residencias de ancianos lo utilicen en el diagnóstico precoz de las UP. También utilizamos métodos de aumento de datos para aumentar el tamaño de nuestro conjunto de datos y mejorar la solidez de nuestro modelo. El sistema sugerido utiliza un gadget wearable para rastrear continuamente la ubicación del paciente y la comunicación inalámbrica con una tableta para notificar a la enfermera cuando se acerca el turno del paciente, siguiendo la política del hospital. La tecnología en la nube del hospital permite una supervisión centralizada al registrar y actualizar la operación de giro y la posición del paciente, que se rastrea continuamente. En un entorno controlado, el sistema podría realizar un seguimiento continuo de la postura del paciente e identificar con precisión las poses típicas del paciente. Se describe un método de optimización de ondas de agua con red neuronal convolucional (WWO-CNN) para prevenir mejor las UP. Nuestro método logra una exactitud, precisión, recuperación y puntuación F1 generales alentadoras. Nuestra práctica ofrece una solución más eficaz y precisa para la detección y clasificación de las UP en comparación con las investigaciones existentes que utilizan esencialmente algoritmos basados en WWO-CNN. Nuestro método puede mejorar potencialmente el diagnóstico precoz y el tratamiento de las UPP, lo que se traduce en mejores resultados para los pacientes y menores costes médicos
Arsenate resistant penicillium coffeae: A potential fungus for soil bioremediation
Get PDFBioremediation is an effective method for the treatment of major metal contaminated sites. Fungi were isolated from soil samples collected from different arsenate contaminated areas across India. An isolate, Penicillium coffeae, exhibited resistance to arsenate up to 500 mM. Results indicated that pretreatment of biomass with alkali (NaOH) enhanced the percentage of adsorption to 66.8 as compared to that of live and untreated dead biomass whose adsorption was 22.9 and 60.2 respectively. The physiological parameters evaluated in this study may help pilot studies aimed at bioremediation of arsenate contaminated effluents using arsenate resistant fungus P. coffeae. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
Dimensional Analysis of Form Drilling Parameters by Buckingham Pi Theorem and Optimization of Heat Generation in Form Drilling Process by Taguchi
No full textThe Marxist analysis of Manjula Padmanabhan’s “Lights Out”
Get PDFThe societal rules have been largely shaped by the male-dominated legislators and forces where there is a limited right to exist for a woman. The woman though married or unmarried or a prostitute the way the society looks at her is not changing though we are globalized. Indian women, in some ways, have also made some strides. Millions of women have joined the workforce. Leaders like the Prathibha Singh Patel, Sushma Swaraj, Anandiben are role models who show that women can rise to great heights. But one of the greatest tragedies in our country is that women are on their own when it comes to their safety. According to many studies, it’s understood that most of the rape cases of rape are never reported because of the stigma surrounding gang rape. Considering this wide scenario, this article touches on Indian women’s vulnerability with a Marxist approach. I have applied the Marxist approach to analyse literary text, Lights Out by Manjula Padmanabhan in Indian English Theatre. In her work, the author proposes the urgent need to address women’s subordinated position as they are subjected to different forms of discrimination. In this article, I have focused on difference issues such as gender discrimination, injustice, and fear of the law, police and judicial apathy. I conclude by suggesting recommendations for the improvement of women’s situation in India
Mitochondrial and Y-chromosome diversity of the Tharus (Nepal): a reservoir of genetic variation
Get PDFBackground
Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent represent an area considered as a source and a reservoir for human genetic diversity, with many markers taking root here, most of which are the ancestral state of eastern and western haplogroups, while others are local. Between these two regions, Terai (Nepal) is a pivotal passageway allowing, in different times, multiple population interactions, although because of its highly malarial environment, it was scarcely inhabited until a few decades ago, when malaria was eradicated. One of the oldest and the largest indigenous people of Terai is represented by the malaria resistant Tharus, whose gene pool could still retain traces of ancient complex interactions. Until now, however, investigations on their genetic structure have been scarce mainly identifying East Asian signatures.
Results
High-resolution analyses of mitochondrial-DNA (including 34 complete sequences) and Y-chromosome (67 SNPs and 12 STRs) variations carried out in 173 Tharus (two groups from Central and one from Eastern Terai), and 104 Indians (Hindus from Terai and New Delhi and tribals from Andhra Pradesh) allowed the identification of three principal components: East Asian, West Eurasian and Indian, the last including both local and inter-regional sub-components, at least for the Y chromosome.
Conclusion
Although remarkable quantitative and qualitative differences appear among the various population groups and also between sexes within the same group, many mitochondrial-DNA and Y-chromosome lineages are shared or derived from ancient Indian haplogroups, thus revealing a deep shared ancestry between Tharus and Indians. Interestingly, the local Y-chromosome Indian component observed in the Andhra-Pradesh tribals is present in all Tharu groups, whereas the inter-regional component strongly prevails in the two Hindu samples and other Nepalese populations.
