Effect of Training on Physiological and Biochemical Variables of Soccer Players of Different Age Groups

Purpose: To find out the effect of training on selected physiological and biochemical variables of Indian soccer players of different age groups.\ud \ud Methods: A total of 120 soccer players volunteered for the study, were divided (n=30) into 4 groups: (i) under 16 years (U16), (ii) under 19 years (U19), (iii) under 23 years (U23), (iv) senior (SR). The training sessions were divided into 2 phases (a) Preparatory Phase (PP, 8 weeks) and (b) Competitive Phase (CP, 4 weeks). The training program consisted of aerobic, anaerobic and skill development, and were completed 4 hrs/day; 5 days/week. Selected physiological and biochemical variables were measured at zero level (baseline data, BD) and at the end of PP and CP.\ud \ud Results: A significant increase (P<0.05) in lean body mass (LBM), VO2max, anaerobic power, grip and back strength, urea, uric acid and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C); and a significant decrease (P<0.05) in body fat, hemoglobin (Hb), total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were detected in some groups in PP and CP phases of the training when compare to BD. However, no significant change was found in body mass and maximal heart rate of the players after the training program.\ud \ud Conclusion: This study would provide useful information for training and selection of soccer players of different age groups.\u

International Climate Change Governance: Issues of Democracy, Institutions and the Media

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was established in 1992 to stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system. The nation states of the world have attempted to arrest climate change through a state-centric large scale multilateral treaty making process. Yet, over a period of more than twenty years, little has been achieved toward that objective. The making of international climate change governance required to arrest climate change is falling short. Greenhouse gases, which scientists consider to be the main culprit of climate change, are increasing rapidly making every subsequent year’s emissions concentration a new record. Climate scientists say global temperatures rising above 2 degrees Celsius could be extremely dangerous. The 1992 Convention, 1997 Kyoto Protocol, 2009 Copenhagen Accord and subsequent agreements have failed to translate the goal and achieve the threshold target as no serious and viable policies are forthcoming. Instead, the United Nations’ climate conferences have become a yearly chore for diplomats. The complexities of climate change governance arise not only from the nature and uncertainty of its impact, but also from its embedded relationships with social, cultural, political, economic, historical and institutional dimensions. Appropriate responses to address the challenges of climate change are difficult in the absence of potential solutions in sight. The pre-requisite for any effective policy responses is that the decision making process be democratic, transparent, and inclusive so that the ultimate addressees can ‘own’ the problem and contribute to solutions. A sizable literature focuses on the causes and reasons behind climate change and advocates radical actions to arrest it. Other research highlights economic implications, alternatives to fossil fuels, consumption and production, scientific uncertainty and challenges the perennial North-South politics in seeking to explain the lack of progress. There has been little research on why international climate change governance is making only incremental progress. This thesis takes as its starting point the paucity of attention to working out how and why progress has not been made, drawing on insights from climate change negotiations, major climate agreements and analyses of data on media communications on the issues of international climate change negotiations for policy making. The research recognizes the complexity of climate change and takes a comprehensive approach in considering why has there been little progress in the making of an effective international climate change governance to prevent climate change. The thesis takes three complementary approaches in addressing the central research question. The first develops from the concept of a democratic deficit and posits that the failure of progress can be attributed to a lack of the democratic processes in grappling with the issues. The second explores the state-centric framework of UNFCCC and posits that since the environmental issues are non-territorial, the challenges postulated by climate change cannot be resolved and progress made by solely relying on a state-centric approach. The third is to do with media communications and posits the role of the media in public education as central to develop the necessary public support for addressing the issues of climate change. The Kyoto Protocol and the Copenhagen Accord, and how they were achieved are central to this research as these are the two major climate change agreements achieved internationally so far. This research concludes that the approaches we have adopted so far have been inadequate because of the lack of involvement of the main stakeholders in decision making processes. The common but differentiated and historical responsibilities, pertinent principles in 1992, no longer reflect current economic growth and greenhouse gas emission patterns. There is a need to review our state-centric institutional framework toward a more inclusive, participatory, and deliberative accountability whereby the public and businesses can ‘own’ the problem. The role of the media is paramount in this because it is the media that passes information from the scientists, experts and policy makers to the public. The research concludes that the media has a key role to play and needs to be more critical in advancing measures to address the problems of climate change

