Ethnomedicinal uses of Sthalavrikshas (temple trees) in Tamil Nadu, southern India

Worship of plants is practiced throughout the world and is well established from pre-historic periods in India. In Tamil Nadu state, India this customary practice follows with religious faiths and culture. One such religious worship is known as Sthalavriksha (sthal: locality, vriksha: tree) in temples. Very few field studies have been conducted on Sthalavriksha practice and its role in social, ecological and environmental impacts of local people. In particular, ethnomedicinal uses on Sthalavrikshas, occurring in the temples of Tamil Nadu have been unexplored. A survey was conducted at 1165 ancient temples of the state and revealed the occurrence of 112 plant species during 2002-2006. At the time of study, several ethnomedicinal uses of 101 Sthalavriksha species were recorded by both direct observations and referred to by devotees, priests and Nattuvaidyas (traditional healers) in the temples

Religious Traditions in Tamil Nadu during the Devaram Period

Tamil devotional literature which was prevalent in Tamil Nadu during the Devar period was heavily influenced by Sanskrit literature. On this basis, it is known that many ancient historical incidents have been mentioned in the songs of Devaram. Birth of Gods, the manner in which their relationship is taught, the historical events of the gods, and their heroic deeds can be seen in the devaram. This article explains about the daughter of Umai Malaiyarasan, God Murugan Sivashakti, the story of Brahma and Vishnu searching for a foothold, the story of Vishnu's, the attributes of Shiva bearing Umadevi and Vishnu with half of his body and about the belief in the worship of natural objects such as the moon, Ganges, and Navagraha. It is worth noting that mythological information about the characteristics of minor deities, Indra, Varuna, Agni, Atatiku Balakas, etc., etc., are scattered throughout the Devaram. The purpose of this article is to explore all these in detail

Using SWE Standards for Ubiquitous Environmental Sensing: A Performance Analysis

Although smartphone applications represent the most typical data consumer tool from the citizen perspective in environmental applications, they can also be used for in-situ data collection and production in varied scenarios, such as geological sciences and biodiversity. The use of standard protocols, such as SWE, to exchange information between smartphones and sensor infrastructures brings benefits such as interoperability and scalability, but their reliance on XML is a potential problem when large volumes of data are transferred, due to limited bandwidth and processing capabilities on mobile phones. In this article we present a performance analysis about the use of SWE standards in smartphone applications to consume and produce environmental sensor data, analysing to what extent the performance problems related to XML can be alleviated by using alternative uncompressed and compressed formats.JRC.H.6 - Digital Earth and Reference Dat

Using SWE Standards for Ubiquitous Environmental Sensing: A Performance Analysis

Although smartphone applications represent the most typical data consumer tool from the citizen perspective in environmental applications, they can also be used for in-situ data collection and production in varied scenarios, such as geological sciences and biodiversity. The use of standard protocols, such as SWE, to exchange information between smartphones and sensor infrastructures brings benefits such as interoperability and scalability, but their reliance on XML is a potential problem when large volumes of data are transferred, due to limited bandwidth and processing capabilities on mobile phones. In this article we present a performance analysis about the use of SWE standards in smartphone applications to consume and produce environmental sensor data, analysing to what extent the performance problems related to XML can be alleviated by using alternative uncompressed and compressed formats