The Forecasting of 3G Market in India Based on Revised Technology Acceptance Model

3G, processor of 2G services, is a family of standards for mobile telecommunications defined by the International Telecommunication Union [1]. 3G services include wide-area wireless voice telephone, video calls, and wireless data, all in a mobile environment. It allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates.3G is defined to facilitate growth, increased bandwidth and support more diverse applications. The focus of this study is to examine the factors affecting the adoption of 3G services among Indian people. The study adopts the revised Technology Acceptance Model by adding five antecedents-perceived risks, cost of adoption, perceived service quality, subjective norms, and perceived lack of knowledge. Data have collected from more than 400 school/college/Institution students & employees of various Government/Private sectors using interviews & various convenience sampling procedures and analyzed using MS excel and MATLAB. Result shows that perceived usefulness has the most significant influence on attitude towards using 3G services, which is consistent with prior studies. Of the five antecedents, perceived risk and cost of adoption are found to be significantly influencing attitude towards use. The outcome of this study would be beneficial to private and public telecommunication organizations, various service providers, business community, banking services and people of India. Research findings and suggestions for future research are also discussed.Comment: 8 Page

Physical Learning Environment Challenges in the Digital Divide: How to Design Effective Instruction during COVID-19?

The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the way we work, learn, and interact with others in society. Academic institutions have responded to the pandemic by shifting face-to-face teaching to online instruction. However, whether online instruction succeeds also depends on students’ social and physical learning environment, particularly in developing countries. In this paper, we discuss how learning space challenges exacerbate the digital divide. We argue that weak digital infrastructure, combined with family and social dynamics, create learning space inequality that negatively influence learning outcomes. We provide recommendations on how academic institutions can reimagine content delivery, evaluation, and student support to mitigate learning space inequalities

Giant intra-abdominal hydatid cysts with multivisceral locations

The disseminated intra-peritoneal hydatid disease is a very rare finding. A case of disseminated intra abdominal hydatid disease is presented along with a review of literature and various therapeutic modalitie

Cellular interaction of folic acid conjugated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles and its use as contrast agent for targeted magnetic imaging of tumor cells

The purpose of the study was to develop tumor specific, water dispersible superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) and evaluate their efficacy as a contrast agent in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We have developed SPIONs capped with citric acid/2-bromo-2-methylpropionic acid which are compact, water dispersible, biocompatible having narrow range of size dispersity (8–10 nm), and relatively high T2 relaxivity (R2 = 222L · mmol−1 · sec−l). The targeting efficacy of unconjugated and folic acid-conjugated SPIONs (FA-SPIONS) was evaluated in a folic acid receptor overexpressing and negative tumor cell lines. Folic acid receptor-positive cells incubated with FA-SPIONs showed much higher intracellular iron content without any cytotoxicity. Ultrastructurally, SPIONs were seen as clustered inside the various stages of endocytic pathways without damaging cellular organelles and possible mechanism for their entry is via receptor mediated endocytosis. In vitro MRI studies on tumor cells showed better T2-weighted images in FA-SPIONs. These findings indicate that FA-SPIONs possess high colloidal stability with excellent sensitivity of imaging and can be a useful MRI contrast agent for the detection of cancer

Inter-state cross border superspreading event of SARS-CoV2 in Central India, May 2020

Background: During the mid-weeks of May 2020, a superspreading event occurred in a town of Central India, where breaking bread together led to an outburst of COVID-19 cases. This led to a sudden increase of the daily average number of cases later on in the month.Methods: An epidemiological investigation was done to investigate the cause. Process of the epidemic investigation done has been described under three parts namely - Case finding, Contact tracing, Public health response.Results: Our epidemiological investigation and contact tracing of the index case confirmed a superspreading event of COVID-19 which occurred due to multiple social gatherings during mid weeks of May 2020. It was estimated that 118 cases belonged to G0 and 94 cases belonged to G1 generation of the index case.Conclusions: Most likely source of infection to the index case was from the guests who came for a social gathering on May 11, 2020 (lockdown 3) from a village across the border in Rajasthan, a high COVID-19 prevalent zone (Orange) to a low COVID-19 prevalent zone (Green)

Effect of Multiple Rounds of Mass Drug Administration under Lymphatic Filariasis Elimination Program on Prevalence of Soil-Transmitted Helminthiasis in One of the Co-endemic Districts of India

Both soil-transmitted helminthiasis and lymphatic filariasis are co-endemic in some districts of India. The study was aimed at comparing the prevalence of soil-transmitted helminthiasis (STH) infection before and after mass drug administration (MDA) given for lymphatic filariasis at Alappuzha.We examined stool samples of 219 children aged between 9 and 10 years from nine schools at Alappuzha, Kerala, in June 2015. The current STH situation was compared with that in the year 1999 (before the institution of MDA) in the same age group in the same district. WHO-recommended Kato-Katz technique was used for STH prevalence estimation. Information regarding socio-demographic variables, sanitation, personal hygiene practices was also recorded. Chi-square test was used to study association of risk factors with STH infection.A total of 79 (36.07%) children were found to be positive for STH infection. Out of all samples positive for Ascaris lumbricoides, 4 (5%) were found co-infected with Trichuris trichiura and none with hookworm. Factors like absence of household latrine, lack of hand washing before meals and practice of consumingunwashed fruits were found to be significantly associated with occurrence of STH infection.Over the years, consecutive rounds of MDA for LF have led to a decline in intestinal worm burden but with little effect on the overall prevalence of STH. Thus, STH control activities working synergistically with the Filarial Elimination Strategy can yield better results in the co-endemic areas with optimum resourceutilization

Thermomagnetic history effects in SmMn2_2Ge2_2

The intermetallic compound SmMn$_2$Ge$_2$, displaying multiple magnetic phase transitions, is being investigated in detail for its magnetization behavior near the 145 K first order ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occuring on cooling, in particular for thermomagnetic history effects in the magnetization data. The most unusual finding is that the thermomagnetic irreversibility, [= M$^{FCW}$(T)-M$^{ZFC}$(T)] at 135 K is higher in intermediate magnetic field strengths. By studying the response of the sample (i.e., thermomagnetic irreversibility and thermal hysteresis) to different histories of application of magnetic field and temperature, we demonstrate how the supercooling and superheating of the metastable magnetic phases across the first order transition at 145 K contribute to overall thermomagnetic irreversibility.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review

First order metamagnetic transition in CeFe2_2 based pseudobinary alloys

We present results of dc magnetisation study showing that the low temperature antiferromagnetic state in various CeFe$_2$-based pseudobinary alloys can be transformed into ferromagnetic state through a magnetic field induced phase transition. We highlight the presence of hysteresis and phase coexistence across this metamagnetic transition and argue that the observed phase transition is of first order in nature.Comment: 11 pages of text and 9 figures ; to appear in Journal of Physics: Condens. Matte

First order phase transition from ferromagnetism to antiferromagnetism in Ce(Fe0.96_{0.96}Al0.04_{0.04})2_2

Taking the pseudobinary C15 Laves phase compound Ce(Fe$_{0.96}$Al$_{0.04}$)$_2$ as a paradigm for studying a ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic phase transition, we present interesting thermomagnetic history effects in magnetotransport as well as magnetisation measurements across this phase transition. A comparison is made with history effects observed across the ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition in R$_{0.5}$Sr$_{0.5}$MnO$_3$ crystals.Comment: 11 pages of text and 4 figures; submitted to Physical Review Letter