Literacy in India

Literacy refers to an individual’s ability to communicate through reading and writing. The literacy rate for any population measures the fraction of the population, above a certain cut-off age, that is literate. Based on the most recent statistics compiled by UNESCO, more than one in three Indians above the age of 15 years is unable to read and write. Further, the roughly 268 million adult illiterates in India constitute one-third of the global population of illiterates. International comparisons show that the Indian literacy rate is well below those for other populous countries like China and also below those for developing countries in general

Fertility, Education and Development: Further Evidence from India

There has been a significant decline in fertility in many parts of India since the early 1980s. This paper reexamines the determinants of fertility levels and fertility decline, using panel data on Indian districts for 1981 and 1991. We find that women's education is the most important factor explaining fertility differences across the country and over time. Low levels of child mortality and son preferences also contribute to lower fertility. By contrast, general indicators of modernization and development such as urbanisation, poverty reduction, and male literacy bear no significant association with fertility. En passant, we probe a subject of much confusion - the relation between fertility decline and gender bias.Fertility, demographic transition, female literacy, India

Attitudes to equality : the"socialist legacy"revisited

It is routinely assumed that residents of post-socialist countries have a preference for greater income equality, other things being equal, owing to the legacy of socialism. This proposition is examined in the context of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union using data from three waves of the World Values Survey. Contrary to expectations, the authors find little evidence of a'socialist legacy'en bloc. Considering the former Soviet Union separately from other post-socialist countries, the analysis finds that as a group these countries display significantly lower preference for moving toward greater income equality than both Eastern Europe and other comparator groups (developed and developing countries). These findings hold up even when controlling for the conventional determinants of attitudes such as income level and employment status of the individual respondent, as well as national factors such as per-capita income and its distribution. Moreover, the preference for greater income inequality appears to have persisted at least since the mid-1990s and possibly since the early 1990s (data difficulties preclude a robust examination of this latter question). The results are consistent with the fairly low levels of public spending on redistribution commonly found in the former Soviet Union.Access to Finance,Inequality,,Poverty Impact Evaluation,Corporate Law

The Role of the Mangement Sciences in Research on Personalization

We present a review of research studies that deal with personalization. We synthesize current knowledge about these areas, and identify issues that we envision will be of interest to researchers working in the management sciences. We take an interdisciplinary approach that spans the areas of economics, marketing, information technology, and operations. We present an overarching framework for personalization that allows us to identify key players in the personalization process, as well as, the key stages of personalization. The framework enables us to examine the strategic role of personalization in the interactions between a firm and other key players in the firm's value system. We review extant literature in the strategic behavior of firms, and discuss opportunities for analytical and empirical research in this regard. Next, we examine how a firm can learn a customer's preferences, which is one of the key components of the personalization process. We use a utility-based approach to formalize such preference functions, and to understand how these preference functions could be learnt based on a customer's interactions with a firm. We identify well-established techniques in management sciences that can be gainfully employed in future research on personalization.CRM, Persoanlization, Marketing, e-commerce,

Dynamic Analysis of Skeletal Frames Subjected to Ground Motions: A Theoretical and Experimental Study

In this study it was intended to study both the mathematical and experimental behaviour of skeletal frames and to examine the feasibility of using small scale models to predict the behaviour of prototype structures. Mathematical analysis of both two and three dimensional structures was carried out. Computer programs were written using the relevant mathematical models and response of typical structures subjected to ground motions. For two dimensional frames both linear and nonlinear behaviour of structures was studied. For three dimensional structures to reduce the size of the eigenvalue problem, a technique known as Dynamic Condensation was incorporated. To carry out the experimental study on small scale models, a small unidirectional shaking table was designed and constructed in the departmental workshop. Two small scale models were tested using this table. The natural frequencies for these models were obtained experimentally and their response to both harmonic and random vibrations was studied. Comparisons were made between the experimental values recorded and theoretical values obtained by using the computer programs. The correspondence between experimental and analytical results was reasonably good for both the models. Experimental losses and distortions produced during fabrication procedures lead to experimental values being smaller than the corresponding theoretically computed values. It was not possible to induce nonlinear behaviour in either of the models due to the limited capabilities of the experimental equipment used. From this study it can be concluded that the use of small scale models can be successfully used to predict the dynamic behaviour of simple prototype structures. It is however essential to accurately design and construct these models to represent the characteristics of the prototype being studied

