The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of different concentrations of vitamin E on the quality of frozen-thawed Chhotanagpuri ram semen. A total of 36 ejaculates were collected from six healthy Chhotanagpuri rams with the help of a standard artificial vagina using a restrained ewe as a mount. Two false mounts were allowed before semen was collected. Each semen sample was diluted in Tris extender and divided into three fractions for supplementation of vitamin E at the concentration of 1mM, 2mM and no antioxidant. All the samples immediately after equilibration and 24 hours after freezing and thawing were evaluated for various microscopic parameters viz. sperm motility, live sperm percentage, plasma membrane integrity percentage, acrosomal integrity percentage, DNA integrity and lipid peroxidation assay was evaluated only in freeze thawed semen. Both the doses of vitamin E significantly (P˂0.05) inhibited lipid peroxidation as indicated by malondialdehyde (MDA) production and improved significantly (P˂0.05) the values of different seminal characters such as sperm motility, live sperm, plasma membrane integrity, acrosomal integrity and DNA integrity as compared to control Tris dilutor. However, 2 mM vitamin E was most effective as compared to 1mM vitamin E or control Tris dilutor. The percentage of sperm motility, live sperm, plasma membrane, acrosomal and DNA integrity in Tris dilutor containing vitamin E 2mM were found to be 77.83±0.23, 85.86±0.19,¬ 73.03±0.11, 73.81±0.16 and 85.78±0.19, and 56.81±0.41, 65.19±0.18, 54.36±0.17, 55.53±0.27 and 77.97±0.18 after equilibration and freezing, respectively. From the results of the present study, it could be concluded that the addition of vitamin E to Tris freezing medium could reverse the free radicalmediated oxidative damage and improve the quality of frozen thawed Chhotanagpuri ram semen.

BackgroundThe treatment seeking pathways prior to initiation of Direct Observed Treatment Short-course Therapy (DOTS), provides the extent of patient and health system delays among pediatric tuberculosis (TB) patients.ObjectivesThe study attempted to understand the treatment seeking pathways of pediatric TB patients under revised national tuberculosis control program (RNTCP).Study design and settingIt was a prospective observational study carried out from January 2015 to December 2015. A predesigned, pretested and semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview 141 caregivers of pediatric patients (0–14 years) at two chest clinics selected purposively.ResultsThirteen different treatment seeking pathways were identified and fever was the commonest symptom (41.8%) for seeking care from 1st health facility. Median time taken from onset of symptoms to first consultation varied from 1 to 144 weeks. More than half of the study subjects were first taken to a private practitioner (64.5%) followed by a pharmacist (19.1%) and trust in provider was the commonest reason for choosing the first care-provider in 52 (41.1%), followed by easy access or convenience in 49 (34.8%).ConclusionA significant delay was found in treatment initiation of patients with extra pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB), those belonging to lower socio-economic class families, low literacy level of parents, who went to private facility first and availed more than three health facilities before diagnosis.

BackgroundIndia accounts for one fourth of the global tuberculosis (TB) burden. In 2015, an estimated 28 lakh cases occurred and 4.8 lakh people died due to TB and proportion of children among new TB patients was 6% in 2016. The clinical presentation of childhood TB is extremely variable, therefore the study attempted to understand, the socio-demographic profile of pediatric tuberculosis patients, and the treatment outcomes under Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP).MethodsIt was a prospective study carried out from January 2015 to December 2015. A predesigned, pretested and semi-structured questionnaire was used to interview caregivers of pediatric TB patients and they were followed up at two more occasions i.e. at the end of intensive phase at the end of continuation phase.ResultsA total of 141 study subjects were enrolled. Majority of the subjects (51.8%) belonged to 11–14 years of age group were females (63.8%) and from lower middle class families (48.9%). Extra pulmonary TB (70.2%) was almost three times more prevalent than pulmonary TB. During follow up visits symptoms like chest pain, breathlessness and eye redness were disappeared by the end of intensive phase and fever, cough and skin lesion improved by the end of continuation phase. Mean weight gain in malnourished children (2.6 kg) was lesser as compared to normal children (3.0 kg) at the end of 3rd visit. Treatment success rate in category 1 was 96.2% and in category 2 was 90%.ConclusionTreatment success rate under RNTCP is good but still need to improve, to make it 100 percent.

