Impact of Social Media Addiction on Employees’ Wellbeing and Work Productivity

The objective of this study is to gain insights into the experiences of employees regarding their social media usage and consequences of social media overuse at the workplace. Fourteen semi-structured interviews were conducted, audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) procedures. The qualitative data was collected from the employees working in renowned IT/ITES companies in India. The themes that emerged are lack of sleep; backache and eye strain; feeling of envy; lack of depth in the relationships; tendency to seek approvals; not meeting deadlines; compromise with the work quality; distraction from work. The present study intends to assist human resource managers in designing appropriate policies and guidelines pertaining to employees’ social media usage at the workplace

Impacts of climate change on rice production and strategies for adaptation in Chitwan, Nepal

This study was conducted to understand perception of farmers about climate change; how it affects rice production and what are the local adaptation strategies adopted by farmers to maintain rice yield in Chitwan district of Nepal. A total of 90 rainy season rice farming household were surveyed with semi-structured interview schedule. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS and MS Excel. Majority of the respondents (91.20%) perceived deviation in weather parameters in last 10 years. Most of the farmers had perceived drought as the major impact of climate change and nursery stage of rice to be highly prone to climate impact. Higher proportion of farmers had experienced delay in transplanting and harvesting time of paddy in last 10 years. Many farmers had already replaced local varieties by either improved or hybrid rice variety resilient to climate change. Increased insects infestation and weed menace along with outbreak of new types were found to be major production problem perceived by farmers at study area. Most of the respondents (50%) were expecting technical supports followed by infrastructure development (20.6%) from different organizations. Climate resilient projects and programs designed in bottom up approach to enhance understanding of impacts of climate change will help farmers to cope climate risk on rice production

Economics of rice production in Pyuthan district of Nepal

A research was conducted at Pyuthan district in order to access the profitability of rice production in Pyuthan during the summer season of 2018-2019. Altogether of 70 respondents were selected randomly and surveyed with semi-structured interview schedule. The results revealed that the average land holding was 0.45 hectare, and the average rice cultivation area was 0.34 hectare. On the basis of average rice cultivation area, farmers were categorized as small (39) and large (31). The cost and return was calculated among both the category. t- test was used to compare the mean costs of inputs between small and large farmers. Cost for agronomic operations was found far higher (more than 70%) in both the category in compared to the cost of inputs. Contribution of rice grains and straw to overall return was 72.65% and 27.35% respectively. Benefit Cost ratio was found greater among large farmers. The average B:C ratio was 1.51, which was fairly higher than 1.14 in Dang district indicating the investment of rice production is expected to deliver a positive net return to the farmers of the study area. In a nutshell, rice cultivation is an important enterprise that should be encouraged, considering the fact that it is a major staple crop

Evaluation of open pollinated and hybrid maize varieties in Dhading district of Nepal

Five maize varieties namely Rampur composite, Arun-2, Manakamana-3, Rampur Hybrid-4 and Rajkumar were evaluated in randomized complete block design with four replications at farmers field at Nilkantha Municipality-09, Aashikhola, Dhading from February 2018 to June 2018 to identify high yielding maze  varieties. Significant variation  was observed for grain yield, silking and tasseling, number of kernels per cob and cob length.The largest cob length was found in Rampur composite (19.550 cm) and highest number of kernel row per cob  was found in Rajkumar (17.25) and Manakamana-3 (17.25).The highest number of leaves above cob  was found in Rampur composite (5.678). The number of days for 50% tasseling and number of days for 50% silking had a highly significant and positive correlation with plot yield. The highest number of days for 50% tasseling (78.50 DAS) and days for 50 % silking (82.50 DAS) was observed in the genotypes Rampur Hybrid-4. Similarly, the number of leaves above the cob , thousand kernel weight and length of the cob  had a significant and positive correlation with plot yield. Rampur Hybrid -4 was the highest yielding genotype (7.79 t/ha) for such domain area with a B:C ratio of 1.48.Thus, Rampur Hybrid-4 genotype is recommended for spring season in Dhading

Detection of Ascosphaera apis, causing chalkbrood disease in the colonies of European honey bee, Apis mellifera in West Bengal, India

The decline of honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) populations is of great concern around the world. Among the several key drivers, dissemination of pests and pathogens is potential one. Chalkbrood is very common fungal disease of honey bee, caused due to Ascosphaera apis. In the present study, survey was conducted regarding the prevalence of diseases in A. mellifera beekeeping in Gangetic plains of West Bengal, India. Results confirmed the occurrence of chalkbrood disease in different apiaries, where dead and mummified bee larvae with cotton like chalky white or greyish-black covering were found as physical symptoms of the disease. From three surveyed apiaries, a total of 16 hives out of 113 hives were found to be infected with the diseases; and 46 frames out of 132 frames from the infected 16 hives were found to be affected by the pathogen. Microscopic examination reflected that nearly 87% of the samples collected from the infected frame were found to be positive for the spore of Ascosphaera. The fungus associated with the disease was isolated on Potato Dextrose Agar medium, pure cultured and its genomic DNA was isolated to perform PCR and based on 18s rDNA sequencing by using specific primer pair of ITS-1 and ITS-4, the fungus was identified as Ascosphaera apis. Keywords: 18s rDNA, Bees, Necrotrophs, Phylogen

Effect of different spacing and mulching on growth and yield of Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) in Chitwan, Nepal

