Indian State Of Tamil Nadu Research Articles

Economic and environmental efficiency of co-operative sector sugar mills in Tamil Nadu state of India

Economic and environmental efficiency of co-operative sector sugar mills in Tamil Nadu state of India

One Health approach to cost-effective rabies control in India

Over 20,000 rabies deaths occur annually in India, representing one-third of global human rabies. The Indian state of Tamil Nadu has pioneered a “One Health” committee to address the challenge of rabies in dogs and humans. Currently, rabies control in Tamil Nadu involves postexposure vaccination of humans after dog bites, whereas potential supplemental approaches include canine vaccination and sterilization. We developed a data-driven rabies transmission model fit to human rabies autopsy data and human rabies surveillance data from Tamil Nadu. Integrating local estimates for canine demography and costs, we predicted the impact of canine vaccination and sterilization on human health outcomes and evaluated cost-effectiveness according to the WHO criteria for India, which correspond to thresholds of $1,582 and $4,746 per disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for very cost-effective and cost-effective strategies, respectively. We found that highly feasible strategies focused on stray dogs, vaccinating as few as 7% of dogs annually, could very cost-effectively reduce human rabies deaths by 70% within 5 y, and a modest expansion to vaccinating 13% of stray dogs could cost-effectively reduce human rabies by almost 90%. Through integration over parameter uncertainty, we find that, for a cost-effectiveness threshold above $1,400 per DALY, canine interventions are at least 95% likely to be optimal. If owners are willing to bring dogs to central point campaigns at double the rate that campaign teams can capture strays, expanded annual targets become cost-effective. This case study of cost-effective canine interventions in Tamil Nadu may have applicability to other settings in India and beyond.

An Experimental Investigation of Intra-Household Resource Allocation in Rural India

This study aims to investigate intra-household bargaining outcomes elicited in an artefactual field experiment design where participants completed a purchase task of real commodities. Married couples separately expressed their initial preferences over commodities. The bargaining process in the experiment was exogenously introduced by sharing information about partners’ preferences in the treatment group. We hypothesized that the spouse with weaker bargaining position at the household level would consider the information of their partner’s preferences while making own consumption decisions more compared to their partner. Therefore, they may deviate from their own preferences when purchasing commodities. More than 230 married couples from two villages in the Tamil Nadu state of India participated in the experiment. It was observed that information about partners’ spending preferences resulted in reduced final allocations for female participants. However, the deviation was not significantly different from the original intention to spend. Therefore, information about partners’ preferences may not be an effective medium to elicit bargaining power in the context of jointly-consumed household commodities. Subgroup analyses were performed to identify any heterogeneous treatment effects.

Knowledge and Adoption of Conservation Agriculture Technologies by the Farming Community in Different Agro-Climatic Zones of Tamilnadu State in India

<p>Tamilnadu State in India is one of the earlier beneficiaries of Green Revolution which contributed to multifold increase in agricultural productivity. Though the State has been progressive, it has also experienced the ill effects of over exploitation of natural resources through intensive agriculture. There is an urgent need to shift its focus from over exploitative intensive farming to more sustainable farming with optimal use of resources without causing imbalances. Conservation Agriculture (CA) offers potential solution which not only enhances the productivity but also maintains the environmental safety and ecological sustainability. With this at the backdrop, the present study was conducted during 2013-2014 in all the seven agro-climatic zones of Tamilnadu State in India covering 350 respondents to understand the knowledge and adoption levels of Conservation Agriculture among the farming community in the State. Three Conservation agricultural technologies namely, Minimum Tillage, Crop Rotation and Permanent Soil Cover were identified. Knowledge of the farmers about these technologies and their adoption by the farmers were studied. As regards the awareness and knowledge level of respondents majority of them do not have knowledge on minimum tillage (72.6%) and permanent soil cover (75.1%) but a vast majority is knowledgeable on crop rotation (71.1%). Farmer characteristics such as age, educational status and innovativeness of farmers played a significant impact on the knowledge levels of CA whereas number of years of experience in farming and land holding pattern did not have significant influence on the knowledge levels of farmers on CA. Among the knowledgeable farmers only 11.5% of farmers adopted minimum tillage, 27.6% of farmers adopted permanent soil cover and 78% adopted crop rotation. None of the farmers adopted CA as a whole comprising all the three components.</p>

