Using ODL and ICT to develop the skills of the unreached: a contribution to the ADEA triennial of the Working Group on Distance Education and Open Learning

Innovation in technology is occurring at rapid pace thus shrinking the distances and making information and knowledge more than ever accessible to everyone irrespective of where the person resides. This paper consists of four main articles. The first one deals with technological trends. The second one focuses on the deployment and use of open and distance education mode in rural areas by documenting initiatives that embrace information and communication technologies (ICTs). Due to challenges faced in rural areas only a few success stories/cases currently exist and some of these are cited in this article. The challenges faced in the deployment of ICT enhanced ODL have been highlighted as well as the potential of developing and delivering effective and relevant ODL programmes in rural areas in order to ensure that issues of educational equity and social exclusion rural communities are adequately addressed. ICTs in ODL are perhaps the greatest tool to date for self-education and value addition to any community’s development efforts, yet poor rural communities particularly in Africa do not have the necessary awareness, skills or facilities to enable themselves to develop using ICTs. Inadequate ICT infrastructures in rural areas remain a major source for the digital divide in Africa and for under-performance of distance learners. The third one analyses the support provided to ODL learners who often encounter difficulties in completing their studies through the distance education mode due to loneliness, uncertainties and de-motivation. ICT has not been able to sufficiently support distance learners in overcoming those obstacles efficiently. An investigation regarding those learning supports has been conducted in ten distance learning institutions, along with an intensive literature review with the aim of understanding the high percentage of dropout rates of distant learners. The learners’ interactions have been scrutinized through content analysis of their synchronous exchanges, during a completely online course. After taking into account the limited technical and human resources in Africa, a technological virtual environment along with a pedagogical framework has been proposed with the aim of giving adequate educational support to them. The fourth article has explored The Open University (UK) and its efforts to use new technologies to deliver online courses to difficult-to- reach learners in prison environments. The case study analysed here is an international course (called, B201- Business Organisations and their environments) which also touches an African cohort of learners. The implications for designing and delivering online ODL to the complex unreachable environments of prisons anywhere, and particularly in Africa, have been discussed

Art in Internal Ballistics

A review of the computations in Internal Ballistic Systems for developing pressure and velocity space curves, called primary problem and differential variations due to change in initial phase space of loading conditions, called secondary problem, is presented. In the concluding part, the general aspects of the secondary problem are analysed and reported

A Study of Mental Health Problems in Criminals in Terms of Depression, Anxiety and Stress

Offenders resides in prison faces many problems Isolation from the families overcrowding in prison guilt and stigmatization are main causes of deterioration in mental health of prisoners Present study intends to assess mental health problem in two groups of convicted criminals murderers and rapists in terms of depression anxiety and stress Based on purposive sampling technique 72 convicted criminals were selected from Birsa Munda Central Jail Hotwar Ranchi India Both the groups of criminals were matched on various socio-demographic parameters such as gender age education religion marital status residence and occupation All participants were assessed on Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale DASS Obtained responses were scored by using standard scoring procedures and subsequently statistically analyzed by using Chi-square test In present study rapists group have shown significant difference on scale of depression in comparison to murderer s group Whereas there were no significant differences found between both the groups on level of anxiety and stress Mental health problems were found prevalent in both the groups but more prominent in rapist s group Rapists group have shown more symptoms and severity of depression anxiety and stress than the murderers group in present stud

Performance of broiler chicken fed varied nutrient density diets supplemented with direct fed microbial

Comparative dietary response of different isolated strains (Direct fed microbial- DFM) of lactobacilli, streptococci and yeast isolated from leopard feces (Panthera leo) was studied as probiotic in poultry broiler birds reared as per varied mineral densities viz. calcium and phosphorus. Various treatments consisted of T0 (Control, culture medium), T1 (Lactobacillus casei + Streptococcus fecalis + Saccharomyces cerevisiae) offered standard formulated diet D1, T2 - Control (Culture medium) offered ten percent lower calcium and phosphorus diet D2, T3 (Lactobacillus casei + Streptococcus fecalis + Saccharomyces cerevisiae) offered ten percent lower calcium and phosphorus diet D2. Growth results obtained during the starter phase (1st to 3rd week) exhibited higher gain in live body weight and lower feed conversion ratio, both by DFM supplemented treatment T1 offered standard formulated diet D1 and treatment T3 offered experimentally formulated mineral (Ca and P) deficient (10%) diet D2 compared to respective control T0 and T2. The obtained results revealed a significantly higher growth performance in treatment T1 compared to its control T0 where a higher growth in treatment T3 offered experimentally formulated mineral (Ca and P) deficient (10%) diet D2 supplemented with isolated DFM compared to its control T2 was exhibited. Treatment groups T1 and T3 supplemented with isolated DFM exhibited a better intestinal micro flora balance, effective colonization and higher count in the intestinal tract with higher calcium and phosphorus retention in the digestibility studies. Thus, it was found that supplementation of isolated DFM has the potential to improve biological growth performance of poultry broiler birds offered both standard formulated diet D1, as well as mineral deficient diet D2. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. III 46002

