Growth and Prospects of Agro-Processing Industries in Punjab

Present study attempts to examine the growth and prospects of agro-processing industries in Punjab in the post liberalization period. Punjab that used to perform reasonably well in terms of industrialization, few years back, is today facing the industrial crunch owing to obvious reasons. Keeping present trends in mind, the state needs to emulate the growth path adopted by China, explicitly, wherein thrust to development had been on the manufacturing sector. With availability of food grain production round the year, it seems viable also in the state to develop the agro processing industries. In fact, researchers have pointed out that Punjab’s agriculture has reached a stage where its sustainability is in doubt. If such apprehensions turn out to be true, then future of masses will also land in darkness. Development of agro-processing industries at this juncture, are perceived to be the stimulator that can revamp the vanished glory of the state. The study is an attempt made through empirical framework to find out the conditions for the development of agro-processing industries in the state.Keywords. Prospects, Agro-processing, Development.JEL. L52, L66, L67

Task-Based Ontology for Information Systems

Problem solving method describes the reasoning process and knowledge requirement for accomplishing a given task. There are a number of problems solving methods and other problem solving approaches currently in place. Apparently, these existing approaches demonstrate an excellent work done in the field. Several of these approaches are technology based or driven where the designer/developer has to force fit their design into these technologies. Further, it is not clear as to how such approaches account for external representations in problem solving, epistemological limitations that humans and computers have, and pragmatic constraints associated with real world problems. In this paper we have examined these perspectives and taken them into account for developing Task-Based Problem Solving Adapters (TPSAs). TPSAs developed by us lead toward human centeredness and help us to address the pragmatic task constraints through a range of technologies like neural networks, fuzzy logic, and genetic algorithms. We have also provided an example of applying the TPSAs to develop a working system for assisting sales engineers of an electrical manufacturing firm in monitoring the status of orders in the company

Using Social Robots in Health Settings: Implications of Personalization on Human-Machine Communication

In view of the shortage of healthcare workers and a growing aging population, it is worthwhile to explore the applicability of new technologies in improving the quality of healthcare and reducing its cost. However, it remains a challenge to deploy such technologies in environments where individuals have limited knowledge about how to use them. Thus, this paper explores how the social robots designed for use in health settings in Australia have sought to overcome some of the limitations through personalization. Deployed in aged care and home-based care facilities, the social robots are person-centered, emphasizing the personalization of care with human-like attributes (e.g., human appearances) to engage in reciprocal communication with users. While there have been debates over the advantages and disadvantages of personalization, this paper discusses the implications of personalization on the design of the robots for enhancing engagement, empowerment and enablement in health settings

RFID-based Hospital Real-time Patient Management System

In a health care context, the use RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology can be employed for not only bringing down health care costs but also facilitate automating and streamlining patient identification processes in hospitals and use of mobile devices like PDA, smart phones, for design a health care management systems. In this paper, we outline a RFID model for designing a system in the health care. An application of the architecture is described in the area of RFID-based Real-time Hospital Patien

Gastrointestinal transit of dosage forms

This thesis describes the results from a series of studies designed to evaluate the gastrointestinal transit of oral dosage forms. The transit of placebo pellet and tablet formulations was monitored using the technique of gamma scintigraphy. The formulations were radiolabelled with either technetium-99m or indium-lil. Four parameters, two physiological and two pharmaceutical, were selected for investigation. All the studies were conducted in healthy male volunteers. The first study examined the influence of the supine position on the gastric emptying of pellets in fasted and fed subjects. There was no marked difference between the supine and control gastric emptying data. As would be expected, food had a significant effect on gastric emptying. The influence of the time of day of administration on the gastrointestinal transit of pellets was investigated in fasted subjects. Transit of the pellets was not affected by their time of administration. The effect of the putative bioadhesive, polycarbophil, on the gastrointestinal transit of a pellet formulation was studied in fasted subjects. The pellets emptied from the stomach, rapidly and in an exponential manner. A set of studies was conducted to evaluate the transit of tablets in fed and fasted subjects. Tablet size did not affect gastric emptying, although there was an increase in the variability of gastric emptying with increasing tablet size. Food had a marked effect on gastric emptying. The rate of emptying was related to the energy content of the meal. Tablet size did not appear to be a determinant of transit through the ileocaecal sphincter. The colon transit and dispersion of the tablets was examined. Neither the ingestion of food nor defecation appeared to alter the rate of transit through the colon

