The Disfunctioning of Parliamentary Committees in Japan and India

Book Review of K. V. Kesavan (Eds.), 'Pariamentary Committees in Japan and India: Their Functions and Relevance' (New Delhi: Manak Publications Pvt. Ltd., 2003), 190 pp., Rs. 400, ISBN 81-7827-080-

Integrated water resources management : constraints and opportunities with a focus on the Ganges and the Brahmaputra River Basins

The key aims of this thesis are to identify the constraints and opportunities of implementing the integrated water resources management (IWRM) concept at both the policy and field level. IWRM has been chosen as a focus of this study as all contemporary international conferences, summits, regional water policies and declarations promote the IWRM concept for the effective and efficient management of water resources. The thesis has two parts. The first part reviews the evolution of the IWRM concept and the principles that have been developed at international conferences over the last three decades. Through two case studies on the EU Water Framework Directive (2000) and the Fourth World Water Forum's Ministerial Declaration (2006), an attempt is made to analyse the current implementation status of IWRM principles in practice. The findings suggest that existing policies tend to take a rather narrow view of the concept and have largely failed to incorporate the principles. This part also identifies the seven future challenges in implementing IWRM in practice. Water resources management is multidimensional in nature. In transboundary river basins, implementing the IWRM concept is even more complex as it involves more than one sovereign nation sharing the same water. The second part of the thesis focuses on implementation of IWRM in the transboundary river basin context. This part provides in-depth analyses focusing on the integrated management of the Ganges and Brahmaputra river basins that are shared by China, Nepal, Bhutan, India and Bangladesh. It identifies the various dimensions of water conflict among the riparian countries and their views on integrated management of the basins. It analyzes the existing bilateral treaties between the riparian countries and identifies the constraints and benefits of integrated water management along the basins. Practical recommendations for the integrated management of the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins are formulated. The findings suggest that it is imperative to coordinate all water related development plans and aspirations of riparian nations through effective transboundary cooperation to promote implementation of the IWRM concept in the Ganges and Brahmaputra basins. This thesis also identifies the principles associated with transboundary water resources management that are necessary to facilitate IWRM implementation in international river basins. Water research and science play an important role in advancing the principles of IWRM and the implementation of the process. This thesis is an attempt to contribute to this process and facilitate integrated Ganges and Brahmaputra basins management

Design and Development of IoT Based Optical Glucometer

This research presents the development of an IoT based non-invasive glucometer using optical methods for diabetes monitoring. Diabetes needs to be identified as soon as possible and its development is closely monitored. One of the measures to control this disease is the daily monitoring of blood sugar levels by using glucometer. Glucometers on the market are invasive that require blood sampling or sensors implantation. To get a blood sample, it is necessary to prick a fingertip with a needle to obtain a blood sample. This procedure is uncomfortable, and repeated punctures increase the risk of transmission of infectious diseases. Alternatively, a non-invasive method using optical technique was proposed in this paper. The prototype device is mainly consisting of an NIR LED (940nm) acting as a light transmitter delivered through a finger and reflect to photodetector (BPW34) that acting as a light receiver. The prototype was integrated with the IoT platform using Arduino Cloud for monitoring purpose. The next step involved the development of calibration model. Ten healthy individuals were recruited to take part in glucose readings measurement that conducted by National Kidney Foundation Batu Pahat. A calibration model ( y=82.19x+12.91) was successfully obtained from this experiment. The accuracy of the developed device was between 93.2 and 96.9 % where the error percentage was found to be less than 7 %. In conclusion, a painless non-invasive glucometer based near-infrared LED and photodiode was successfully developed. For future development, the accuracy of the system can possibly be improved by using a longer wavelength of light emitter such as 1500 nm

Design and Analysis of Parabolic Trough Solar Water Heating System

Renewable energy technology is one of the prospective sources which can meet the energy demand and can contribute to achieve sustainable development goals. Concentrated collectors are widely used in solar thermal power generation and water heating system also. It is very popular due to its high thermal efficiency, simple construction requirements and low manufacturing cost. This paper is concerned with an experimental study of parabolic trough collector for water heating technology. It focuses on the performance of concentrating solar collector by changing the reflector materials (aluminum sheet, aluminum foil and mirror film). In Bangladesh, it is possible to use low cost solar concentrating technologies for domestic as well as industrial process heat applications. The line focusing parabolic trough collectors have been designed, developed and evaluated its performance by collecting solar radiation, inlet and outlet water temperature, flow rate, efficiency etc

Enhancing Student Mark Management Through Web Based System

In search of technological modernization, the Internet is the main medium of delivery. Education today is seen as leading to the development of the information age. Hence the approach to education is also in line with the latest technology. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning has become an important method to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the education management process. On the other hand, the ICT is also used in education to manage student information. Management of student information especially students’ marks is a burdensome task, requiring lecturers to devote more time to complete the task within the stipulated time. Besides, the lecturers who teach more than one class and have more than one marking category such as quizzes, assignments and lab exercises find this task very complicated. The use of software such as Microsoft Excel can be helpful but cannot solve all mark management requirements due to limitation of its function. Therefore, an online students’ mark management system was developed to facilitate the process of mark calculation for the lecturers in the Faculty of Information Science and Technology. By using this system, lecturers can record each student’s marks and the system will automatically compute and issue the student’s grade. In addition, analysis will be conducted in which the system will generate reports and graphs for each subject. The system was developed using the ASP.NET web application development tool, programming language C# and JavaScript as the language support, whereas the Microsoft SQL Server is used as the database tool and ASP.NET Development Server as the web server

In Vitro Interaction Between Oral Hypoglycemic Drug And Herbal Sex Stimulants: Drug Interactions

Sexual dysfunction is a common, underappreciated complication of diabetes. Male sexual dysfunction among diabetic patients can include disorders of libido, ejaculatory problems, and erectile dysfunction (ED). All three forms of male dysfunction can cause significant bother for diabetic patients and can affect their quality of life. Diabetic patients take oral hypoglycemic drug to control their diabetic as well as take herbal sex stimulants to control to increase the libido. The combined use of herbs and drugs has increased the possibility of herb-drug interactions. The study was undertaken to explore the herb-drug interactions. To investigate the herbdrug interactions an in vitro dissolution study in different simulated pH medium were performed. In this study gliclazide containing tablet of 80mg as oral hypoglycemic drug and different herbal sex stimulants available in local market were used. The release mechanism was explored and explained with zero order, first order and Higuchi equations to identify drug interaction. Higher percentage release of gliclazide was found at simulated phosphate buffer of pH 7.4 compared to gastric medium of pH 1.2 and also in presence of herbal sex stimulants. Increased release pattern of gliclazide by concomitant administration of herbal sex stimulants gives slightly higher absorption, which gives the indication of herb-drug interactions