Marketing of Agricultural Crops in Rural Indian Economy: A Case Study

The marketing of agricultural crops plays an important role not only in stimulating production and consumption, but also in accelerating the pace of economic development. It is not only an economic link between the producers and consumers; it maintains a balance between demand and supply. Study examined the transaction of agricultural crops through rural markets and the price structure of different crops in rural markets of Ambedkarnagar District. It also highlighted the composition and structure of sellers and traders engaged in the marketing process. Local rural markets are the best option for the marginal and small farmers to dispose off their perishable surplus to get quick returns. Due to the lack of good infrastructural facilities in the study area, most of the farmers prefer local rural markets instead of going to the specialised markets or near-by town area. The variation in the transaction of agricultural produce is mainly due to a number of factors like higher market demand, accessibility, nature of produce, transportation facility, market-size, fair price, and so on. The average price of individual crop also varies from market to market due to the various socio-spatial factors. Keywords: Marketing, Agricultural crops, Rural economy, Rural market

A clinical study of deviated nasal septum with special reference to conventional and endoscopic septoplasty

Background: Deviated nasal septum is a very common condition. It causes nasal obstruction, epistaxis, sinusitis, headache and obstructive sleep apnea. Septoplasty is one of the most common procedures performed for correction of deviated nasal septum. The aim of our study was to determine the incidence of DNS with respect to age, sex, type of septal deviation and presenting complaints and compare if endoscopic septoplasty is better than conventional septoplasty.Methods: The present study was conducted among 115 cases of DNS for a period of one year. While detailed clinical study was done in 115 cases, surgery was performed in 60 cases. They were divided into group A and group B with 30 cases in each group. Conventional septoplasty was performed in group A while endoscopic septoplasty in group B.Results: The male to female ratio was found to be 2.19:1. Majority (37.18%) patients were of age group 11-20 years with deviation to the left (54.78%). Nasal obstruction (58.26%) was the commonest presenting complaint. Postoperatively, a significant relief of symptoms were observed in endoscopic septoplasty in terms of nasal obstruction (93.33%) and hyposmia (87.5%). Post-operative complications were higher in conventional septoplasty with significant rate of residual deviation.Conclusions: Our study showed that functional outcome was better and post-operative complications were less in endoscopic septoplasty. Endoscopic septoplasty provides better illumination which helps to identify septal deviation accurately while reducing the postoperative complications due to limited dissection and lesser trauma to septal cartilage.

A Simple and Cost-Effective EPON-Based Next Generation Mobile Backhaul RAN Architecture

This study proposes a novel, simple and cost-effective PON-based next generation mobile backhaul RAN architecture that enables redistribution of some of the intelligence currently centralized in the Mobile Packet Core (MPC) platform out into the access nodes of the RAN. Specifically, this work proposes a fully distributed ring-based EPON architecture that enables the support of a converged PON-4G/5G mobile WiMAX/LTE access networking transport infrastructure to seamlessly backhaul both mobile and wireline multimedia traffic and services

An Outlook of Educational Attainment and Literacy in Rural India: A Case Study

In rural India, the socio-economic conditions have largely constrained the process of education and the social inequalities of caste, class and gender have been identified as the major causes of educational deprivation among children in India. A large proportion of children from the economically poor and socially disadvantaged groups, especially girls, are either denied access or are failing to complete even five years of basic education. The goal of universal and compulsory education remains a challenge to achieve even after six decades of independence. The present paper has tried to highlight the various aspects of education and state of literacy in Ambedkarnagar District in North India. Study also examined the rate of literates and illiterates by population and sex in various Community Development Blocks in general and scheduled castes and scheduled tribes' population in particular. The distribution of villages by literacy rate range as well as according to the distance from the nearest statutory town and availability and non-availability of educational facility has also elaborated. This paper has been presented at the International Conference on Education Awareness for Social Sectors Issues in India, organized by Singhania University, India, in collaboration with Bedfordian Business School, Luton, United Kingdom & Toff Institute of Management and Engineering Studies, India during 24 July, 2011

Perception of pathology as a future career choice among medical students from Karachi, Pakistan: experience from a private medical school.

