Green Information Technology, Energy Efficiency, and Profits: Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Prior studies argue that information technology (IT) can play an important role toward sustainable and “greener” growth, yet few studies have empirically assessed the adoption and efficacy of green information technology initiatives at the firm level. This study investigates the factors that influence green IT implementation in organizations; and the consequences of the green IT implementation in terms of energy conservation and profit. Based on a survey of 293 organizations in India, we find that top management commitment plays an important role in influencing perceived importance of green IT in an organization. In turn, the perceived importance of green IT initiatives within an organization influences the green IT spending as a percentage of overall IT spending. Among consequences of green IT implementation, green IT implementation is positively associated with higher reductions in IT equipment energy consumption and higher profit impact. We discuss the implications of the study for further research, policy, and managerial practice to design and encourage implementation of green IT initiatives for environmental sustainability

Service Augmentation and Customer Satisfaction: An Analysis of Cell Phone Services in Base-of-the-Pyramid Markets

In this study, we investigate how IT-enabled service augmentation influences customer satisfaction for cell phone services in Base-of-the-Pyramid (BOP) markets. We conceptualize value added service and customer care as two components of service augmentation. In spite of the acknowledged competitive significance of digital services, the impact of service augmentation on customer satisfaction remains an unexplored area of research. Arguing for price- and relational- evaluations, we develop hypotheses for a substitution effect of value added services, and a complementary effect of customer care, on the relationship between core service and customer satisfaction. Specific to the BOP market context, we argue for a differentiated influence of service augmentation for different categories of providers. We empirically examine and find support for the hypothesized relationships using an archival data set from surveys of cell phone customers in seven South Asian BOP markets. We discuss the managerial implications and contributions of the findings

Industry-Specific Human Capital and Wages: Evidence from the Business Process Outsourcing Industry

Human capital is becoming more critical as the global economy becomes more information intensive and service intensive. While IS researchers have studied some dimensions of human capital, the role of industry-specific human capital has remained understudied. The IT-enabled business process outsourcing (BPO) industry provides an ideal setting to study returns to human capital, because jobs in this industry are standardized and many professionals in this new industry have come from other industries. We build on IS and Economics literature to theorize returns to human capital in the BPO industry, and we test the theory using data for over 2,500 BPO professionals engaged in call center work and other non-voice services (e.g., accounting, finance, HR, etc.) in India during the 2006-2008 time period. We find higher returns to industry-specific human capital than to firm-specific and general human capital. We also find that junior-level professionals, whose jobs are relatively more standardized, have higher returns to industry-specific human capital than senior-level professionals. We discuss implications for further research and practice in the global economy where inter-industry transfers and migration of skills are becoming increasingly common

Characterisation and mode of in vitro replication of pea chloroplast OriA sequences

A partially purified replicative system of pea chloroplast that replicates recombinant DNAs containing pea chloroplast origin sequences has been characterised. Polymerisation by this system is very fast and insensitive to chain terminators like dideoxynucleotides, arabinosylcytosine 5'-triphosphate, etc. Both strands of template DNA are synthesized and single-stranded DNA templates undergo more than one round of replication. When sequences of either of the two chloroplast origins of replication (OriA or OriB) are used as templates, the replicative intermediates are found to have sigma structures. Electron microscopic analysis of the sigma structures restricted with various enzymes reveals that the initiation site of in vitro replication maps near the displacement-loop regions where replication initiates also in vivo. Although the observed replication initiation in the OriA recombinant template is chloroplast-DNA-specific, the mode of replication is different from that observed in vivo with intact ctDNA. However, when the template DNA contains both the OriA and OriB sequences, the in vitro replication proceeds in the theta mode, the mode of replication usually observed in vivo

Forage from Trees and Grasses of Silvipasture System in Degraded Land of Semiarid India

Rainfed agro-ecosystem has a distinct place in Indian Agriculture, occupying 67% of the cultivated area and supporting 65% of the livestock population (Venkateswarlu, 2005). The silvipasture systems involving suitable multi-purpose trees specially fodder trees and range grass species provide resilience by ensuring continued and multiple outputs such as, forage, fuelwood, fodder, fibre and industrial raw material, besides other positive environmental effects. Incorporation of fodder trees with grasses is perceived as a climate change-resilient cropping system for farmers linking climate change mitigation with adaptation (Mbow et al., 2014). The synergies of tree-grass association need to be explored and exploited by evaluating different fodder tree species with combination of grass species under degraded land and climatic condition. In many low input agro-ecosystems grasses are intercropped with legumes since legumes have an importance as a primary source of nitrogen (Thomsen and Haugaard-Nielsen, 2008). This study was planned to develop a silvipasture system with suitable tree and grass species on degraded land of semi arid condition to ensure the availability of quality fodder round the year