The complete sequencing of mtDNAs from unresolved haplogroups also provided informative markers that greatly improved the mtDNA phylogeny and allowed the identification of ancient relationships between Tharus and Malaysia, the Andaman Islands and Japan as well as between India and North and East Africa. Overall, this study gives a paradigmatic example of the importance of genetic isolates in revealing variants not easily detectable in the general population
EFFECT OF WIND DIRECTION VARIABILITY ON THE DYNAMIC RESPONSE OF FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND TURBINES IN THE GULF OF MAINE
Get PDFIn today\u27s world, meeting the growing energy demand is crucial to sustaining the modern way of life. This has primarily been achieved through non-renewable sources, which are depleting and causing environmental harm. To tackle these challenges, a shift towards renewable energy sources is essential. The offshore wind sector, in particular, is rapidly expanding, exploring suitable sites for offshore wind farms and Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT). This study looks at the viability of the Gulf of Maine for FOWTs based on extreme environmental conditions associated with a 50-year storm return and wind directionality. The International Energy Agency (IEA) 15-MW Reference Wind Turbine (RWT) supported by the University of Maine (UMaine) VolturnUS-S semisubmersible platform was used to conduct this research. Through probability analysis extreme mean wind speeds and significant wave heights associated with this storm event were determined. Variability in extreme wind speeds across different directions in the Gulf of Maine was observed. Consequently, the response of FOWTs, particularly the tower, was analyzed with wind speed direction varied in 5-degree increments, while wave directionality remained constant due to data constraints of buoy 44005 provided by the NOAA. These climate conditions, along with parameters from IEC 61400-3 DLC 6.1, were integrated into Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Simulation Code 2nd Generation (HAWC2) to evaluate the wind turbine\u27s dynamic response. Results indicated that the tower maintained stable stress levels within yield strength limits, despite variations in wind direction. The tower base showed elevated normal stresses as the wind direction aligned more closely with that of the waves, while the tower top experienced a decrease in normal stresses. In both cases, the bending moment in the x direction played a significant role. Conversely, shear stresses exhibited an opposite trend, with the bending moment in the z direction having the most impact for the tower top and the force in the y direction for the base
Role of Occludin in the Regulation of Epithelial Tight Junctions
Get PDFTight junctions (TJ) constitute the primary component of epithelial barrier function, a disruption of which is involved in the pathogenesis of many gastrointestinal, pulmonary and renal diseases. Occludin is the major transmembrane protein of TJ, a deletion of which leads to a complex phenotype including chronic inflammation in several epithelial tissues of occludin deficient mice and poor TJ integrity in epithelial cell lines. Its down regulation was seen in Crohn’s disease, tumors of the colon, brain, endometrium and breast cancer. Occludin is also known to be a target that enables Hepatitis C Virus infection and bacterial pathogenesis. But the specific function of occludin in TJ remains unknown. Numerous studies implicated that occludin phosphorylation plays a crucial role in TJ regulation. Based on our previous studies, we have identified a conserved phosphorylation hotspot in the C-terminal domain of occludin, called occludin regulatory motif (ORM), which has a potential to confer dynamic properties to occludin. The present study was designed to determine the function of ORM in TJ regulation. Stable, occludin-deficient MDCK cell line (OD-MDCK) that expresses wild type occludin (OclWT) or a deletion mutant occludin (OclDM) that lacked ORM were developed. Confocal imaging and immunoprecipitation analyses showed that absence of ORM does not prevent occludin localization and interaction with ZO-1 at TJ. However, FRAP analysis showed that mobile fraction of occludin is reduced by the absence of ORM, suggesting the role of ORM in occludin dynamics. Also, Ca2+ depletion-induced disruption of TJ, adherens junctions and cytoskeleton and barrier dysfunction were attenuated in the absence of ORM. Mutation anlaysis of ORM phosphosites Y 398, Y 402, T403 and T404, revealed that ORM-mediated phosphorylation events determine the dynamic properties of TJ. Then the role of ORM-mediated protein interactions in TJ modulation was investigated. A synthetic peptide analogous to occludin regulatory region (ORP), which enhanced TJ assembly and attenuated radiation-induced barrier dysfunction in Caco-2 cells, was used as bait to pull down proteins that interact with ORM. Proteomic analyses and pull down assays using ORP and GST tagged occludin C-terminus identified that MAP7 (an epithelial specific microtubule associated protein) interacts with ORM in a tyrosine phosphorylation-dependent mechanism. Furthermore, MAP7 binding to occludin in Caco-2 cells was elevated by treatment with osmotic stress or dextran sodium sulfate, both known to increase occludin Tyr-phosphorylation. These data demonstrated that MAP7 interacts with ORM and mediates occludin redistribution during TJ disruption. In conclusion ORM confers dynamic properties to TJ via its phosphorylation dependent protein-protein interactions. The findings in my project establish the functional significance of ORM in TJ dynamics and regulatory mechanisms associated with TJ modulation. Identification of proteins that interact with ORM provides new therapeutic targets in the treatment of diseases associated with occludin depletion and epithelial barrier dysfunction
- …
