Determination of pedestrian’s personal space in mass religious gatherings - A case study of Kumbh Mela

Personal space can be defined as the physical distance between two individuals in a social environment. It varies from person to person depending on culture and context and there are significant individual differences too. Studying personal space includes the ability to recognize the various zones of involvement and the activities, relationships, and emotions associated with each zone. This paper tries to formulate and define personal space in high density crowd situations in Kumbh Mela, one of the world’s largest mass religious gatherings. Video data of pilgrims taking part in the Panchkroshi Yatra, a religious walkathon which is a part of KumbhMela, is used for the analysis of factors affecting personal space. To identify the thresholds of personal space, walking speed of individuals, gender, presence of luggage and the number of males and females surrounding an individual have been considered. It is found that the average speed of the individual, the group size,and the gender ratio of group members have a significant effect on the personal space of an individual. Also, it is observed that the personal space follows an asymmetrical pattern rather than a symmetrical pattern

कोचीन मात्स्यिकी पोताश्रय में वर्ष 2010 के दौरान अवतरण किये सुरा और शंकुशों की प्रचुरता और विविधता पर विशेष परामर्श के साथ केरल की उपास्थिमीन मात्स्यिकी

कृपया पूरा लेखा पढ

Course Manual - National Workshop on Effective Management of E-Resources in Research Libraries

The National Workshop on “Effective Management of EResources in Research Libraries" is the first of its kind organised by the Library & Documentation Centre of ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Kochi. Periodic trainings on newer technologies developed in the field of Library & Information Sciences help library professionals to enhance their professional competencies that will contribute largely to the output of the parent organization. Digital repositories are the need of the hour where the Institute can showcase the research findings. ICAR-CMFRI is a pioneer in developing Institute repository and the open access repository of the Institute "eprints@cmfri" now stands 1st among ICAR Institute repositories, 3rd among Indian repositories and 343rd among the world repositories. Topics of current relevance towards development and modernisation of research libraries are included in the Workshop which is expected to help the participants to understand the possibilities and ways of supporting the research activities of the parent Institution more effectively

Topochemical engineering of composite hybrid fibers using layered double hydroxides and abietic acid

Topochemical engineering of hybrid materials is an efficient way of synthesizing hydrophobic and highly tensile fiber composites by utilizing the intermolecular hydrogen bonds in natural materials. These materials include wood pulp fibers, abietic acid (resin acid) and inexpensive metal salts. In this work, a hybrid composite was created using bleached and unbleached kraft pulp fibers as cellulose platform. In situ co-precipitation of layered double hydroxide (LDH) was performed to grow LDH crystals on the surface of the cellulose fibers, followed by the immobilization of abietic acid (AA) on LDH-grafted cellulose. Here we aimed to benefit from the hydrogen bonding between -OH groups of cellulose and LDH, and the -COOH groups of AA to obtain charge-directed assembly of one material on the other material. Thus, composite hybrid fibers (C-HF) were produced and then characterized by optical (CAM), spectroscopic (XRD, IR) and microscopic techniques (SEM) to determine their average length and distribution, structure and purity, bonding, and morphology. These fibers further were tested for water contact angle (hydrophobicity), oil absorption (lipophilicity), tensile strength and ISO brightness measurements. The performance of C-HF was compared with unmodified reference fibers (REF), fibers composed with only AA (C-F) and LDH-hybridized fibers (HF). The results revealed a variety of correlations between materials and their properties due to characteristic surface morphology, functional groups, hydrogen bonding and natural co-materials such as lignin and hemicelluloses. Attractive and repulsive van der Waals forces between material entities play a crucial role in the resulting properties

Heavy landings of juvenile threadfin bream at Munambam and Cochin

Large quantities of the threadfin bream Nemipterus mesoprion were landed by trawlers at Cochin and Munambam Fisheries Harbours during January – February 2011. The characteristic feature of the landings was the dominance of juveniles in the size range of 60 – 110 mm TL, contributing 70 - 90% of the landings of the species in terms of estimated numbers

Modulation of selected hemolymph factors in the Indian edible oyster Crassostrea madrasensis (Preston) upon challenge by Vibrio alginolyticus

Juveniles of Crassostrea madrasensis (mean weight 85.5 ± 2.3 g) were exposed to live cells of Vibrio alginolyticus (1.2 x 106 cells g-1) by intramuscular injection. Hemolymph samples were collected at different time intervals to study the modulations in the cellular and humoral factors. There was an increase in total hemocyte count, percentage granulocytes, serum protein, serum acid phosphatase, serum phenol oxidase and serum lysozyme in response to bacterial challenge upto three to five days post-injection. A decrease in the ability of hemocytes to phagocytose yeast cells was also noted. The hemolymph parameters of the test group became similar to that of control animals within two weeks of exposure to live bacterial cells

Antibacterial and antifungal properties of southeast Indian coastal sponges

Seven species of sponges collected from southeast coast India were tested for antibacterial and antifungal properties. The alcoholic extracts were obtained individually and their sub-fractions were prepared by counter current solvent extraction of the alcoholic extracts to test their bioactivity. Semi- pure fractions were obtained by silica gel column chromatography. The non-polar and medium polar fractions of three sponges viz. Cervicornia sp., Callyspongia fibrosa and Acanthella elongata were found to be active against the tested fish pathogens, Vibrio alginolyticus, V. fischerii, Micrococcus sp. and a fungal strain, Rhizoctonia solani, showing the potential of Gulf of Mannar - Palk Bay sponges to have bioactive properties

Heavy exploitation of juvenile threadfin bream, Nemipterus randalli along Kerala coast

Threadfin breams are one of the most dominant group among the demersal fisheries resources along the Kerala coast, landed mainly by multiday trawlers operating beyond 100 m. Among the threadfin breams, Nemipterus randalli is the most abundant species contributing over 60% of threadfin bream landings of the state. Large quantities of this species are landed by trawlers at Cochin, Munambam and Neendakara Fisheries Harbours of the state. Threadfin breams locally known as “kilimeen” have good local demand in fresh condition and is sold at ` 40-60/- per kg. Peak landing occurs during August - September months, immediately after south-west monsoon. The present report is based on the observations made on threadfin bream landings at the above landing centres during 2010