Women empowerment and micro finance : Case study from Kerala

The subject of micro-finance is considered as significant and emerging trend in the present scenario for the empowerment of women. Micro finance programmes are promoted as an important strategy for women’s empowerment. Micro finance builds mutual trust and confidence between bankers and rural poor to encourage banking in a segment of population where formal financial institutions usually find difficult to reach. The present paper examines the economic impact of micro finance beneficiaries and whether the economic empowerment has resulted in the generation of a set of self reliant women. The Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State was selected for the case study. The survey shows about the positive impact of the development programme of Kudumbashree, a micro financial institution in Kerala, India.women empowerment micro finance poverty.

Characteristics of proton velocity distribution functions in the near-lunar wake from Chandrayaan-1/SWIM observations

Due to the high absorption of solar wind plasma on the lunar dayside, a large scale wake structure is formed downstream of the Moon. However, recent in-situ observations have revealed the presence of protons in the near-lunar wake (100 km to 200 km from the surface). The solar wind, either directly or after interaction with the lunar surface (including magnetic anomalies), is the source of these protons in the near-wake region. Using the entire data from the SWIM sensor of the SARA experiment onboard Chandrayaan-1, we analysed the velocity distribution of the protons observed in the near-lunar wake. The average velocity distribution functions, computed in the solar wind rest frame, were further separated based on the angle between the upstream solar wind velocity and the IMF. Several proton populations were identified from the velocity distribution and their possible entry mechanism were inferred based on the characteristics of the velocity distribution. These entry mechanisms include (i) diffusion of solar wind protons into the wake along IMF, (ii) the solar wind protons with finite gyro-radii that are aided by the wake boundary electric field, (iii) solar wind protons with gyro-radii larger than lunar radii from the tail of the solar wind velocity distribution, and (iv) scattering of solar wind protons from the dayside lunar surface or from magnetic anomalies. In order to gain more insight into the entry mechanisms associated with different populations, backtracing is carried out for each of these populations. For most of the populations, the source of the protons obtained from backtracing is found to be in agreement with that inferred from the velocity distribution. There are few populations that could not be explained by the known mechanisms and remain unknown.Comment: 8 figures, paper accepted in Icarus (2016), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2016.01.03

Newer drugs for the treatment of hepatitis B viral infection

One of the main disadvantages of hepatitis B virus treatment is the persistence of the virus even after treatment. The main causes of this viral persistence can be an inadequacy of the immune function as well as some viral factors. The currently available drugs for hepatitis B are five oral nucleoside/nucleotide analogs (lamivudine, adefovir dipivoxil, tenofovir, entecavir, telbivudine) and two interferon drugs (interferon alfa-2b, pegylated interferon alfa-2a). However, these therapies do not lead to sustained remission, requiring indefinite treatment as viral load frequently rebounds once suppressive therapy is stopped

Women empowerment and micro finance : Case study from Kerala

The subject of micro-finance is considered as significant and emerging trend in the present scenario for the empowerment of women. Micro finance programmes are promoted as an important strategy for women’s empowerment. Micro finance builds mutual trust and confidence between bankers and rural poor to encourage banking in a segment of population where formal financial institutions usually find difficult to reach. The present paper examines the economic impact of micro finance beneficiaries and whether the economic empowerment has resulted in the generation of a set of self reliant women. The Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State was selected for the case study. The survey shows about the positive impact of the development programme of Kudumbashree, a micro financial institution in Kerala, India

Women empowerment and micro finance : Case study from Kerala

The subject of micro-finance is considered as significant and emerging trend in the present scenario for the empowerment of women. Micro finance programmes are promoted as an important strategy for women’s empowerment. Micro finance builds mutual trust and confidence between bankers and rural poor to encourage banking in a segment of population where formal financial institutions usually find difficult to reach. The present paper examines the economic impact of micro finance beneficiaries and whether the economic empowerment has resulted in the generation of a set of self reliant women. The Thiruvananthapuram district of Kerala State was selected for the case study. The survey shows about the positive impact of the development programme of Kudumbashree, a micro financial institution in Kerala, India