The potential of multifunctional wound heal biomaterial relies on the optimal content of therapeutic constituents as well as the desirable physical, chemical, and biological properties to accelerate the healing process. Formulating biomaterials such as amnion or collagen based scaffolds with natural products offer an affordable strategy to develop dressing material with high efficiency in healing wounds. Using image based phenotyping and quantification, we screened natural product derived bioactive compounds for modulators of types I and III collagen production from human foreskin derived fibroblast cells. The identified hit was then formulated with amnion to develop a biomaterial, and its biophysical properties, in vitro and in vivo effects were characterized. In addition, we performed functional profiling analyses by PCR array to understand the effect of individual components of these materials on various genes such as inflammatory mediators including chemokines and cytokines, growth factors, fibroblast stimulating markers for collagen secretion, matrix metalloproteinases, etc., associated with wound healing. FACS based cell cycle analyses were carried out to evaluate the potential of biomaterials for induction of proliferation of fibroblasts. Western blot analyses was done to examine the effect of biomaterial on collagen synthesis by cells and compared to cells grown in the presence of growth factors. This work demonstrated an uncomplicated way of identifying components that synergistically promote healing. Besides, we demonstrated that modulating local wound environment using biomaterials with bioactive compounds could enhance healing. This study finds that the developed biomaterials offer immense scope for healing wounds by means of their skin regenerative features such as anti-inflammatory, fibroblast stimulation for collagen secretion as well as inhibition of enzymes and markers impeding the healing, hydrodynamic properties complemented with other features including non-toxicity, biocompatibility, and safety.

The effects of tempering temperature and time on the mechanical properties of ductile cast iron is investigated in the current work. The specimens were austenitized at 900°C for 120 minutes and then quenched in mineral oil at room temperature. Immediately after quenching the specimens were tempered at 400°C and 200°C for 60min, 90min, and 120min. In the tempering temperature range of 200°C-400°C, there is sudden increase in impact strength, ductility and toughness of the materials, as the temperature and time increase. The UTS drops initially, and hardness of materials will depends on amount of phase of martensitic and retained austenitic and graphite nodules. In this work alloying elements also effected the microstructure of the specimen. And due to increase tempering time the amount of martensitic phase will decrease and retained austenitic phase will increase, retained austenitic phase is softer then martensitic so hardness will decrease.

Abstract The Lochranza Field was developed using seismic amplitude analysis, evolving conceptual geological models and the implementation of horizontal well technology, built on the knowledge gained from the adjacent Donan Field redevelopment. Subtle depositional and structural complexities were, however, encountered in the Lochranza development wells. These had the potential to impact on the successful targeting of reservoir sands. Thinning sands and erratic lateral sand pinch-outs at the margins of the deep-water Balmoral Fan complex, small-scale sand injection and subtle structural complexity across the Lochranza Field were identified in the first phase of development. These introduced greater interpretation uncertainty and made further development challenging. This highlighted the importance of considering alternative geological scenarios, whilst these insights aided the identification of infill well opportunities. These uncertainties were partially mitigated by the planned development well trajectory, the data acquisition programme and the ability to geosteer based upon the geology encountered. It proved important to be mindful of different geological scenarios whilst geosteering, guided by the real-time dataset, keeping the 3D geological model peripheral to decision-making to limit the impact of anchoring bias. Identification of infill targets used a pragmatic approach based upon empirical data that showed that well recovery efficiency could be characterized by net pay length, stand-off from the oil–water contact (OWC) and connected hydrocarbon volume. Infill opportunities were defined probabilistically and subsequently supported by 3D reservoir simulation. This assessment was helped significantly by additional appraisal being undertaken as part of development well drilling.

Agriculture in present scenario is facing numerous challenges, among that one of the alarming trend shows that farmers in our country want to quit agriculture in mass extent. In this direction, the research was designed with the objective of developing a scale to measure resilience in relation to farmers’ profession (RFP-Scale) to know why farmers want to quit farming or what motivates them to sustain agriculture despite of numerous hardships. Therefore, the present study made an attempt to quantify the exact level of resilience of the farmers’ towards their profession. The process started with selection of 51 statements and finally 33 statements indicating the positive or negative resilience level were retained for scale development. The statements were edited in the light of the informal criteria suggested by Edwards. In order to find out the discriminating index for each item, ‘t’ value was calculated using the formula given by Edwards. The scale so developed finally consisted of 19 statements (9 positive and 10 negative) whose‘t’ values were found to be significant at one percent level of significance. The scale so developed can be used world-wide by research scholars, policy makers, governmental organizations, NGOs, scientists and civil societies to know the farmers’ quitting tendencies towards agriculture with suitable time and location specific modifications.

This paper takes an integrated motivational perspective on emotions to re-conceptualize the potential impact of emotions on relationship dynamics between alliance partners. Alliance failure is endemic and yet we know little about how alliance partners manage the interface between them. This paper integrates the alliance discrepancy model (Kumar & Nti, 1998) with self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987), the dual-concern model (Pruitt, 1983), and emotion as social information (EASI) theory (Van Kleef, 2009) in analyzing the motivational dynamics among partners within alliances. We propose that process discrepancies tend to produce agitation-related emotions, whereas outcome discrepancies tend to produce dejection-related emotions. At the intrapersonal level of analysis, agitation-related emotions in turn may lead partners in the alliance to pursue a contentious negotiation strategy, whereas dejection-related emotions may lead them to pursue a problem-solving negotiation strategy. At the interpersonal level of analysis, dejection-related emotions may elicit cooperative responses from the alliance partner, whereas agitation-related emotions may evoke either cooperative or competitive responses depending on the relative power of the parties. We develop a series of propositions linking discrepancies with emotions and negotiation strategies and discuss implications for research and practice.