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is one of the most important vegetable crop of Nepal. Its yield and growth parameters are affected by different cultural practices. This study was conducted at Olericulture Farm of Agriculture and Forestry University, Rampur, Chitwan, Nepal during April 29 to July 9 of 2018. The field experiment was carried out in split plot design using three replications. The treatments consisted of three intra row spacing (30, 45 and 60 cm) and four different mulching materials (Silver plastic, Panicum repens, Lantana camara and bare soil). The objective of this experiment was to assess the effects of various intra-row spacings and mulching materials on growth and yield of okra. The effect of mulching materials on okra yield was found significant. The okra yield was highest (8104 kg/ha) under silver plastic mulch followed by control (5161kg/ha), Panicum repens (3901kg/ha) and Lantana camera (3701kg/ha), respectively. Silver plastic mulch enhanced the growth parameters like canopy length, plant height, leaf number, leaf length, girth and yield of okra. The spacings provided non significant effect on okra yield, however the yield of okra was highest (7295 kg/ha) under 30×30 cm spacing followed by 45×30 cm (4660 kg/ha) and 60 cm × 30 cm spacing (3703 kg/ha), respectively. Combination of silver plastic mulch along with 30 cm × 30 cm spacing provided the highest okra yield. This study suggests that farmers of the Chitwan should grow okra at spacing of 30 cm × 30 cm and under silver plastic mulch to produce higher yield

Breast Cancer Treatment Relying on Herbal Bioactive Components

Use of herbs and plants in cooking and medicinal dates back thousands of years. In this overview, we look at the many plant species that still have immune-boosting and cancer-fighting properties. Carotenoids, flavonoids, ligands, polyphenolics, terpenoids, sulphides, lignans, and plant sterols are only some of the many active phytochemicals found in different types of herbs. There are a number of mechanisms through which these phytochemicals exert their effects. They either prevent cell division or stimulate the synthesis of a protective enzyme such as glutathione transferase. The cancer-fighting and cholesterol-lowering effects of mevalonate are counteracted by the volatile oils and plant extracts from various herbs and plants

In-vitro Anti-Ulcer Activities of Mallotus Japonicus

Objectives: This study\u27s objective was to investigate whether or not a methanolic extract of Mallotus japonicas could decrease H+-K+ ATPase activity and neutralise acid. Materials and Methods: We assessed the total phenolic and flavonoid contents of the sample while it was exposed to varying amounts of standard esmoprazole and methanol extract. Results: The proton pump inhibitory activity of the extract from stomach mucosal homogenate was found to be significant (*P<0.05) and on par with the standard. Conclusions: Based on these findings, it may be concluded that the proton pump can be effectively blocked by the methanolic extract

Longitudinal study of adolescent tobacco use and tobacco control policies in India

Abstract Background This project will use a multilevel longitudinal cohort study design to assess whether changes in Community Tobacco Environmental (CTE) factors, measured as community compliance with tobacco control policies and community density of tobacco vendors and tobacco advertisements, are associated with adolescent tobacco use in urban India. India’s tobacco control policies regulate secondhand smoke exposure, access to tobacco products and exposure to tobacco marketing. Research data about the association between community level compliance with tobacco control policies and youth tobacco use are largely unavailable, and are needed to inform policy enforcement, implementation and development. Methods The geographic scope will include Mumbai and Kolkata, India. The study protocol calls for an annual comprehensive longitudinal population-based tobacco use risk and protective factors survey in a cohort of 1820 adolescents ages 12–14 years (and their parent) from baseline (Wave 1) to 36-month follow-up (Wave 4). Geographic Information Systems data collection will be used to map tobacco vendors, tobacco advertisements, availability of e-cigarettes, COTPA defined public places, and compliance with tobacco sale, point-of-sale and smoke-free laws. Finally, we will estimate the longitudinal associations between CTE factors and adolescent tobacco use, and assess whether the associations are moderated by family level factors, and mediated by individual level factors. Discussion India experiences a high burden of disease and mortality from tobacco use. To address this burden, significant long-term prevention and control activities need to include the joint impact of policy, community and family factors on adolescent tobacco use onset. The findings from this study can be used to guide the development and implementation of future tobacco control policy designed to minimize adolescent tobacco use.https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144539/1/12889_2018_Article_5727.pd

Use of multidimensional item response theory methods for dementia prevalence prediction : an example using the Health and Retirement Survey and the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study

Background Data sparsity is a major limitation to estimating national and global dementia burden. Surveys with full diagnostic evaluations of dementia prevalence are prohibitively resource-intensive in many settings. However, validation samples from nationally representative surveys allow for the development of algorithms for the prediction of dementia prevalence nationally. Methods Using cognitive testing data and data on functional limitations from Wave A (2001-2003) of the ADAMS study (n = 744) and the 2000 wave of the HRS study (n = 6358) we estimated a two-dimensional item response theory model to calculate cognition and function scores for all individuals over 70. Based on diagnostic information from the formal clinical adjudication in ADAMS, we fit a logistic regression model for the classification of dementia status using cognition and function scores and applied this algorithm to the full HRS sample to calculate dementia prevalence by age and sex. Results Our algorithm had a cross-validated predictive accuracy of 88% (86-90), and an area under the curve of 0.97 (0.97-0.98) in ADAMS. Prevalence was higher in females than males and increased over age, with a prevalence of 4% (3-4) in individuals 70-79, 11% (9-12) in individuals 80-89 years old, and 28% (22-35) in those 90 and older. Conclusions Our model had similar or better accuracy as compared to previously reviewed algorithms for the prediction of dementia prevalence in HRS, while utilizing more flexible methods. These methods could be more easily generalized and utilized to estimate dementia prevalence in other national surveys