Eliminating Avoidable Blindness Outreach Activities at Aravind Eye Care System

This case relates the genesis and evolution of vision centres (VCs) for primary eye care at Aravind Eye Care System (AECS). AECS, based in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, is the world's largest eye care provider. The case is based in 2014, exactly a decade after the first vision centre was opened, and evaluates the role of VCs in Aravind's outreach ecosystem. Community outreach programmes were an integral part of Aravind's model from the start and formed a central part of its vision of taking eye care to the community's doorstep. For many years, community outreach at Aravind was done through eye camps held in remote rural locations. Eye camps had worked extremely well for a long time. However, eye camps were not a perfect solution to Aravind's outreach goals for many reasons. Vision centres evolved as a way to address some of the shortcomings of eye camps, and both these outreach methods were employed in parallel. This case focuses on Aravind's vision centres and how they evolved over a decade, how they compare with the eye camps as a vehicle to attain Aravind's goals, and the opportunities and challenges ahead.

Description of a new species of Hypselobarbus from Kerala region of Western Ghats, peninsular India (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae)

Hypselobarbus kurali (Menon & Rema Devi, 1995) consists of multiple species with similarity in the colour pattern of the tip of their caudal fins being orange and black. This complex of species possesses two pairs of barbels. Inspection of collections of H. kurali from the senior author’s samples from various streams/rivers of Western Ghats covering the Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka revealed that an additional species has gone unrecognized. This new species, Hypselobarbus keralaensis , is diagnosed from its likely closest relative H. kurali by having fewer transverse breast scale rows (16 vs. 21-23) and fewer pre-anal scale rows (38-39 vs. 43-46).

Epidemiology of dental caries among adolescents in Tamil Nadu, India

Economic and dietary changes in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu have led to compromised oral health status of the adolescent population. Adequate epidemiological data are not available to address the prevention or treatment needs in this region of India. The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence and severity of dental caries among adolescents of Tamil Nadu, a southern state of India. The study sample included 974 adolescent school students (12-15 years of age) from both rural and urban areas of Tamil Nadu, India. The decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) index of these students was measured using the World Health Organization oral health survey method, in a quantitative cross-sectional study. The oral health survey indicated that the prevalence of dental caries among adolescents in rural and urban areas of Tamil Nadu was 61.4%, with an average DMFT score of 2.03. Multiple regression analyses indicated factors such as gender, mother's education, type of school and caste as significant predictors of dental caries. Female gender, Scheduled Caste and Tribes attending public schools in rural areas were identified as the more vulnerable populations to be affected by dental caries. Oral health policies should be targeted to these adolescent populations in the Tamil Nadu region.

The Rise and Decline of Arabu–Tamil Language for Tamil Muslims

The Arab Muslim Traders and the native Tamil converts to Islam in Tamilnadu state of India and Sri Lanka came into closer contact as a result of their commercial activities. They were bound by a common religion, but separated by two different languages They felt the necessity for a link-language. They started to write Tamil in an adapted Arabic script called Arabu-Tamil. The Arabu-Tamil or Arwi script represents the Tamil language using an Arabic style of scripts. From eighth century to nineteenth century, this language enjoyed its popularity among Tamil speaking Muslims of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. The valuable and useful ideas of Tamil Muslim minds were conveyed in Arabicized Tamil called Arabu-Tamil. It rendered a most useful service for the advancement and progress of Arab and Tamil cultures. However, the beginning of the twentieth century saw the decline of Arwi language. And no step was taken to arrest this decline. The study analyses its rise and decline as a language of Tamil Muslims.IIUC Studies Vol.10 & 11 December 2014: 263-282

