Role of private hospitals in Kerala : an exploration

This is an attempt to understand the characteristics of private hospitals and the equity in accessing their services, using secondary data available for the period 1986-2004. The data indicates that private hospitals did not expand in numbers but a strong consolidation by large hospitals has taken place. Public policy favouring increased private sector participation in medical education coupled with opening of super specialty hospitals has led to a situation where small hospitals or nursing homes are losing their significance and a large number of them have been phased out. The regional variation in availability of private hospitals is sizeable. The presence of private hospitals is comparatively limited in northern districts of Palakkad, Kozhikode, Malappuram and Kasargod. Annual hospitalisation rates show a rise in demand for hospital facilities across this time period. Rich-poor divide in potential to seek care from private hospitals highest during 1995-96, but declined marginally in 2004. Though the quantum of utilization of private hospitals among poor is similar as rich, it taxes them severely. Overall economic marginalisation of low social groups has further restricted their access to private hospitals. Analysis also shows that the duration of hospitalisation is lesser if treated in a private hospital than in a government hospital and that the charity component in the so called “charitable hospitals” is disappearing. Key Words: Private hospitals, health system, equity, Kerala. JEL Classification: I11, I18, I19, J1

EPR study of the Jahn-Teller effect of Cu2+ in ZnTiF6·6H20

The 34-GHz EPR spectrum of Cu2+ in ZnTiF6·6H20 shows a Jahn-Teller effect with a transition from a single-line spectrum at high temperatures to a multiline anisotropic spectrum. The transition temperature on cooling varied with Cu concentration from 172 K for a sample containing 0.2 at.% Cu to roughly 90 K for a 46-at. % Cu sample. For dilute samples, the single-line spectrum was isotropic at 300 K with g =2.223±0.005, but showed axial symmetry about the trigonal axis at 180 K with gj1 =2.226±0.005 and g~ =2.223±0.005. At 4.2 K, a "static" Jahn-Teller effect was observed with six axially symmetric Cu2+ spectra, each with g 11 =2.470±0.005, g1 =2.100±0.005, I A 11 I ~ I 06 X 10- 4 em -I, and I A 1 I ~30 X 10- 4 em - I. The z axis of these spectra was found to lie along the fourfold axes of two cubes with a common [Ill] axis, rotated by 40"±2" with respect to each other about this axis. Analysis of the 4.2-K data leads to the values q~O. 50 for the Ham reduction factor and K~O. 26 for the Fenni contact parameter, with A uA 1 < 0. An activation energy of about 100 cm-1 was deduced from the gradual increase of the anisotropy of the spectrum on cooling in the low-temperature region

Jahn-Teller EPA spectra of Cu2 + in MgSif6.6H20

The 34 GHz EPR spectrum ofCu2+ in MgSiF6-6H20 showed a "static" Jahn-Teller effect at 4.2 K with two inequivalent Jahn- Teller sites per unit cell. The six axially symmetric sets of Cu2+ lines had their z axes parallel to the three tetragonal axes of two cubes, which were rotated by approximately 40" with respect to each other about a common (Ill) axis, which is the crystal c axis. The measured spin-Hamiltonian parameters at 4.2 K for each set of lines were g11 = 2.47 ± 0.01, g1 = 2.10 ± 0.01 , and lA 11 1 = (110 ± 3)X 10- 4 em- •. There was a gradual decrease in the anisotropy of the spectrum on warming the crystal, with a single, nearly isotropic line being observed above 220 K. At 270 K the spectrum had axial symmetry about the c axis with Kn = 2.23 ± 0.01 and g~ = 2.25 ± 0.01 . The temperature evolution of the spectrum was interpreted in terms of a Boltzmann distribution over inequivalent distorted Jahn-Teller configurations, with one potential well lowered by an amount L1:::::: I 05 em- 1 below the other two

Assessment of wetland change dynamics of Chennai coast, Tamil Nadu, India, using satellite remote sensing

1258-1266The coastal wetlands of Chennai are increasingly being affected by anthropogenic factors, such as urbanization, residential, and industrial development. This study helps to monitor and map the dynamics of the coastal wetlands of Chennai using Landsat satellite images of 1988, 1996, 2006, and 2016 by following a supervised classification method. Post-classification wetland change detection was done in three temporal phases, that is, 1988 1996, 1996 2006, and 2006 2016. Change detection matrix analysis was performed to identify the from to changes. Ground truthing was carried out to validate the wetland classes. The overall accuracy of the classified image was 79.29% and the kappa coefficient was 0.7600. These results were imported into a GIS environment for further analysis. It was found that the wetlands have decreased to an alarming extent in the past 28 years from 23.14% in 1988 to 15.79% in 2016 of the total study area, owing to conversion of wetlands into industrial development, urban expansion, and other developmental activities

