Pro-poor Growth and Policies: The Asian Experience

The objective of this paper is to assemble on a systematic basis the available data on Asian countries and then analyse the relationship between growth and poverty reduction in a long-term perspective, as well as the impact of different macroeconomic variables on the intensity of this relationship. The results indicate that there is not only a strong positive relationship between growth and poverty reduction, but also that this relationship is highly variable across countries and time periods. The key macroeconomic determinants of the degree of pro-poor growth appear to be the rates of employment and agricultural growth. Inflation, at least up to a certain rate, does not impact poverty negatively, while the role of exports is essentially indirect through the contribution to the overall rate of economic growth. Examination of the change in policy stance of the Asian countries during the 1990s in relation to the 1980s demonstrates that on balance the mix of policies has not been pro-poor. The apparent sacrifice of growth in pursuit of macroeconomic stability has diminished the impact on poverty reduction. Given the relatively weak trade-off between inflation and growth with regard to the impact on poverty and the fact that inflation rates are currently low in the region, it is argued that countries can be more flexible in their policy stance with regard to the adoption of more growth-oriented as opposed to stabilisation policies. In particular, a case is made for resorting to a more expansionary counter-cyclical fiscal policy, led by higher levels of public investment, supported by appropriate monetary and exchange rate policies. The paper concludes with a detailed description of the policies designed to achieve faster agricultural development and greater employment generation.

UPGRADING A MULTI-HOST PLATFORM-AS-A-SERVICE INFRASTRUCTURE END-TO-END USING CONTAINER IMAGES HOSTED IN THE CLOUD

Techniques are provided for updating all the components of a Platform-as-a-Service (“PaaS”) infrastructure, including the host kernel, the PaaS infrastructure, host daemons, and the utilities. The update may occur using the container images uploaded into the cloud container registry

Functional outcome of displaced middle third clavicular fractures treated by plate osteosynthesis

Background: Clavicle fracture is a common traumatic injury around the shoulder girdle due to its subcutaneous position. Recent studies have shown a higher rate of nonunion and shoulder dysfunction in subgroups of patients with clavicle fractures. The purpose of the study was to prospectively analyse the functional outcome of mid-third displaced clavicular fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation with plate osteosynthesis. To study the outcome of displaced middle-third clavicular fracture streated by plate osteosynthesis.Methods: This was a prospective comparative on-randomized study was conducted in Government District Head Quarters Hospital Nagapattinam with a follow-up ranging from September 2018 to January 2019 5 months. Thirty-four cases of middle third displaced (Robinson type 2b1 and 2b2) clavicular fractures are treated with plate osteosynthesis. We used a reconstruction plate, a locking compression plate, and a 1/3rd tubular plate for study.Results: The mean time to union was 9.5 weeks. At the latest follow-up, the entire patients returned to the pre-injury activity level. One case had a superficial infection which was treated with intravenous antibiotics. There is no difference between the reconstruction group and the locking compression plate group in terms of functional outcome and union rate. We also noticed that road traffic accident and direct injury to the shoulder causes Robinson type 2b2 fractures.Conclusions: Open reduction and rigid internal fixation of displaced midshaft clavicular fracture have resulted in a good fracture union rate and excellent functional outcome

Study on management of extra articular distal tibial metaphyseal fractures by intramedullary interlocking nailing

Background: Fractures of the tibia remain a controversial subject despite advances in both non-operative and operative care. The goal in expert care is to realign the fracture, realign limb length, and early functional recovery. To analyze the short-term results of intramedullary interlocking nailing in the management of extra-articular distal tibial metaphyseal fractures done.Methods: This is a prospective comparative on-randomized study of 28 patients with distal tibial metaphyseal fractures in govt. dist. headquarters hospital Nagapattinam with a follow-up ranging from September 2018 to january 2019 4 months. Injury With more than 3 weeks, nonunion, and patient with multiple injuries or a history of previous knee or ankle pathology were not included as were patients who sustained high energy axial load injury-causing disruption or impaction of the ankle plafond.Results: The average distance between the distal tip of the nail and the articular surface of the plafond was 12 mm (range, 4 to 15 mm). Fibular plating was done in 10 patients. Two distal locking bolts were used in 26 patients; 2 patients had three distal locking bolts.Conclusions: Intramedullary nailing is a safe and effective technique for the treatment of extra-articular distal metaphyseal tibial fractures if careful preoperative planning is allied with the meticulous surgical technique

Study on glenoid component in anatomical total shoulder arthroplasty in Nagapattinam district

Background: Depending upon the mechanism of dysfunction or injury a shoulder arthroplasty can either be a partial or total replacement. Shoulder arthroplasty surgery has shown remarkable progress during the last few decades. The objective was to study the effect of prosthesis positioning in reverse shoulder arthroplasty on radiological and clinical outcomes.Methods: This was a prospective comparative non-randomized study of 37 patients who underwent reverse shoulder arthroplasty (RSA) in Government District Head Quarters Hospital Nagapattinam with a follow-up ranging from March 2018 to January 2019 (11 months).Results: Grade 1 indicated a notch limited to the scapular pillar, grade 2 reached the inferior screw of the baseplate, grade 3 extended beyond the inferior screw and grade 4 reached the central peg of the baseplate. Glenoid loosening was defined as radiolucencies under the baseplate or around the peg or screws, screw breakage, or glenoid migration.Conclusions: Outcome measures were improved regardless of the LHO. At 3 months follow-up increased LHO harmed shoulder function and gave more shoulder pain at rest and exertion but did not affect the quality of life, health status, or ROM. At 12 months follow-up, LHO had no relation with the outcome measures. Further studies are warranted to investigate the influence of LHO on long-term prosthetic survival

