Internet based health information resources for community information services

Health Information Resources on the net is growing day by day. Today it contains a variety of services and sources. This paper mainly attempts to bring out the Health Information resources on the Internet for effective community information services

Congrid eels of the Eastern Pacific and key to their leptocephali

This study indicates that 13 species of congrid larvae belonging to 8 genera occur in the eastern Pacific. The species are: Ariosoma gilberti; Paraconger californiensis; Paraconger sp.; P. dentatus; Chiloconger labiatus; Taenioconger digueti; T. canabus; Gorgasia punctata; G. obtusa; Gnathophis catalinensis; Hildebrandia nitens; Bathycongrus macrurus; and B. varidens. The morphological and anatomical changes undergone during metamorphosis are useful in the identification of the larvae. Larvae are distributed closer to the coastal waters, and are more common from January to May than from June to December. A key to the larvae was developed based on the myotomal counts, adult vertebral counts, pigmentation patterns, and the nature of the teeth and tail tip to distinguish the genera and species. This study shows that Garman's unidentified larvae, Atopichthys acus and A. cingulus, are two different larval stages of Ariosoma gilberti, and points out that Atopichthys dentatus and A. obtusus belong to Paraconger and Gorgasia, respectively. (PDF file contains 25 pages.

Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia: Health and Human Right Issue

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional practice performed in different parts of the world, although the type and its prevalence may be different, affecting the wellbeing of millions of women and children. As tradition is interwoven into the identity of a given community, ending any traditional practice is possible only when the practicing community really understands the need for change and be committed for the same. The objective of this article was to assess the knowledge level of people in Gindeberet District of Oromia Regional State (Ethiopia) regarding the negative health effects of FGM on women and children and also its being violation of their human right. The study also aimed at identifying risk factors associated with the practice of FGM in the study area. Differences in level of awareness based on educational level and personal accounts of females who were subjected to FGM were also examined. Sample for the study included 148 residents of four villages of Gindeberet district, 208 grade 12 students and community opinion leaders of the selected villages. The study shows that (76.96%) and (65.74%) of the participants were aware that FGM affects the health of women and violates their human rights respectively. Educational level is found to be associated with awareness about the fact that FGM affects the health of women and children and violates their human rights. In the study area, single instrument is used on multiple girls for mutilation and the material used to do the procedure is not properly sterilized, hence increasing the chance of the victims to contract infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS. Great majority of female participants who were subjected to the practice indicated that they have negative feelings associated with the procedure. Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation, Traditional practice, Human right, Health, Ethiopi

Female Genital Mutilation in Ethiopia: Health and Human Right Issue

Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a traditional practice performed in different parts of the world, although the type and its prevalence may be different, affecting the wellbeing of millions of women and children. As tradition is interwoven into the identity of a given community, ending any traditional practice is possible only when the practicing community really understands the need for change and be committed for the same. The objective of this article was to assess the knowledge level of people in Gindeberet District of Oromia Regional State (Ethiopia) regarding the negative health effects of FGM on women and children and also its being violation of their human right. The study also aimed at identifying risk factors associated with the practice of FGM in the study area. Differences in level of awareness based on educational level and personal accounts of females who were subjected to FGM were also examined. Sample for the study included 148 residents of four villages of Gindeberet district, 208 grade 12 students and community opinion leaders of the selected villages. The study shows that (76.96%) and (65.74%) of the participants were aware that FGM affects the health of women and violates their human rights respectively. Educational level is found to be associated with awareness about the fact that FGM affects the health of women and children and violates their human rights. In the study area, single instrument is used on multiple girls for mutilation and the material used to do the procedure is not properly sterilized, hence increasing the chance of the victims to contract infectious diseases including HIV/AIDS. Great majority of female participants who were subjected to the practice indicated that they have negative feelings associated with the procedure. Key words: - Female Genital Mutilation, Traditional practice, Human right, Health, Ethiopi

Ecología reproductiva de Cipadessa baccifera (Meliaceae)