Observation of the cubic-field splitting of an excited S = 2 manifold in a cubic copper tetramer

EPR measurements on single crystals of Cu40Cl6(triphenylphosphine oxide)4 at liquid helium temperatures in the frequency ranges 14-17 and 34-35 GHz were fitted to a simple cubicS= 2 spin Hamiltonian with g = 2.10 ± 0.01 and a zero-field splitting of(0.53 ± 0.01) em - 1 • From the decrease in intensity of the S = 2 spectrum on cooling below 4.2 K and the absence of an S = 1 spectrum, the S = 2 manifold was deduced to lie ( 14 ± 1) em- 1 above a nonmagnetic ground state. The EPR results are used as a test of the various theories developed to explain the magnetic susceptibility of copper tetramer

Neutrino masses along with fermion mass hierarchy

Recently a new mechanism has been proposed to cure the problem of fermion mass hierarchy in the Standard Model (SM) model. In this scenario, all SM charged fermions other than top quark arise from higher dimensional operators involving the SM Higgs field. This model also predicted some interesting phenomenology of the Higgs boson. We generalize this model to accommodate neutrino masses (Dirac & Majorana) and also obtain the mixing pattern in the leptonic sector. To generate neutrino masses, we add extra three right handed neutrinos $(N_{iR})$ in this model.Comment: 20 pages, the content on results and phenomenology have been expanded, a new section on UV completion of the model has been added and also some new references, this version has been accepted by Physical Review

Higgs pair production in association with a vector boson at e+e- colliders in theories of higher dimensional gravity

The models of large extra compact dimensions, as suggested by Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali, predict exciting phenomenological consequences with gravitational interactions becoming strong at the TeV scale. Such theories can be tested at the existing and future colliders. In this paper, we study the contribution of virtual Kaluza-Klein excitations (both spin-0 and 2) in the process $e^+e^- \to HHZ$ and $e^+e^- \to HH\gamma$ at future linear collider (NLC). We find that the virtual exchange KK gravitons can modify the cross-section $\sigma(e^+e^- \to HHZ)$ significantly from its Standard Model value and will allow the effective string scale to be probed up to 6.6 TeV. The second process is absent at the tree level in the standard model, and can therefore be used to put limits on the effective string scale of 7.4 TeV.Comment: One new reference is added, some minor corrections, version to appear in Physical Review

Impact of Self Help Groups in Gender Mainstreaming: A Case Study on Fish Amino Enterprise in Vypin, Kerala

A study for assessing the impact of SHGs in gender mainstreaming was undertaken on the fish amino acid producing units operating at Vypin located at Ernakulam District of Kerala. The analysis included specific aspects such as performance assessment of the SHGs, gender analysis, empowerment analysis and economic feasibility analysis which were carried out based on socio-economic surveys and personal interviews using pre-tested and structured data gathering protocols with standardized scales and indices involving the members of the SHGs. The male and female counterparts of the families were separately interviewed to assess the gender mainstreaming aspects in terms of equity and equality to access to resources, participation profile, decision making aspects, gender need analysis etc. Though majority of activities are female dominated, the male counterparts of the households also have definite role in decision making, purchase of accessories, sales, marketing etc. The indicative economics worked out for the economic feasibility analysis of the SHGs suggests that, the unit takes just one year to break even. A success case study was elucidated and documented as a documentary movie which can be used as a case model for promoting group action for mobilizing SHGs on a sustainable basis

Fishery resources of spiny lobsters in the Andaman Island, India

The Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands is the largest archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. In spite of availability of diverse lobster resources, there is no organised lobster fishing in the Islands. The main objective of the study was to collect baseline data on the lobster resources of the Andaman Island. Periodic field surveys were carried out at 33 landing centres in the Andaman and data were collected by direct observation and questionnaires. Mechanised and non-mechanised fishing crafts are engaged in lobster fishing in the Island. Lobsters are manually caught by spears, gillnet, shoreseine and handpicking. Six commercially important species of spiny lobsters, Panulirus penicillatus, P. versicolor, P. homarus, P. ornatus, P. polyphagus and P. longipes are present in the island. Among them, P. penicillatus dominated the landings throughout the study period (1999-2000), with maximum catch in January, followed by P. versicolor. The total lobster landings in Andaman during the study period were estimated as 3.16 tonnes with maximum landings in south Andaman (Port Blair)