Absence in Presence: Dalit Women’s Agency, Channar Lahala, and Kerala Renaissance

In the patriarchal milieu of Kerala, the woman’s world is overshadowed by male suppression and cowed silence; the Dalit woman, however, seems to never take it lying down. As is evident from the Channar revolt of the 19th century, Dalit women have never been silent victims in history. This is in stark contrast to the upper-caste women who tend to succumb to caste patriarchy in silence. Drawing on the Channar or Shannar women’s historic revolt for the right to cover their breasts, this paper engages with the question of Dalit women\u27s agency in the social reform movements during the period of the Kerala renaissance. Dalit women have been essentialized into silence in Dalit and ‘Dalitist’ writings. The writings of gendered Dalits characterize the emergence of Dalit women’s voices in literary discourses. This paper seeks to demonstrate that the newly emergent Dalit feminism in Kerala has an unrecorded and unrecognized tradition of its own in the early caste struggles such as the Channar revolt. By problematizing the elite historians’ sanctioned silence regarding the revolt, the role Dalit women played in it and arguing how it amounts to the erasure of Dalit women’s agency in history, this paper explicates how the Dalit as female is catapulted historically into the liminality of (non- )existence. This paper seeks to rectify the erasures by surfacing the tradition of the historical assertion of the gendered caste subaltern. It is hoped that such an epistemological effort will strengthen the cause of Dalit Feminism

Standard of Living and Community Perception in the Community Based Ecotourism (CBET) Sites of Kerala: An Inter Zone Analysis

This study is an attempt to situate the quality of life and standard of living of local communities in ecotourism destinations inter alia their perception on forest conservation and the satisfaction level of the local community. 650 EDC/VSS members from Kerala demarcated into three zones constitute the data source. Four variables have been considered for evaluating the quality of life of the stakeholders of ecotourism sites, which is then funneled to the income-education spectrum for hypothesizing into the SLI framework. Zone-wise analysis of the community members working in tourism sector shows that the community members have benefited totally from tourism development in the region as they have got both employments as well as secured livelihood options. Most of the quality of life-indicators of the community in the eco-tourist centres show a promising position. The community perception does not show any negative impact on environment as well as on their local culture. Keywords: Kerala, Community Based Ecotourism, Community Perception, Community Participation, Standard of Living, Local Communitie

Business Strategies Influences in global Business for sustainable growth in Economic development

Communications and transportation technologies constantly change the world. The ease of interactions and transactions they afford has given rise to global business. However, just because being a global business is more possible doesn't necessarily make it easy. Business leaders and managers have many business strategies to create success in international markets,Technology which is the inevitable two tendency of the last century becomes a very effective especially in the business arena and reshapes the phenomenon of business competition. Ä°ncreasing the pressure competition day by day when world is shrinking continuously plays a role as the driving force in the Business competition which is the primary purpose of profit maximization of enterprises. A business process is composed of implementing various strategies onthe assetsand liabilities in a common pool.The process of transformation occurring in business structures is investigated by explaining the changing face of competition in the first part of the study within the framework of globalization and Business growth concept is described in detail that is fundamental dynamics of this transformationto process the business successful. Theoretical information that related to take business mergers and acquisitions are given as Business strategy on the second part

Ethnobotanical study on wild edible fruits, spices and aquatic plants traditionally used by the Garo tribe of Meghalaya

An ethnobotanical study was carried out in the West Garo Hills of Meghalaya, India during 2015-2017 to identify and document the wild edible fruits, spices and aquatic plants used by the Garo tribe for their nutraceutical properties. The study area is situated between 26oand 25o20’North latitude and 90o 30’ to 89o 40’ East longitude. This area is predominantly inhabited by the Garo tribe following a matrilineal society. In the present study 43 wild edible fruit species belonging to 25 families were recorded which were found to be ethnobotanically important among the Garo tribe. Of these wild edible fruits, 36 species were trees followed by the 5 shrubs and 2 creepers/climbers. It was also observed that 19 species of wild edible plants belonging to 9 families were used by tribal population as spices to enrich their food. Most of the spice plants used by the Garo tribe belong to Zingiberaceae and Rutaceae family. They were grouped under herbs (10 species), shrubs (6 species), trees (2 species) and creepers (1 species). Rhizomes, leaves and flowers/inflorescence were commonly used plant parts. Among the aquatic plants only 5 species were used by the Garo tribe as vegetable, spices and medicines

Influence of salinity on the growth and body composition of juvenile Tiger Shrimp, Penaeus monodon