Consensus in the Presence of Multiple Opinion Leaders: Effect of Bounded Confidence

The problem of analyzing the performance of networked agents exchanging evidence in a dynamic network has recently grown in importance. This problem has relevance in signal and data fusion network applications and in studying opinion and consensus dynamics in social networks. Due to its capability of handling a wider variety of uncertainties and ambiguities associated with evidence, we use the framework of Dempster-Shafer (DS) theory to capture the opinion of an agent. We then examine the consensus among agents in dynamic networks in which an agent can utilize either a cautious or receptive updating strategy. In particular, we examine the case of bounded confidence updating where an agent exchanges its opinion only with neighboring nodes possessing 'similar' evidence. In a fusion network, this captures the case in which nodes only update their state based on evidence consistent with the node's own evidence. In opinion dynamics, this captures the notions of Social Judgment Theory (SJT) in which agents update their opinions only with other agents possessing opinions closer to their own. Focusing on the two special DS theoretic cases where an agent state is modeled as a Dirichlet body of evidence and a probability mass function (p.m.f.), we utilize results from matrix theory, graph theory, and networks to prove the existence of consensus agent states in several time-varying network cases of interest. For example, we show the existence of a consensus in which a subset of network nodes achieves a consensus that is adopted by follower network nodes. Of particular interest is the case of multiple opinion leaders, where we show that the agents do not reach a consensus in general, but rather converge to 'opinion clusters'. Simulation results are provided to illustrate the main results.Comment: IEEE Transactions on Signal and Information Processing Over Networks, to appea

A Simulation Based Approach for Determining Maintenance Strategies

Manufacturing organizations are continuously in the mode of identifying and implementing mechanisms to achieve a competitive edge. To this point manufacturers have recognized the critical role of equipment in the productivity of manufacturing operations. With the current trend of manufacturers attempting to lean out their production processes, primary and auxiliary equipment have become even more important to manufacturers as measured by productivity, quality, delivery, and cost metrics. As a result of the focus on lean manufacturing, maintenance management has found a new vigor and purpose to increase equipment capacity and capability. However, the most proactive maintenance strategy is not always the most effective utilization of resources. It is typical for manufacturers to integrate both reactive and proactive maintenance to define a cost effective maintenance strategy. A simulation-based approach is presented that allows an end user to develop such a maintenance strategy

Effect of Economic Growth and Inflation on Minimum Wages in Badung District Bali Province

Many factors can influence the minimum wage in Badung Regency, namely economic growth and the rate of inflation that occurs. The aim of this research is to determine the effect of economic growth and inflation rate on minimum wages in Badung Regency, Bali Province, both partially and simultaneously. Data analysis was carried out using the multiple linear regression method. Based on data analysis, the results obtained are (1) economic growth has a positive and real partial effect on the minimum wage in Badung Regency, Bali Province, 2) the inflation rate has an effect partially positive and real on the minimum wage in Badung Regency, Bali Province, (3) economic growth and the inflation rate simultaneously have a real effect on the minimum wage in the Regency Badung, Bali Province. To the Tabanan Regency government, considering that the issue of wages is a very important problem, it is hoped that the Badung Regency government will pay more attention to these two variables in order to increase the minimum wage for Badung Regenc

Self Perceptions of Clinical Performance of Accelerated First Degree and Accelerated Second-Degree Graduates

Currently in the United States, motivated by nursing shortages, numerous ways have been created to recruit nurses in nursing schools. Accelerated nursing programs are increasing rapidly. Colleges and Schools of Nursing around the nation are accepting students seeking their first degree, as well as those with a second degree. This study compared perceptions of clinical performance of accelerated first-degree and accelerated second-degree bachelor of nursing graduates. The intention was to identify whether, after graduation, the two groups held different self-perceptions of performance in the clinical environment. This was to determine if one group has better self-perception of performance than the other to explore how these differences can impact accelerated nursing programs and clinical performance after graduation. The results showed no significant differences in the perception of performance between the two groups; concluding degree status has little or no impact on perception of clinical practice and prediction of practice success from an accelerated program