To determine the perception of pathology as a future career choice among medical students of a private medical school from Karachi, Pakistan. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 201 students participated in this study. All Students were approached randomly to participate. A total of 201 students participant survey forms were evaluated in this study. The overall satisfaction level with pathology was observed in 61.8% ofthe students. Majority of the students understood subspecialties which were a part of clinical medicine. Over half of the students thought pathology as a specialty should be highlighted in a more integrated manner (59.2%) with a minority favouring a separate pathology rotation (11.9%). In conclusion, this study indicates that majority of students have a positive approach towards the field of pathology and favour incorporating it in an integrative way into the medical school curriculum

Customer satisfaction on railway transport service in Malaysia (KTMB)

This study is an overview of the perceptions of users of railway transport services in Malaysia.The survey also aims to obtain feedback on the perception of service user’s railway transportation and the satisfaction level of railway transport services in Malaysia.In addition, the survey was also made to identify the factors least demand for rail services in Malaysia.This study used statistical methods previous train service consumer perception, consumer demand data and other resources related to identifying the cause of the lack of demand for rail freight services

Lean start-up awareness and effect on entrepreneurial intentions among Malaysian youths

In an attempt to develop greater interest in enterprise start-up, this study examines the level of awareness of lean start-up model and its effect on entrepreneurial intentions among Malaysian youths. In this study, we argue that greater entrepreneurial interest could be ignited in the youths if lean start-up model is applied in teaching and learning. Using a survey, data were collected from 191 university students at three universities in Malaysia peninsula. These data were analysed with descriptive statistics and regression methods. We found that majority of the students were not aware of lean start-up model. Our research also established a significant positive effect of lean start-up on entrepreneurial intentions among Malaysian youths. We recommend that the government and university authorities should draft appropriate strategies (e.g. inclusion in syllabus) that will engender greater awareness and adoption of lean start-up, especially among students and lecturers, for enterprise creation in the country

Designing EthAKUL: A mobile just-in-time learning environment for bioethics in Pakistan

In developing countries such as Pakistan, bioethics has not been included in mainstream thinking in medical education. The authors’ experiences suggest that current methods of teaching bioethics are problematic as students are unable to translate theory to practice. Alternative pedagogies, such as just-in-time learning (JiTL) using mobile devices, may be able to foster the development and implementation of ethical reasoning among nurses, doctors, and medical and nursing students. This research was conceived to determine the effectiveness of mobile JiTL – anytime, anyplace learning through mobile devices – for teaching bioethics. After obtaining ethical clearance, a participatory design (PD) approach was adopted to ensure input from all stakeholders for the design of ‘EthAKUL’, comprising a mobile app, five modules and just-in-time pedagogy. The name of the app is an acronym evoking ethics, learning and the university where the project originated. As a part of the design process, three PD workshops were held with junior doctors, nurses, nursing students, medical students and bioethics teaching faculty, and five meetings were held with faculty members, to discuss functional specifications and user-acceptance testing of the app. The feedback related to the nature of common ethical issues encountered in clinical settings, the existing process of teaching and learning bioethics, and the requested features of the app were recorded. These data sets were analyzed and synthesized into functional and technical specifications for the mobile app. The software programmers developed the app with the close involvement of the stakeholders. The development of teaching content continued alongside this process. While this enabled EthAKUL’s developers to incorporate needs of all stakeholders, challenges were encountered in the process relating to the pragmatic and conceptual aspects of JiTL, ML and PD. We discuss the implications of this research in bringing about transformative changes in higher education

Use of Vegetation Health Data for Estimation of Aus Rice Yield in Bangladesh

Rice is a vital staple crop for Bangladesh and surrounding countries, with interannual variation in yields depending on climatic conditions. We compared Bangladesh yield of aus rice, one of the main varieties grown, from official agricultural statistics with Vegetation Health (VH) Indices [Vegetation Condition Index (VCI), Temperature Condition Index (TCI) and Vegetation Health Index (VHI)] computed from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data covering a period of 15 years (1991–2005). A strong correlation was found between aus rice yield and VCI and VHI during the critical period of aus rice development that occurs during March–April (weeks 8–13 of the year), several months in advance of the rice harvest. Stepwise principal component regression (PCR) was used to construct a model to predict yield as a function of critical-period VHI. The model reduced the yield prediction error variance by 62% compared with a prediction of average yield for each year. Remote sensing is a valuable tool for estimating rice yields well in advance of harvest and at a low cost