Economic Analysis of Post-harvest Losses in Marketing of Vegetables in Uttarakhand

The study has examined the nature and extent of post-harvest losses in vegetable supply chain in the Kumaon division of Uttarakhand. Multistage cluster sampling has been used for selection of 80 vegetable growers, 40 farmers from the hilly region and 40 farmers from the bhabhar region. The sample has also included 25 market functionaries. Twelve major vegetables have been selected for the study. The maximum aggregate post-harvest losses have been found in tomato, followed by potato, brinjal, chilly, French bean and pea. The study has suggested that establishment of producer co-operatives to handle various activities relating to production and marketing of vegetables would help in reducing post-harvest losses.Post-harvest losses, Uttarakhand, Vegetable supply chain, Tomato, Potato, Brinjal, Chilly, French bean, Pea, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q13, Q12, Q18,

A Survey of the Subsistence and Artisanal Fisheries in Rural Areas of Viti Levu, Fiji

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Structural Dynamic Analysis of Freight Railway Wagon Using Finite Element Method

AbstractThis paper describes the development of a virtual freight wagon vehicle using virtual prototyping computer tools. The freight wagon considered as open type wagon “BOXN25” of the Indian Railways. The freight wagon vehicle comprises of car body structure and two bogies. Solidworks is used for modeling the freight wagon and the geometry is exported to finite element tool, ANSYS. A multi degree of freedom system has been reviewed and compared with system having infinite degree of freedom (continuous structure). The current problem falls in the category of large models (Block Lanczos Algorithm is used) and has high degrees of freedom (PCG Solver is used). The structural dynamic response for the virtual freight wagon is determined. It is seen that the car body deformation is influenced by its elastic underframe and sidewalls. The influence of vibration modes, which describe local deflection, on the comfort level and stability of laden goods is discussed. Mode shapes up to a frequency of 30Hz are considered

EPFM Analysis of Subsurface Crack Beneath a Wheel Flat Using Dynamic Condition

AbstractDuring running due to frequent braking and suddenly jamming of brakes the Railway wheel skids over rails. This frequent skidding removes large amount of metal from the surface known as Wheel-flat defect. In this paper the wheel-flat and a subsurface crack in the beneath is studied using FEA. If the wheel-flat is not detected early the subsurface crack can originate in the beneath due to inclusion, may leads to fatal accidents. In this study wheel material is taken Elastic-plastic and J-Integral factor has been obtained. The wheel–rail vehicle is modelled as a mass–spring–damper syste

Psychiatric comorbidity in multiple sclerosis

Aim: To study the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in patients of multiple sclerosisand their association to the degree of disability. Method: Psychiatric symptoms were assessed in 90 patients of multiple sclerosis using GHQ-12, MMSE, HADS, Beck Depression Inventory and AUDIT. Neurological disability wasassessed using Expanded Disability Status Scale. Correlations were determined between EDSS scores and psychiatric scale scores. Result: 61% of patients had significant psychological distress. Depression was most common (38.8%) which was followed by anxiety symptoms (27.8%). Cognitive functioning was relatively intact in patients with mild to moderate neurological disability. Alcohol abusewas mostly restricted to male gender. Conclusion: Psychiatric illness is highly prevalent in patients of multiple sclerosis leading to poor quality of life and significant distress. Psychiatric disability was higher in patients who had greater deterioration in neurological function. All cases of MS should be assessed for psychiatric morbidities as can be alleviated by appropriate intervention

Online Signature Verification and Authentication using Smart Phones

The proposed system is designed to determine whether the person signing on any touch screen device is authenticated user or not. This can be done by verifying his/her handwritten signature which is a socially accepted biometric trait for authenticating an individual. There are two types of handwritten signature verification systems: offline and online systems. In an off-line system, just an image of the user?s signature is acquired without additional attributes, whereas, in an online system, a sequence of x-y coordinates of the user?s signature, along with many other attributes are also acquired. In our paper, we have created a client (mobile) application which captures the user?s signature and extracts various features like pressure, time and x-y co-ordinates and the server application verifies these features to find whether the signature has been done by an authenticated user or a forger. The implementation is done using Python and the GUI is coded using Xcode

Health consequences of sex trafficking: A systematic review

Background: Sex trafficking is one of the most common forms of human trafficking globally. It is associated with health, emotional, social, moral and legal problems. The victims of sex trafficking when returned home are often ignored. This study aimed to explore the health consequences of sex trafficking among women and children. Methods: Medline EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL were systematically searched, from date of inception to July 2016 using a combination of Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and text words on health risks and consequences of sex trafficking. Electronic searches were supplemented by searching the reference lists of included papers and citation tracking. Both Qualitative and quantitative primary studies published in English and exploring health-related problems among sex trafficked women and children were included in this review. Health outcomes considered were: physical, psychological or social risks and consequences of sex trafficking among women and children. No restrictions were applied to geographical regions as sex trafficking involves victims being trafficked between different countries, and within countries. Data were extracted and study quality independently appraised by two reviewers and narrative synthesis was conducted for this review. Results: A total of fifteen articles were included covering health risks and well-being related to sex trafficking. Sexual and physical violence among victims such as rape and repetitive stress and physical injuries were common. The prevalence of STI (sexually transmitted infections) and HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) was also reported as high. Being trafficked at a young age, having been in brothels for a longer period and sexual violence and forced prostitution were linked with a higher risk for HIV infection. Physical health problems reported included headaches, fatigue, dizziness, back pain, memory problem, stomach pain, pelvic pain, gynaecological infections, weight loss, lesions or warts, unwanted pregnancies and abortions. The studies on mental health reported that depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were commonly reported health consequences among sex trafficking victims. Conclusion: there is a compelling need for interventions raising awareness about sex trafficking among young girls and women most at risk of being trafficked. Most studies in this review have focussed on the physical health problems of the trafficked victims although there is also remarkable mental burden amongst those victims. Key policy makers, government officials, public health officials, health care providers, legal authorities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) should be made aware about the health risks and consequences of trafficking. Trafficking consequences should be recognised as a health issue and all the sectors involved including regulating bodies should collaborate to fight against sex trafficking. Due to the heterogeneity of the articles, no meta-analysis could be conducted

Bovine borreliosis in Botswana

Clinical Borrelia theileri infection was reported for the first time in cattle from Botswana concurrent with Babesia bovis and Theileria mutans infections. Two animals, an ox and a cow of the Tswana breed demonstrated clinical signs of fever, haemoglobinuria, inappetance, diarrhoea, pallor of mucous membranes, enlarged superficial lymph nodes and rough hair coats. Examination of the blood smears from the affected animals revealed numerous B. theileri, and very few B. bovis and T mutans organisms. Oxytetracycline was administered parenterally to all the animals in the herd. The ox, being extremely weak and recumbent for the previous 4-5 days, succumbed to death the day after the examination. The clearance of spirochaetes from the blood circulation and recovery of the cow three days after treatment with oxytetracycline suggest an involvement of B. theileri in producing clinical disease.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat v.9 was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201