Relationship between Occupational Stress and Coping Strategies among Physical Education Teachers

The study aimed to examine the relationship between occupational stress and coping strategies adapted by physical education teachers. The sample consisted of 288 physical education teacher respondents working in secondary schools of Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka State. The respondents were responded to the Occupational Stress Index (Shrivastava and Singh, 1984) and Coping checklist by Rao et al.(1984). This Occupational Stress Index and Coping checklist are used with some modifications. The data were analyzed with the help of SPSS 17.0. Results revealed that five coping strategies out of 8 were best predicted occupational stress of the teachers. They are spiritual related coping, unproductive coping mechanism, unhealthy coping habits, social support coping, and physical activity related coping. Other coping strategies like problem solving coping strategy, healthy cognitive coping and high risk coping were less predicted

Spin-3/2 dark matter in a simple tt-channel model

We consider a spin-3/2 fermionic dark matter (DM) particle interacting with the Standard Model quarks through the exchange of a charged and coloured scalar or vector mediator in a simple $t$-channel model. It is found that for the vector mediator case, almost the entire parameter space allowed by the observed relic density is already ruled out by the direct detection LUX data. No such bounds exist on the interaction mediated by scalar particles. Monojet + missing energy searches at the Large Hadron Collider provide the most stringent bounds on the parameters of the model for this case. The collider bounds put a lower limit on the allowed DM masses.Comment: Published EPJC versio

Multifunctional Magnetoelectric Materials for Device Applications

Mutiferroics are a novel class of next generation multifunctional materials, which display simultaneous magnetic spin, electric dipole, and ferroelastic ordering, and have drawn increasing interest due to their multi-functionality for a variety of device applications. Since single-phase materials exist rarely in nature with such cross-coupling properties, an intensive research activity is being pursued towards the discovery of new single-phase multiferroic materials and the design of new engineered materials with strong magneto-electric (ME) coupling. This review article summarizes the development of different kinds of multiferroic material: single-phase and composite ceramic, laminated composite, and nanostructured thin films. Thin-film nanostructures have higher magnitude direct ME coupling values and clear evidence of indirect ME coupling compared with bulk materials. Promising ME coupling coefficients have been reported in laminated composite materials in which signal to noise ratio is good for device fabrication. We describe the possible applications of these materials

Minimal Spin-3/2 Dark Matter in a simple ss-channel model

We consider a spin~-~3/2 fermionic dark matter candidate (DM) interacting with Standard Model fermions through a vector mediator in the $s$-channel. We find that for pure vector couplings almost the entire parameter space of the DM and mediator mass consistent with the observed relic density is ruled out by the direct detection observations through DM-nucleon elastic scattering cross-sections. In contrast, for pure axial-vector coupling, the most stringent constraints are obtained from mono-jet searches at the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Version accepted for publication in EPJ

Magnetic Effects on Dielectric and Polarization Behavior of Multiferroic Hetrostructures

PbZr0.52Ti0.48O3/La0.67Sr0.33MnO3(PZT/LSMO) bilayer with surface roughness ~ 1.8 nm thin films have been grown by pulsed laser deposition on LaAlO3(LAO) substrates. High remnant polarization (30-54 micro C/cm2), dielectric constant(400-1700), and well saturated magnetization were observed depending upon the deposition temperature of the ferromagnetic layer and applied frequencies. Giant frequency-dependent change in dielectric constant and loss were observed above the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic temperature. The frequency dependent dielectric anomalies are attributed to the change in metallic and magnetic nature of LSMO and also the interfacial effect across the bilayer; an enhanced magnetoelectric interaction may be due to the Parish-Littlewood mechanism of inhomogeneity near the metal-dielectric interface.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

An Integrated Pedal Follower and Torque Based Approach for Electronic Throttle Control in a Motorcycle Engine

Nowadays, electronic throttle control system is widely adapted in the motorcycle for better drivability, fuel economy and reduces the emissions. In such systems, pedal follower or torque based approach are used for calculating the required throttle angle for the given torque demand by driver. This work presents a throttle control system for the precise estimation of throttle angle based on the integrated pedal follower and torque based approach for the given accelerator position and torque demand by the driver. A mathematical model for an electronic throttle body is developed to understand the effects of nonlinearities due to friction and limp home dual springs. A PID controller with compensators are developed to handle the nonlinearities due to the friction and limp home dual springs in the proposed electronic throttle control system. A simulation study has been carried out using software in loop and hardware in loop simulation approaches for step, sinusoidal, and ramp input signals. The responses of electronic throttle body for opening the throttle angle and error are analyzed for the given input signals. The simulation result shows that the proposed compensators has significant advantage in reducing the throttle angle error and gives the desired output

Isolation and Characterization of Serratia species in Silk Rearing Environment

Different isolates obtained from the study area (Chickkabalpura(13° 26' N and 77° 46' E), Ramanagara (12° 54' N and 78° 02' E) and Kolar(13° 09' N and78° 11' E) Districts of Karnataka) in seasons of rain, winter, and summer were examined for Serratia Sp., septicemia pathogen of silkworm. These samples were subjected to microbiological isolation on minimal media and presumptive identification was done by visualizing pigment production in culture plate. Rhizosphere soil isolates obtained in rainy season produced red pigment, so compared with other known red pigmented and non-pigmented septicemia causing bacteria by injecting into the haemocoel of Silkworm larvae for identification of septicemia symptoms. Soil isolate with septicemia symptoms tested for Koch postulates. Soil isolate showed similarities with other septicemia bacteria in symptoms as well as in the colony and biochemical characteristics.Results of soil isolate obtained compared with specimen species data of the Bergy's Manual of Determinative Bacteriology (9th Edition) and found that soil isolate to be Serratia plymuthica. Our study will augment the knowledge of bacterium which later helps in prevention and cure of septicemic disease of silkworm. This bacterium can also be used in the fermentation process, production of prodiogisin and production of different enzymes

Design of clover slot antenna for biomedical applications

AbstractA new clover slot antenna operating at 2.45GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band for biomedical applications is presented and experimentally verified. By putting a single feed and truncating clover slots with extra perturbation, good performance of polarization can be achieved. Also, the miniaturized size of the proposed antenna is 14×12×0.8mm3 by utilizing the clover shaped slots. A broader bandwidth of 2.5GHz is obtained for reflection coefficient less than −10dB. In addition, the radiation pattern of proposed antenna exhibits the maximum gain of −6dBi