Agronomic practices increase sunflower yield in the rabi (dry) season in clay-textured, salt-affected soils of the coastal region of Bangladesh

Agriculture in the coastal zone of Bangladesh is threatened by a range of abiotic stresses, including salinity, waterlogging and drought. Rice is generally grown in the wet (kharif) season, but soils lie fallow in the dry (rabi) season. This thesis was framed around the opportunity to increase the intensity of cropping in this region by shortening the rice-growing phase in the kharif (by planting short-season rice varieties) so that high-value adapted crops can be grown in the rabi season. Prior to this research, the best methods for the timely establishment and management of rabi crops on the poorly structured clay soils were unknown. Common soil constraints and requirements during the rabi season in the coastal zone of Bangladesh include the need to: rapidly decompose the mass of rice straw from the end of the kharif season, sow as early as possible to maximise growing season duration while avoiding extreme waterlogging effects at the end of the (rice) kharif season, and then maintain soil moisture and high solute potentials in a drying salinity-prone soil environment. A range of field experiments was conducted in the three rabi cropping seasons of 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19. The research was in four theme areas with experiments conducted in three of these themes over two consecutive years. Using sunflower as a model crop, rabi cropping was possible provided: (a) soils received appropriate tillage (theme 1), (b) soils had application of surface mulches to maintain high soil solute potentials (theme 2), and (c) crops were sown early in the rabi season, but after waterlogging had abated (theme 3). In experiments in theme 4, it was shown that mulches decreased soil resistance and cracking, and improved root growth. Experiments examined in Theme 1 showed that intensive soil disturbance such as bed planting, double pass shallow tillage, and single pass shallow tillage maintained higher soil water content and soil solute potential in the surface soil (0-15 cm depth) than less disturbance soil such as zero tillage, narrow strip tillage and wide strip tillage. The highest yields (19 % and 10 % improvements in 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively) were associated with the tillage treatments involving greatest soil disturbance, the bed planting and double pass treatments in 2016-17, and the single pass shallow tillage treatment in 2017-18. The benefits of intensive soil disturbance were mostly due to increases in soil water content and increases in solute potential in surface soil layers, leading to higher water uptake by plants. Experiments in Theme 2 found that rice straw mulches and irrigation increased soil water content, reduced soil salinity, and increased solute potentials. The substantially higher solute potential of the soil solution with the rice straw mulch at 0-7 and 7-15 cm (-644 and -588 kPa in 2017, and -649 and -558 kPa in 2018) than with no-mulch (-925 and -728 kPa in 2017, and -801 and -641 kPa in 2018) was associated with increased sunflower yield (26 % and 16 % in 2017 and 2018, respectively). The rice straw mulch also increased grain and biomass water productivity by 26-32 % in the first season and 16 % in the second season relative to the no-mulch treatment. Experiments in Theme 3 showed that early sowing before 15 December was associated with larger heads, more seeds per head, heavier seed, and higher grain yields (3.5 – 4 t ha-1) except in the second year when sowing on 25 November was affected by waterlogging because of heavy rainfall. Data collected across both seasons showed that early sowing before 15 December tended to have higher soil water content, lower soil salinity, and, therefore higher solute potential than later sowings. For late sowing after 15 December, the lower yield was also associated with higher temperatures. However, the main driver of yield determination was EC1:5 and, to a lesser extent, to temperature in both years. Experiments in Theme 4 demonstrated that rice straw mulch at 5 and 10 t ha-1 increased mean root dry weight, total root length, and root length density at 0-20 cm soil depth, but there was higher total root length at 60-80 cm with the no-mulch treatment. Rice straw mulch significantly reduced crack volume, cross-sectional area, crack length density, depth and width by 84-91 %, 63-69 %, 57-70 %, 42-52 %, and 42 %, respectively, relative to the no-mulch. With increased soil water content at 0-30 cm under the straw mulch, there was decreased average soil resistance by 77 %, 49 % and 28 % at 0-7, 7-15 and 15-30 cm depths, respectively, compared to the no-mulch. Overall, for wet-clay saline soil, soil and crop management treatments that enabled early sowing also enhanced the establishment and yield of sunflower due to increased soil water availability in the upper root zone, especially by increasing soil water solute potential. Increased soil water, in turn, decreased soil resistance and cracking. I conclude that early establishment leads to higher yield by enabling sunflower to escape soil surface dryness and salinity and heat stress in the later part of the growing season. Although sunflower is a promising rabi crop for Southern Bangladesh, only few farmers grow it due to a lack of proper agronomic practices to manage soil constraints. The current findings, therefore, would help to expand sunflower cultivation across the salt-affected coastal region of Bangladesh