Giant tiger prawn dominated the global shrimp aquaculture industry before giving way to Pacific white shrimp in the early 21st century. This study evaluated the influence of salinity on the survival, growth and body composition of early juveniles. They were exposed to salinities ranging from freshwater (0‰) to marine (35‰) under ambient rearing conditions. Response parameters like survival, growth and body compositions were tested over the salinity range of 0, 10, 20, 30, and 35 ‰. The survival obtained was above 95% except in freshwater, wherein total mortality was observed by the third week of rearing. Growth was found to vary with salinity significantly and was found to be higher at 20‰ with an SGR of 7.31. Apart from its role in survival and growth, salinity was found to influence body composition. It was observed that body protein and carbohydrate content showed significant variations with the salinity. The body protein content was high at 20 ‰ with 14.45 mg/100mg wet weight, and carbohydrate of 1.01mg/ 100mg at 30 ‰. However, variations in lipid, ash, and moisture content did not have any significant difference. Though found insignificant, the lipid content was higher (2.15 mg/100mg) at lower salinity of10‰. The present study provides insights into the possible impact of rearing environment on the physiological and biochemical changes in this species

Identification and genome characterization of genotype B and genotype C bovine parainfluenza type 3 viruses isolated in the United States

BACKGROUND: Bovine parainfluenza 3 viruses (BPI3V) are respiratory pathogens of cattle that cause disease singly but are often associated with bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) in conjunction with other viral and bacterial agents. Bovine vaccines currently contain BPI3V to provide protection against the virus, but there is no current information regarding the BPI3V strains that are circulating in the U.S. RESULTS: A project was initiated to sequence archival BPI3V isolates to study viral evolution over time. This was done with a deep sequencing protocol that generated sequences of multiple RNA virus genomes simultaneously. Analysis of the BPI3V sequences revealed that, in addition to the genotype A (BPI3Va) viruses previously described in the United States, there were two additional genotypes of BPI3V circulating that had been described only in Australia (BPI3Vb) and Asia (BPI3Vc). The U.S. BPI3Vb and BPI3Vc isolates showed some divergence from the Australian and Asian strains; the BPI3Vb were 93 % similar to the Australian Q5592 strain and the BPI3Vc viruses were 98 % similar to the 12Q061 strain that was described in South Korea. Overall, the three genotypes were 82 to 84 % identical to each other and 80 % identical to the most similar human PI3V. Cross-neutralization studies using an APHIS/NVSL BPI3V reference serum showed that neutralization titers against the genotype B and C viruses were 4- to ≥16-fold less then the titer against the APHIS BPI3Va reference strain, SF-4. CONCLUSIONS: This study clearly demonstrated that BPI3Vb and BPI3Vc strains, previously thought to be foreign to the U.S., are indeed circulating in domestic livestock herds. Based on virus neutralization using polyclonal antisera, there were antigenic differences between viruses from these genotypes and the BPI3Va viruses that are included in currently marketed bovine vaccines. Further study of these viruses is warranted to determine pathogenic potential and cross-protection afforded by vaccination

Prevalence of Infertility and its Associated Factors among the Eligible Couples of Central Kerala

Introduction: Infertility is a personal tragedy for millions of couples world-wide and has very definite physical, psychological and social implications. Objectives: To find the prevalence of infertility and to explore the association between selected clinical and sociodemographic factors with infertility in Arpookara Panchayat, Kottayam, Kerala. Method: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 860 eligible couples selected using simple random sampling technique, from all the 4 subcentre areas. Sociodemographic and medical/surgical details of both male and female partner were collected by semi-structured interview schedule. The couples were said to have infertility when they had either primary or secondary infertility. Pearson Chi-square test / Fisher’s Exact test was used to find the association of various factors with infertility. Results: The prevalence of infertility was 10.3%, with 5.6% primary infertility and 4.7% secondary infertility. Factors that were found significantly associated with infertility were couples belonging to lower socioeconomic status, joint family, women marry at age >35 years, diabetes mellitus in women, pelvic inflammatory diseases, uterine fibroids, polycystic ovarian syndrome, abdominal pelvic surgeries in women, varicocele, mumps in men, oligospermia, men with education level less than high school, smoking, alcohol and family history of infertility in men. Conclusion: One tenth of the population included in the study had infertility. The predictors for infertility were lower socio-economic class, number of years after marriage (5-9 years), smoking in men, oligospermia, varicocoele, mumps in men, age at marriage (≥35 years) in women, polycystic ovary syndrome, pelvic inflammatory disease and diabetes mellitus in women

Shallow water marine sediment bacterial community shifts along a natural CO2 gradient in the Mediterranean Sea off Vulcano, Italy.