This chapter contains sections titled: Introduction Mechanism and Equipment of Rheo-optics Rheo-optical Applications for Biopolymers Conclusions References

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) need to enhance their performance to survive and grow in the era of globalisation, and innovation is one of the main factors for achieving this. This chapter examines the nature of innovations carried out by ancillary SMEs in the Indian automobile industry and how these innovations contribute to their economic performance. SMEs were able to achieve significant innovations in terms of new product developments, product modifications, process improvements and raw material selection where as their innovations related to R&D allotment were average only. Analysis using multiple regression model revealed the positive contribution of innovation, along with labour for enhancing economic performance of SMEs. Quantile regression analysis showed that SMEs having high economic productivity tend to make more of use their innovations for economic performance than SMEs with average economic productivity.

This paper explores the relationship between technological process innovations and energy intensity growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the machine tools industry of Bangalore, India. It empirically substantiates that SMEs, which carry out process innovations with the objective of cost reduction are able to achieve reductions in their energy intensities, over a period of time. Apart from innovations, sales growth, labour productivity growth and technical entrepreneurship significantly contributed to bringing down energy intensity and enhance energy efficiency of machine tool SMEs. It is significant to note that process innovations contributed more to the reduction of energy intensity in more energy efficient SMEs compared to less energy efficient SMEs.

This paper presents the impact of irrigation pump sets on base line AT&C loss, impact of revenue collection and collection efficiency in the Project Area. This paper also focuses on field experience of authors during the establishment of base line data for designated Project Areas under R-APDRP Programme. This paper also brought out sample base line parameters estimation. It also emphasizes problems in the field during collecting data and attempt to overcome the problems.

Trans National Corporations (TNCs) with production bases in developing countries provide increasing opportunity for local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to have subcontracting relationships with these TNCs. Even though some theoretical and a few empirical studies have thrown light on the nature of assistance provided by TNCs to local SMEs through subcontracting relationships, none of the studies have so far analysed the diversity of assistance that the subcontracting SMEs of India would be able to obtain from a TNC by using quantitative measurement. This paper probes the extent of linkages and diversity of assistance that Indian subcontracting SMEs would be able to obtain from a TNC customer based on primary data from SME subcontractors of a major TNC automobile manufacturer. Statistical analysis of direct assistance revealed that SMEs receive more product and purchase process assistance. The extent of assistance for their process-related, marketing, human resource and financial requirements is low, whereas the assistance for their organisational know-how requirements is moderate.

Trans-national corporations (TNCs) expanding their production bases to developing countries having better conditions of manufacturing and domestic markets provide increasing opportunities for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to have subcontracting relationships with these TNCs. Even though some theoretical and a few empirical studies throw light on the nature of assistance provided by TNCs to local SMEs through subcontracting relationships, none of the studies so far quantitatively analysed the role of this assistance on the innovative performance of SMEs leading to better economic performance. This paper probes the extent and diversity of assistance received by SMEs from a TNC through subcontracting and its influence on technological innovations and economic performance of SMEs, in the Indian automobile industry. Indian SMEs were able to receive mainly product related and purchase process assistance, thereby implying that subcontracting is largely confined to purchase–supply relationships. However, assistance received through subcontracting is beneficial as it promoted technological innovations of SMEs: the higher the degree of assistance, the higher the level of innovations carried out by these SMEs, which, in turn facilitated their economic performance. Thus, this paper substantiates in the Indian context that subcontracting relationship with a TNC can be an important source of technological innovations and enhanced economic performance for SMEs.

Growth over a period of time can be used for performance measurements of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) since this, rather than short term performance, will reflect the long-term strategy of the firm. Subcontracting relationship with large enterprises, especially Transnational Corporations (TNCs), can be an important source for technological innovations of SMEs leading to their better performance. An attempt is made in this paper to probe into how far Indian SMEs carry out technological innovations as a result of technology and other related inputs acquired through subcontracting relationships and achieve growth using the case study approach covering two SMEs in Bangalore. Customer requirements were the major causal factors while internal factors such as self-efforts and in-house technical capability along with external factors in the form of technical inputs, suggestions and initiative from Large Enterprises (LE) customers were the sources of innovations for these SMEs. Because of these innovations, SMEs achieved growth in terms of investment in plant and machinery, output and customer base, which are ideal indicators of SME performance.