Assessment of bio-accumulation of bacteria in oysters from shellfish growing waters in Ashtamudi Lake (Kerala, India): A RAMSAR wetland

Oysters are commercially cultured from the Ashtamudi Lake in India, and support 12,000 tonnes of bivalve fisheries/year. Oysters and oyster growing waters were sampled from July 2012 to June 2013 for analysis of total coliforms (TC), faecal coliforms (FC), Escherichia coli, faecal Streptococci (FS) and total plate counts (TPC). E. coli MPN values in oyster growing waters were below the threshold limits set by the USFDA and EU during the months of December to April. Seasonally, the highest MPN values for E. coli were obtained during the monsoon season (June–September), and this trend gradually decreased during the post-monsoon (October–January) and pre-monsoon (February–May) periods. E. coli displayed a significant (p < 0.01) variation in accumulation during different seasons. A strong negative correlation (R2 = −0.70, p < 0.05) between temperature and E. coli numbers in oysters was observed, while rainfall and E. coli were positively correlated (R2 = 0.695, p < 0.05). Hence, we strongly recommend depuration and proper cooking of oysters before consumption during the monsoon season

Gravitational Charged Perfect Fluid Collapse in Friedmann Universe Models

This paper is devoted to study the gravitational charged perfect fluid collapse in the Friedmann universe models with cosmological constant. For this purpose, we assume that the electromagnetic field is so weak that it does not introduce any distortion into the geometry of the spacetime. The results obtained from the junction conditions between the Friedmann and the Reissner-Nordstr$\ddot{o}$m de-Sitter spacetimes are used to solve the field equations. Further, the singularity structure and mass effects of the collapsing system on time difference between the formation of apparent horizons and singularity have been studied. This analysis provides the validity of Cosmic Censorship Hypothesis. It is found that the electric field affects the area of apparent horizons and their time of formation.Comment: 17 pages, accepted for publication in Astrophys. Space Sc

Shimbi Dhanya (pulses) as Ayurvedic food supplement for calcium deficiency

Ahara (food) is an important tool in Ayurveda. Ahara itself acts as an Aushadha (medicine). Shimbidhanya Varga (pulses) in daily diet has an important role in maintaining strength of Asthi Dhatu. Asthi Dhatu can be anatomically correlated to bones and teeth of body, 98% of bones composed of calcium. So calcium deficiency may directly proportional to Asthi Dhatu Kshaya. Shimbi Dhanya Varga (pulses) is rich in Proteins, Calcium, Phospherus and Magnesium. Mudga (green gram), Masha (black gram), Soya Bean etc. are coming under Shimbi Dhanya Varga has 124mg, 154mg, 240mg of calcium content respectively per 100gm. It will satisfy RDA of calcium in diet. Among Indian population aged 30 to 60 years had low calcium with high prevalence of osteopenia (52%) and osteoporosis (29%). This made the community to use of calcium tablets with or without physicians advice. So incomplete absorption, high cost and later side effects affects community health. So promote and educate useful ways of intake of calcium to human body just through daily diet and made it part of community health care programmes

Impurity Effects on the A_1-A_2 Splitting of Superfluid 3He in Aerogel

When liquid 3He is impregnated into silica aerogel a solid-like layer of 3He atoms coats the silica structure. The surface 3He is in fast exchange with the liquid on NMR timescales. The exchange coupling of liquid 3He quasiparticles with the localized 3He spins modifies the scattering of 3He quasiparticles by the aerogel structure. In a magnetic field the polarization of the solid spins gives rise to a splitting of the scattering cross-section of for `up' vs. `down' spin quasiparticles, relative to the polarization of the solid 3He. We discuss this effect, as well as the effects of non-magnetic scattering, in the context of a possible splitting of the superfluid transition for $\uparrow\uparrow$ vs. $\downarrow\downarrow$ Cooper pairs for superfluid 3He in aerogel, analogous to the A_1-A_2 splitting in bulk 3He. Comparison with the existing measurements of T_c for B< 5 kG, which show no evidence of an A_1-A_2 splitting, suggests a liquid-solid exchange coupling of order J = 0.1 mK. Measurements at higher fields, B > 20 kG, should saturate the polarization of the solid 3He and reveal the A_1-A_2 splitting.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Shape Coexistence in the Relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov approach

The phenomenon of shape coexistence is studied in the Relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov framework. Standard relativistic mean-field effective interactions do not reproduce the ground state properties of neutron-deficient Pt-Hg-Pb isotopes. It is shown that, in order to consistently describe binding energies, radii and ground state deformations of these nuclei, effective interactions have to be constructed which take into account the sizes of spherical shell gaps.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.