The effects of increasing atmospheric CO(2) on ocean ecosystems are a major environmental concern, as rapid shoaling of the carbonate saturation horizon is exposing vast areas of marine sediments to corrosive waters worldwide. Natural CO(2) gradients off Vulcano, Italy, have revealed profound ecosystem changes along rocky shore habitats as carbonate saturation levels decrease, but no investigations have yet been made of the sedimentary habitat. Here, we sampled the upper 2 cm of volcanic sand in three zones, ambient (median pCO(2) 419 μatm, minimum Ω(arag) 3.77), moderately CO(2)-enriched (median pCO(2) 592 μatm, minimum Ω(arag) 2.96), and highly CO(2)-enriched (median pCO(2) 1611 μatm, minimum Ω(arag) 0.35). We tested the hypothesis that increasing levels of seawater pCO(2) would cause significant shifts in sediment bacterial community composition, as shown recently in epilithic biofilms at the study site. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing of the V1 to V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a shift in community composition with increasing pCO(2). The relative abundances of most of the dominant genera were unaffected by the pCO(2) gradient, although there were significant differences for some 5 % of the genera present (viz. Georgenia, Lutibacter, Photobacterium, Acinetobacter, and Paenibacillus), and Shannon Diversity was greatest in sediments subject to long-term acidification (>100 years). Overall, this supports the view that globally increased ocean pCO(2) will be associated with changes in sediment bacterial community composition but that most of these organisms are resilient. However, further work is required to assess whether these results apply to other types of coastal sediments and whether the changes in relative abundance of bacterial taxa that we observed can significantly alter the biogeochemical functions of marine sediments

Evaluation of noise regression techniques in resting-state fMRI studies using data of 434 older adults

Subject motion is a well-known confound in resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) and the analysis of functional connectivity. Consequently, several clean-up strategies have been established to minimize the impact of subject motion. Physiological signals in response to cardiac activity and respiration are also known to alter the apparent rs-fMRI connectivity. Comprehensive comparisons of common noise regression techniques showed that the Independent Component Analysis based strategy for Automatic Removal of Motion Artifacts (ICA-AROMA) was a preferred pre-processing technique for teenagers and adults. However, motion and physiological noise characteristics may differ substantially for older adults. Here, we present a comprehensive comparison of noise-regression techniques for older adults from a large multi-site clinical trial of exercise and intensive pharmacological vascular risk factor reduction. The Risk Reduction for Alzheimer\u27s Disease (rrAD) trial included hypertensive older adults (60-84 years old) at elevated risk of developing Alzheimer\u27s Disease (AD). We compared the performance of censoring, censoring combined with global signal regression, non-aggressive and aggressive ICA-AROMA, as well as the Spatially Organized Component Klassifikator (SOCK) on the rs-fMRI baseline scans from 434 rrAD subjects. All techniques were rated based on network reproducibility, network identifiability, edge activity, spatial smoothness, and loss of temporal degrees of freedom (tDOF). We found that non-aggressive ICA-AROMA did not perform as well as the other four techniques, which performed table with marginal differences, demonstrating the validity of these techniques. Considering reproducibility as the most important factor for longitudinal studies, given low false-positive rates and a better preserved, more cohesive temporal structure, currently aggressive ICA-AROMA is likely the most suitable noise regression technique for rs-fMRI studies of older adults

Psychological morbidity, sources of stress and coping strategies among undergraduate medical students of Nepal

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In recent years there has been a growing appreciation of the issues of quality of life and stresses involved medical training as this may affect their learning and academic performance. However, such studies are lacking in medical schools of Nepal. Therefore, we carried out this study to assess the prevalence of psychological morbidity, sources and severity of stress and coping strategies among medical students in our integrated problem-stimulated undergraduate medical curriculum.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was carried out among the undergraduate medical students of Manipal College of Medical Sciences, Pokhara, Nepal during the time period August, 2005 to December, 2006. The psychological morbidity was assessed using General Health Questionnaire. A 24-item questionnaire was used to assess sources of stress and their severity. Coping strategies adopted was assessed using brief COPE inventory.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The overall response rate was 75.8% (407 out of 525 students). The overall prevalence of psychological morbidity was 20.9% and was higher among students of basic sciences, Indian nationality and whose parents were medical doctors. By logistic regression analysis, GHQ-caseness was associated with occurrence of academic and health-related stressors. The most common sources of stress were related to academic and psychosocial concerns. The most important and severe sources of stress were staying in hostel, high parental expectations, vastness of syllabus, tests/exams, lack of time and facilities for entertainment. The students generally used active coping strategies and alcohol/drug was a least used coping strategy. The coping strategies commonly used by students in our institution were positive reframing, planning, acceptance, active coping, self-distraction and emotional support. The coping strategies showed variation by GHQ-caseness, year of study, gender and parents' occupation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The higher level of psychological morbidity warrants need for interventions like social and psychological support to improve the quality of life for these medical students. Student advisors and counselors may train students about stress management. There is also need to bring about academic changes in quality of teaching and evaluation system. A prospective study is necessary to study the association of psychological morbidity with demographic variables, sources of stress and coping strategies.</p