An Enterprise Computer-Based Information System (CBIS) in the Context of Its Utilization and Customer Satisfaction

Information systems is the study of technology, organizations, and people. An enterprise computer-based information system (CBIS) is type of technology where people can buy and sell their items online, therefore, it is a part of the online business process. This relationship has resulted in the reengineering of the information systems’ model, the formulation of new requirements for training and education, and opening new investment windows for the development of new technologies at both the computer hardware and software application level to meet the needs of newly emerging business models. The aim of this chapter is to provide a comprehensive survey on enterprise CBISs in the context of its utilization and customer satisfaction

Gastrointestinal transit of dosage forms

This thesis describes the results from a series of studies designed to evaluate the gastrointestinal transit of oral dosage forms. The transit of placebo pellet and tablet formulations was monitored using the technique of gamma scintigraphy. The formulations were radiolabelled with either technetium-99m or indium-lil. Four parameters, two physiological and two pharmaceutical, were selected for investigation. All the studies were conducted in healthy male volunteers. The first study examined the influence of the supine position on the gastric emptying of pellets in fasted and fed subjects. There was no marked difference between the supine and control gastric emptying data. As would be expected, food had a significant effect on gastric emptying. The influence of the time of day of administration on the gastrointestinal transit of pellets was investigated in fasted subjects. Transit of the pellets was not affected by their time of administration. The effect of the putative bioadhesive, polycarbophil, on the gastrointestinal transit of a pellet formulation was studied in fasted subjects. The pellets emptied from the stomach, rapidly and in an exponential manner. A set of studies was conducted to evaluate the transit of tablets in fed and fasted subjects. Tablet size did not affect gastric emptying, although there was an increase in the variability of gastric emptying with increasing tablet size. Food had a marked effect on gastric emptying. The rate of emptying was related to the energy content of the meal. Tablet size did not appear to be a determinant of transit through the ileocaecal sphincter. The colon transit and dispersion of the tablets was examined. Neither the ingestion of food nor defecation appeared to alter the rate of transit through the colon

Socially Assistive Robot Enabled Personalised Care for People with Dementia in Australian Private Homes

Australia’s population is ageing and a large number of people are living in their own homes. Motivated by design science as the research methodology, the authors in this paper embark the research on designing, implementing, trialling and evaluating robot enabled user-centred care for people with dementia in home-based settings. Given the importance of pursuing person-centred care practice, this research involves marrying personhood in health care with socially assistive robotics to the designs of social robot enabled person-centred care services. We have conducted first ever longitudinal robotic trials through real deployments in Australian private dwellings to evaluate the impact of the designed socially assistive robots on older people with dementia. The data analyses have been performed through both interactional data (with 2044 times of interaction and a total of 167 hours of usage) and quality of robot experience survey. The descriptive analysis of interactional data show that the designed socially assistive robot enabled care system has facilitated breaking the technology barrier of people with dementia, positively proving sensory enrichment to participants and provided respires to the participants’ carers. The quality of robot experience survey statistics indicate the participants had positive experience with their robot

Socially Assistive Robot Enabled Home-Based Care for Supporting People with Autism

The growing number of people diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an issue of concern in Australia and many countries. In order to improve the engagement, reciprocity, productivity and usefulness of people with ASD in a home-based environment, in this paper the authors report on a 9 month Australian home-based care trial of socially assistive robot (Lucy) to support two young adults with autism. This work demonstrates that by marrying personhood (of people with ASD) with human-like communication modalities of Lucy potentially positive outcomes can be achieved in terms of engagement, productivity and usefulness as well as reciprocity of the people with ASD. Lucy also provide respite to their carers (e.g., parents) in their day to day living

Estimating oil palm yields using vegetation indices derived from quickbird

A single-date archived QuickBird satellite imagery and oil palm yield data collected over a 12-year time series were used to generate empirical oil palm yield models under Malaysian conditions. Vegetation indices and yield data were subject to correlation analysis, followed by regression modelling and model validation using standard metrics. Results showed a strong positive correlation between vegetation indices and oil palm yields, across different planting periods. Among vegetation indices, RVI showed the best correlation with oil palm yield. Empirical models were found to be significant for the 1990-2002 and the 1998-1999 planting periods. Models built using RVI and MSAVI showed a strong fit between estimated yield and observed yield. In the 1998-1999 planting period, however, only RVI and GNDVI showed reliable strength in yield estimation. Overall, findings of this study suggest that selected QuickBird-derived vegetation indices can be used to estimate oil palm yields with reliable accuracy