Consumer Perceptions Towards Package Designs: A Cross Cultural Study

The choice of one package or the other can be an economic decision or can be influenced by cultural acceptance or perception of individual convenience. Product package systems can be designed for one-time use or multiple-use purposes. Package perceptions in different countries typically develop from a variety of factors, including climate, lifestyle, and cultural acceptance with regard to particular products. In an increasingly global economy with multinational firms marketing products worldwide, it is important to understand the differences between consumer needs and consumer responses to product-package systems. The objective of this research was to examine consumer perceptions of different product package systems by surveying residents from seven countries (Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, USA and Vietnam). Secondarily, this research examined cultural attitudes and values about packaging by surveying consumer perceptions of eight different package styles and materials as they relate to sustainability, secondary use, product expectations, quality, hygiene, and ease of use. Trends and patterns among countries were identified using descriptive statistics. Results indicated a relationship between both individualistic and collectivistic orientation, as well as country status as developing or developed, with regard to consumer perceptions of product packaging. There also appeared to be a relationship between prevailing attitudes toward environmental sustainability and perceptions of product packaging. It is hoped that this research may be useful for companies exporting or seeking to export their products into other markets

Thermoelastic effects of the elements in compression

M.S

Zero field splitting parameter of Mn2+ doped guanidine zinc sulphate crystal -a theoretical study

A theoretical investigation of crystal field parameters (CFP) and zero-field splitting (ZFS) parameter D of Mn2+ doped guanidine zinc sulphate (GZS) crystals at room temperature (RT) is done with the help of superposition model and the perturbation theory. The ZFS parameter D determined here is in good agreement with the experimental value reported earlier. The conclusion of experimental study that Mn2+ substitutes for Zn2+ in GZS is supported by our theoretical investigation. The values of D without and with local distortion are 11174.3×10-4 cm-1 and 702.4 ×10-4 cm-1, respectively, while the experimental value is 702.0×10-4 cm-1

Ethnozoology and entomophagy of Ao tribe in the district of Mokokchung, Nagaland

508-515The Ao Naga tribe inhabiting Mokokchung district of Nagaland, has a rich tradition of entomophagy. This paper explores their traditional knowledge and practice of entomophagy. Information on the mode of collection of the insects, cooking recipes, nutritional knowledge if any, allergies etc. were gathered using a questionnaire along with interviews of village elders, sellers and consumers. Eleven (11) edible insects species were identified out of which a few were found to be available all year-round, while some were reported to be available on a seasonal basis. In the present study, insects from coleoptera (2), hemiptera (3), hymenoptera (2), lepidoptera (3), and orthoptera (1) were identified. One species (Lepidoptera) was identified only to genus level, and another species (Hemiptera), was identified as an edible species for the first time