Redesigning the marketing mix for eco-friendly product consumption among non-purchasers in India

Abstract The present study was created in order to customise the marketing mix for non-purchasers of eco-friendly products by studying their perspectives on the introduction of eco-friendly variants of the regular products that they are using in particular product categories (personal care and home care). Overall previous literature reviews in this area imply that there is a gap in the scientific literature on the marketing mix formulation for converting non-purchasers into purchasers of eco-friendly products to augment eco-friendly product sales and adopt green marketing. As literature reviews had clearly indicated that green purchasers have a very low percentage when compared to non-purchasers, the purpose is to create new opportunities for successful green marketing as the study tries to convert non-purchasers into purchasers. We used descriptive research design to study a sample of 885 respondents, who were surveyed in 2 cities in the Tamil Nadu state in India, to acquire an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour that would enable the consumption of eco-friendly products among non-purchasers. The results reveal the marketing mix requirement and the eco-friendly aspects needed by the non-purchasers in order to buy the eco-friendly variants. The research sheds light on the product, price and promotion components that will attract non-purchases of eco-friendly products to buy eco-friendly products, thus facilitating green marketing mix adaptation. The study will provide valuable input for further research in formulating the marketing mix necessary to enable consumption of eco-friendly products in different geographical locations and various product categories.

Waste Load Allocation Using Machine Scheduling: Model Application

A novel approach for waste load allocation, namely, waste load scheduling, following the concept of machine scheduling has been developed and applied to a case study. The conceptual development and mathematical formulation for the waste load scheduling model has been discussed in the companion paper. The focus of this paper is to identify a suitable solution technique for solving the waste load scheduling model and then apply it to a case study river system in Tamil Nadu, India. The mathematical formulation for the waste load scheduling model was developed by treating it in an analogous way to a machine scheduling problem (as explained in the companion paper). Dynamic programming (DP) has been used by several researchers for solving such machine scheduling and sequencing problems and thus the same method is adopted here for solving the proposed waste load scheduling problem. To demonstrate the practical application of the proposed method, the model was applied to a real case study river system, namely, Thambraparani river system, which is located in the southern part of the Tamil Nadu state in India. The results from the waste load scheduling model proved that the method is very effective in reducing the total waste load discharge into the river and thereby achieving a high level of river water quality. Comparing the results of waste load scheduling (WLS) model with SEDP (Seasonal Effluent Discharge program) and EBP (Effluent By-Pass Piping) model shows that the proposed WLS model satisfies all the three water quality management goals (i.e., cost minimization, minimizing overall inequity, and minimizing total waste load discharge into the river) to a greater degree when compared to SEDP and EBP models.

Spatio-Temporal Epidemiological Analysis of Livestock Diseases - A Case of Tamil Nadu State in India

In the present study, spatio-temporal analysis of eight livestock diseases was undertaken for Tamil Nadu state in India. Data(2002-14) on outbreaks, diagnosed cases, death cases were collected and analyzed for cumulative outbreaks, year, seasonal and zone wise, and calculated prevalence, mortality and case fatality rates(CFR). Cumulative outbreaks revealed Anthrax(109) was high followed by Foot and mouth disease[FMD](99), Peste des petits ruminants[PPR](45) and other diseases. Season wise analysis revealed increased outbreaks during North east monsoon. Agroclimatic zone and cluster analysis revealed highest outbreaks occurred in Northeastern and South zones. Prevalence rate was high in FMD(4.37) and low in BQ, ET(0.005). Mortality and CFR were highest in PPR(1.97) and Anthrax(96.71%) and lowest in BQ, ET(0.04) and FMD(11.79%), respectively. Bio-climatograhs showed relationship between rainfall and disease outbreaks. Thus, preventive vaccinations against anthrax, FMD, PPR have to be initiated in two zones before monsoon to mitigate livestock diseases in Tamil Nadu and boost economy.