Studying the Lunar-Solar Wind Interaction with the SARA Experiment aboard the Indian Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1

The first Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 was launched on 22 October 2008. The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) instrument onboard Chandrayaan-1 consists of an energetic neutral atom (ENA) imaging mass analyzer called CENA (Chandrayaan-1 Energetic Neutrals Analyzer), and an ion-mass analyzer called SWIM (Solar wind Monitor). CENA performed the first ever experiment to study the solar wind-planetary surface interaction via detection of sputtered neutral atoms and neutralized backscattered solar wind protons in the energy range ~0.01-3.0 keV. SWIM measures solar wind ions, magnetosheath and magnetotail ions, as well as ions scattered from lunar surface in the ~0.01-15 keV energy range. The neutral atom sensor uses conversion of the incoming neutrals to positive ions, which are then analyzed via surface interaction technique. The ion mass analyzer is based on similar principle. This paper presents the SARA instrument and the first results obtained by the SWIM and CENA sensors. SARA observations suggest that about 20% of the incident solar wind protons are backscattered as neutral hydrogen and ~1% as protons from the lunar surface. These findings have important implications for other airless bodies in the solar system.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure

Indigenous hydropriming practice for fastening seed germination might induce reciprocal effects in chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) under “on-farm” seed priming scenario

From the vedic times, the cultivation of crops in India, were meant for sustenance of mankind. The age old practices transferred across generations have being followed by the young and the old without a second thought. The main land agriculture that has adopted several of these practices has witnessed many a kind of ups and downs from replicating these practices. The lack of a strategic scientific validation aided with the  misinformation by passing the indigenous knowledge across generations have caused many a kind of deleterious effects too. One of such traditional practice is the soaking of seeds prior to germination that is being scientifically stated as the seed priming which enhances the process of germination. Though the “on- farm” seed priming technology have been pointed out as a sustainable option for the intensification of agriculture in marginal and tribal belts of the country, its recommendation needs prior standardization in and across various crop genotypes. Hence, in this study the effect of different durations of hydropriming on the germination and growth of Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) were assessed. BGD 72 variety of Desi and BGD 128 variety of Kabuli were used for the study. It was observed that there occurs wide variation in germination and seedling growth across the intervals of priming and each positive effect is sharply - duration and genotype specific.

Protons in the near-lunar wake observed by the Sub-keV Atom Reflection Analyzer on board Chandrayaan-1

Significant proton fluxes were detected in the near wake region of the Moon by an ion mass spectrometer on board Chandrayaan-1. The energy of these nightside protons is slightly higher than the energy of the solar wind protons. The protons are detected close to the lunar equatorial plane at a $140^{\circ}$ solar zenith angle, i.e., ~50$^{\circ}$ behind the terminator at a height of 100 km. The protons come from just above the local horizon, and move along the magnetic field in the solar wind reference frame. We compared the observed proton flux with the predictions from analytical models of an electrostatic plasma expansion into a vacuum. The observed velocity was higher than the velocity predicted by analytical models by a factor of 2 to 3. The simple analytical models cannot explain the observed ion dynamics along the magnetic field in the vicinity of the Moon.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figure

First Observation of Transport of Solar Wind Protons Scattered From Magnetic Anomalies Into the Near Lunar Wake: Observations by SARA/Chandrayaan-1

We report the first observational evidence for the transport of the solar wind protons scattered from the lunar magnetic anomaly (LMA) into the near wake region from SWIM/Sub‐keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) aboard Chandrayaan‐1. These protons with high angular spread are observed in the near wake region for specific orientations of interplanetary magnetic field. The typical energy range is 600–1,000 eV, which is either smaller or comparable to that of solar wind. Using our backtracing model, the source region of these protons is found to be the large LMA at South Pole‐Aitken basin on the dayside, suggesting that these are solar wind protons forward scattered from LMA at the South Pole‐Aitken. The flux of these protons is ~5 × 10⁻⁴ of the solar wind proton flux, which is comparable to the proton population in near wake due to other known processes. Such protons can significantly affect the electromagnetic environment in near wake region