Cipadessa baccifera is a woody shrub that propagates through seed and underground root stock. The flowers display urceolate androecium, strong protandry, stigma receptivity displayed by turbinate style-head and secondary pollination mechanism. They are self-compatible, nectariferous and produce all three common sugars and certain amino acids in the nectar, and also certain amino acids in the pollen. Further, the flowers present generalist pollination syndrome adapted for pollination by different classes of insects. Bees, wasps and butterflies act as pollinators with the first group effecting mostly geitonogamy while the other two, mostly xenogamy. In this species, spontaneous autogamy is not functional because protandry prevents it. However, flower-visitors could effect autogamy after the stigma attains receptivity but most of the pollen of the flower has been removed by insects by that time. Hand-pollination tests indicated that manipulated autogamy, geitonogamy and xenogamy are functional with highest fruit set in the last mode. Such breeding system indicates the function of facultative xenogamy which delays self-pollination by strong protandry and promotes cross-pollination. The fruit is a fleshy globular drupe that produces 5–10 seeds united by a common fleshy arillod. Seed dispersal modes include ornithochory, barochory and hydrochory. Therefore, the dual mode of propagation, facultative xenogamy, secondary pollination mechanism, generalist pollination syndrome, entomophily and polychory functional in C. baccifera enable it to grow prolifically and expand its distribution in areas where there is no tree cover.Cipadessa baccifera es un arbusto leñoso que se propaga a través de semillas y raíces subterráneas. Las flores muestran androceo urceolado, protandria fuerte y receptividad del estigma mostrada por la cabeza del estilo turbinada que permite un mecanismo de polinización secundaria. Son autocompatibles, nectaríferas y producen los tres azúcares comunes y ciertos aminoácidos en el néctar, y también ciertos aminoácidos en el polen. Además, las flores presentan un síndrome de polinización generalista adaptado a la polinización por diferentes clases de insectos. Las abejas, avispas y mariposas actúan como polinizadores; el primer grupo efectúa principalmente geitonogamia, mientras que los otros dos, principalmente xenogamia. En esta especie, la autogamia espontánea no es funcional porque la protandria la impide. Sin embargo, los visitantes de las flores podrían efectuar la autogamia después de que el estigma alcance la receptividad, pero en ese momento los insectos han dispersado la mayor parte del polen de la flor. Las pruebas de polinización manual indicaron que la autogamia, la geitonogamia y la xenogamia manipuladas son funcionales con la mayor producción de frutos en el último modo. Tal sistema de reproducción indica la función de xenogamia facultativa que retrasa la autopolinización por protandria fuerte y promueve la polinización cruzada. El fruto es una drupa globular carnosa que produce de 5 a 10 semillas unidas por un arillo carnoso común. Los modos de dispersión de semillas son por ornitocoria, barocoria e hidrocoria. Por lo tanto, el modo dual de propagación, la xenogamia facultativa, el mecanismo de polinización secundaria, el síndrome de polinización generalista, la entomofilia y la policoria funcional de permite a C. baccifera crecer prolíficamente y ampliar su distribución en áreas donde no hay cobertura arbórea

Implementation of soft processor based SOC for JPEG compression on FPGA

With the advent of semiconductor process and EDA tools technology, IC designers can integrate more functions. However, to reduce the demand of time-to-market and tackle the increasing complexity of SoC, the need of fast prototyping and testing is growing. Taking advantage of deep submicron technology, modern FPGAs provide a fast and low-cost prototyping with large logic resources and high performance. So the hardware is mapped onto an emulation platform based on FPGA that mimics the behaviour of SOC. In this paper we use FPGA as a system on chip which is then used for image compression by 2-D DCT respectively and proposed SoC for image compression using soft core Microblaze. The JPEG standard defines compression techniques for image data. As a consequence, it allows to store and transfer image data with considerably reduced demand for storage space and bandwidth. From the four processes provided in the JPEG standard, only one, the baseline process is widely used. Proposed SoC for JPEG compression has been implemented on FPGA Spartan-6 SP605 evaluation board using Xilinx platform studio, because field programmable gate array have reconfigurable hardware architecture. Hence the JPEG image with high speed and reduced size can be obtained at low risk and low power consumption of about 0.699W. The proposed SoC for image compression is evaluated at 83.33MHz on Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA

Reproductive ecology of mangrove trees Ceriops decandra (Griff.) Ding Hou and Ceriops tagal (Perr.) C.B. Robinson (Rhizophoraceae)

Ceriops decandra and C. tagal are evergreen trees in the inner mangrove forests in Andhra Pradesh, India. Ceriops decandra is primarily a landward species whereas C. tagal is a seaward and highly salt tolerant species. Ceriops decandra produces flowers and fruits continuously throughout the year while C. tagal produces flowers and fruits during winter only. Both species have amixed mating system with cross-pollination as the principal system and self-pollination, which is primarily vector-dependent. Ceriops decandra flowers have a simple pollination mechanism that is adapted for pollination by daytime foragers, Nomia bees and Odynerus wasps. In contrast, C. tagal flowers have an elaborate and explosive pollination mechanism. Flies and honey bees trip the flowers and contribute to explosive pollen release and subsequent self- and cross-pollination.Wind is also effective in tripping the pollination mechanism but it largely contributes to self-pollination. Bud abortion occurs only in C. decandra. Flower and fruit abortion occurs in both the species of Ceriops. Abortion at different stages of the reproductive unit has been considered to be a strategy by the plants to adjust the available maternal resources to the growing fruits and propagules. The paper provides the basis for further study for the conservation and management of Ceriops species in the study areas

Implementation of dual stack technique for reducing leakage and dynamic power

This paper deals with proposal of a new dual stack approach for reducing both leakage and dynamic powers. The development of digital integrated circuits is challenged by higher power consumption. Thecombination of higher clock speeds, greater functional integration, and smaller process geometries has contributed to significant growth in power density. Scaling improves transistor density and functionality ona chip. Scaling helps to increase speed and frequency of operation and hence higher performance. As voltages scale downward with the geometries threshold voltages must also decrease to gain the performance advantages of the new technology but leakage current increases exponentially. Today leakage power has become anincreasingly important issue in processor hardware and software design. It can be used in various applications like digital VLSI clocking system, buffers, registers, microprocessors etc. The leakage power increases astechnology is scaled down. In this paper, we propose a new dual stack approach for reducing both leakage and dynamic powers. Moreover, the novel dual stack approach shows the least speed power product whencompared to the existing methods. All well known approach is “Sleep” in this method we reduce leakage power. The proposed Dual Stack approach we reduce more power leakage. Dual Stack approach uses theadvantage of using the two extra pull-up and two extra pull-down transistors in sleep mode either in OFF state or in ON state. Since the Dual Stack portion can be made common to all logic circuitry, less number of transistors is needed to apply a certain logic circuit.The dual stack approach shows the least speed power product among all methods. The Dual Stack technique provides new ways to designers who require ultra-low leakage power consumption with much less speedpower product

Impact of Human Capital Management on Organizational Performance With the Mediation Effect of Human Resource Analytics

Purpose: The main objective of the study is to examine the relationship between Human Capital Management, Human resource analytics and Organizational performance through systematic literature survey   Theoretical Framework: The authors developed a conceptual framework to examine the relationship between the components of the Human Capital Management (HCM ) and its effect on  organizational performance with the mediation of HR analytics   Design/methodology/approaches: The study is based on extensive systematic literature review collected from previous studies   Findings: The systematic review validated the proposed conceptual model and found that HR analytics help organizations track their human capital management and improves organizational performance   Research practical social implication: This study makes significant contributions to the existing body of knowledge of Human capital management and application of innovative tool of HR analytics .There are several implications for practitioners based on the findings   Originality/value: The study is more relevant and practically applied to the organization who are in the nurturing stage of implementing HR analytics towards Human Capital Management for increasing organizational performanc