Management of fractures of thoraco lumbar spine with pedicle screw fixation

Background: Thoraco-lumbar fractures are serious injuries of concern, if left untreated may result in marked morbidity and disability to the patient. To study the efficacy of pedicular screw and rod fixation system (ZETA system) in achieving ‘stabilization’ in thoracic and lumbar fractures of the spine.Methods: This was a prospective comparative on-randomized study of 20 patients who underwent  pedicle screws and rod fixation in Goverment District headquarters hospital Nagapattinam with a follow-up ranging from September 2018 to December 2018 duration of 4 months. Patient selection was according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and was surgically treated with pedicle screw and rod system (ZETA).Results: In 75% of the patients, the fractures were reduced by using polyaxial implants and in 25% of the patients both monoaxial and polyaxial implants were used. The average regional angle during the pre-operative stage was 16.50±5.020 and 4.450±4.150 during the 1-year post-operative period. There was a significant difference between pre-op and post-operative regional angles.Conclusions: There is a very high statistical significant restoration of vertebral body height, mean regional angle, and mean anterior wedge angle with this procedure in thoracolumbar fractures. Neurological recovery was seen significantly when all cases with neurological deficits were clubbed together

Puberty Ceremony of Palanimalai Pulaiyar

The Pulaiyars are one of the hill Peoples living in the Palanimalai range. Just as each ethnic group has its own uniqueness in their life, this hill tribes also having their uniqueness. It includes their all ritual events, peculiarly their puberty ceremony. The ritual event held especially for the blooming woman is seen as unique. Data was collected from field work in Nallurkadu Valavu village under Kodaikanal circle in Dindigul district. Based on that, the purpose of this article is to explore the information about the flower festival of the Pulaiyar people living in the Lower Palanimalai and its related events, folklore, cuisine and traditional music events

Minerological characterization studies of archaeological pottery sherds using FT – IR and TG A - DTA

        The Archaeological pottery sherds excavated in Alagankulam, an ancient port city of Tamilnadu, India, have historical significance owing to the heritage and trade link possessed with the Roman Empire. They were examined by employing the analytical techniques Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) and Thermogravimetry – Differential Thermal Analysis (TGA-DTA) with an objective to identify the mineralogical characteristics of the raw materials used for their production. Based on the mineralogical assemblages observed in FTIR, the nature of the clay used, the textural and vitrification structures were inferred.   The reactions associated with the mineral compositions present in the potsherds on controlled heating over the linear temperature ramp from room temperature to 1200°C in an inert atmosphere were realized by TGA-DTA results. The characterization studies were able to indicate the conditions of firing process adopted and firing temperature attained by the artisans at the time of manufacture of the artifacts of the present investigation

A Cloud-Oriented Green Computing Architecture for E-Learning Applications

Cloud computing is a highly scalable and cost-effective infrastructure for running Web applications. E-learning or e-Learning is one of such Web application has increasingly gained popularity in the recent years, as a comprehensive medium of global education system/training systems. The development of e-Learning Application within the cloud computing environment enables users to access diverse software applications, share data, collaborate more easily, and keep their data safely in the infrastructure. However, the growing demand of Cloud infrastructure has drastically increased the energy consumption of data centers, which has become a critical issue. High energy consumption not only translates to high operational cost, which reduces the profit margin of Cloud providers, but also leads to high carbon emissions which is not environmentally friendly. Hence, energy-efficient solutions are required to minimize the impact of Cloud-Oriented E-Learning on the environment. E-learning methods have drastically changed the educational environment and also reduced the use of papers and ultimately reduce the production of carbon footprint. E-learning methodology is an example of Green computing. Thus, in this paper, it is proposed a Cloud-Oriented Green Computing Architecture for eLearning Applications (COGALA). The e-Learning Applications using COGALA can lower expenses, reduce energy consumption, and help organizations with limited IT resources to deploy and maintain needed software in a timely manner. This paper also discussed the implication of this solution for future research directions to enable Cloud-Oriented Green Computing

Color Textured Image Segmentation Using ICICM - Interval Type-2 Fuzzy C-Means Clustering Hybrid Approach

Segmentation is an essential process in image because of its wild application such as image analysis, medical image analysis, pattern reorganization, etc. Color and texture are most significant low-level features in an image. Normally, color-textured image segmentation consists of two steps: (i) extracting the feature and (ii) clustering the feature vector. This paper presents the hybrid approach for color texture segmentation using Haralick features extracted from the Integrated Color and Intensity Co-occurrence Matrix (ICICM). Then, Extended- Interval Type-2 Fuzzy C-means clustering algorithm is used to cluster the obtained feature vectors into several classes corresponding to the different regions of the textured image. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid approach could obtain better cluster quality and segmentation results compared to state-of-art image segmentation algorithms