Development of New, High Yielding Tropical Grass Varieties for Increasing Productivity of Semi-Arid Grasslands in India

Indian agriculture has traditionally been a mixed farming system since ancient times with integration of arable crops and livestock. It provides employment and livelihood to 70% of the rural population. Livestock are predominantly cattle and small ruminants that graze extensively on rangelands/pasturelands and common property resources (CPRs). CPRs occupy approximately 54 million ha area including permanent pastures in the alpine and temperate parts as well as seasonal grazing lands and wastelands. The productivity and carrying capacity of tropical degraded grasslands is very low, the average carrying capacity being 1.0, 0.7, 0.7 Adult Cattle Unit (ACU)/ha in semi-arid, arid and hill areas respectively. One of the options to increase livestock productivity is to grow more pasture by introducing higher yielding tropical grass varieties. Sehima nervosum, Heteropogon contortus and Chrysopogon fulvus are major species components of semi-arid tropical grasslands. These peren-nial grasses dominate two of the five major grassland covers, viz. Sehima-Dichanthium cover and Dichanthium-Lasiurus-Cenchrus cover

Characterization of Degree of Eco-restoration by Tree-Grass Interaction in Degraded Lands of Semi-Arid Tropics

Land degradation majorly declines soil health. Eco-restoration through tree-grass interaction provides a perfect solution to restore degraded lands. The study was carried out at Jhansi district of India during 2010 to 2019 with three fodder trees viz namely, Ficus infectoria, Morus alba, and Acacia nilotica and a shrub Leucaena leucocephala (along with three grasses (Cenchrus ciliaris, Chrysopogon fulvus and Panicum maximum). The main objectives of these study were to a) assess the changes in soil organic carbon pools and responses of soil enzymes as impacted by different eco-restoration strategies involving trees and grasses; and b) develop an index to measure efficiency of eco-restoration strategies to aid the community.Grass and tree biomass yield were the highest for Panicum maximum and Ficus infectoria, respectively.After 9 years, land under Ficus, Morus, and Acacia had ~ 63, 105, and 87% greater total organic carbon and Cenchrus, Panicum, and Chrysopogon increased total organic carbon by 84, 91 and 77% at surface layers, respectively, over fallow land. Microbial biomass C increased by 2-2.5 folds in both soil layers after. There were positive correlation among all the C fractionsand eco-restoration efficiency. Carbon management index (CMI) enhanced by 51, 84, and 70% at surface layers under Ficus, Morus, and Acacia based systems, respectively over fallow land. Similarly, grasses also improved CMI by \u3e60%. Accumulation of soil organic carbon under Ficus, Morus, and Acacia were ~55, 91, and 77 % higher than fallow land at surface layers. By combining CMI and biological activity index, we developed eco-restoration efficiency index and found Morus + Panicum, Acaia + Panicum to be effective restoration strategies for eco-restoration under degraded lands of tropical climates. Our study indicated that implementation of these eco-restoration strategies could be a quantitatively important component of climate change mitigation strategies in India and should be continually paid a great attention

Determinants of active aging and quality of life among older adults : systematic review

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Novel UV Spectrophotometer Methods for Quantitative Estimation of Concensi (Amlodipine 10mg and Celecoxib 200mg) Using Hydrotropic Solubilizing Agents

Two simple, accurate, novel, safe and precise methods were developed for the simultaneous estimation of poorly water-soluble drugs Amlodipine besylate (AMD) and Celecoxib (CLX) in a in-house formulation using 2M sodium benzoate as a hydrotropic solution. AMD and CLX show maximum absorbances at 243 and 255 nm, respectively. Sodium benzoate did not show any absorbance above 225 nm and thus no interference in the estimation of drugs was seen. AMD and CLX follow Beer’s law in the concentration range of 2-10mg/ml and 10-50mg/ml (r2 = 0.9992 and 0.9995). Method-A employs the simultaneous equation method using 243 and 255 nm as two analytical wavelengths; method-B employs the absorption ratio method, which uses 243 and 250nm as two analytical wavelengths for estimation of AMD and CLX. The mean percent label claims of in-house formulation were found to be 98.74± 0.912and 99.22± 1.012in method-1, 97.89± 0.872and 99.49± 0.903 in method 2 for AMD and CLX, respectively. The developed methods were validated according to ICH guidelines and values of accuracy, precision and other statistical analysis were found to be in good accordance with the prescribed values therefore both methods can be used for routine monitoring of AMD and CLX in industry in the assay of bulk drug and pharmaceutical formulation. Keywords: Amlodipine besylate, Celecoxib, Simultaneous equation method; Absorption ratio method, Hydrotropic solubilizing agent