Utilization of android apps among college students in Tamilnadu

The four districts of Tamilnadu namely Chennai, Villupuram, Salem, Madurai partake their specific characteristics. The students in these regions differ in their manner of utilizing Android apps for Educational, Information, Entertainment Purposes etc, in colleges and universities. What kind of encouragement and exposure are they subjected to when using android apps for social change? How do these teenage boys and girls differ in their attitude towards technology and consumerism relationship with other? Researchers are particularly focused on Educational apps, Informational apps, and Entertainment apps to identify the quantities of usage of apps between college students. These are the questions to be discoursed in this analysis. The research also focuses on determining which section of the student community utilizes the android apps more frequently and what type of Programmes were given more importance. This study was conducted amongst 398 college undergraduates in the state of Tamilnadu in India and the data was collected through a structured questionnaire. A comparative study was prepared to analyse the utility of android apps amid college boys and girls in four district of Tamilnadu.

A simple DSS for potato crop scheduling in Nilgiri hills of Western Ghats

A decision support tool has been developed for providing information on the optimum time of planting and the likely consequences of early or late planting of potato in about 173 locations of Nilgiris region of Tamil Nadu state in India. This DSS was developed for the most popular variety of the region i.e., Kufri Jyoti, and the choice to select right time of harvest is also incorporated in this DSS by simulating the yields at 100 and 120 days. The tool consists of a database of simulated yield at 100 and 120 days after planting derived through InfoCrop-potato model. This DSS is developed with the database generated using the daily weather data developed through weather generators and the potential yields estimated with the help of InfoCrop-Potato model. These data were generated by running the model under rainfed conditions for five dates of planting using the weather data for each location generated through weather generators. A user interface was developed in Visual Basic to access this database. The DSS developed for the purpose of potato crop scheduling is of great significance, which enables the farmers as well as extension functionaries for taking right decisions on timing the planting and harvesting of potato crop on which the major fraction of Nilgiri's economy depends. The simulated results when compared with the actual data and a good degree of correlation was observed between two.

Singaporean Reactions to Commemorations of Lee Kuan Yew in Tamil Nadu

When Lee Kuan Yew passed away, many of the national and even some international rituals of mourning were expected. However, what took Singapore by surprise was an outpouring of grief and memorializing in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Singaporean mass media reported that in the village of Ullikkottai and the surrounding area, families mourned the death of a leader to whom they attributed their region’s prosperity and economic development. This article uses Arnold van Gennep’s observations on rites of passage and Victor Turner’s notion of liminality to examine the public reaction to media coverage of mourning rituals in Tamil Nadu. These reports reflexively shed light on the complex relationships and histories of race, immigration, statehood, and national identity in Singapore, all brought into focus between March and September 2015.

A Study on Factors Influencing Financial Literacy of Youngsters with special reference to Tamilnadu State of India

Financial literacy is the fundamental knowledge for any human being to protect themselves from financial mistakes and economic shocks. It helps an individual to take planned risks, making right financial investment and to lead financially secured life. Global Financial Literacyindex indicates that India ranks 23rd out of 28 markets in terms of Global financial literacy. All India financial literacy and inclusion report (2014) also proved that 80% of the Indians are financially illiterate in India. This study explores the factors influencing college students financial literacy in Tamilnadu state of India. The modified model of Jergenson and Savla (2010) which was used in Family resource management theory as a base theory and has been used in this research. The results reveal that college Students financial behaviour is positively influenced by their financial knowledge. In addition to that financial knowledge of college students are positively influenced by their parents.

Mediational Model of Micro Small and Medium Sized Business's Growth

The aim of this research paper is to develop a meditative model of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) growth. This paper evaluates the relationship between human resources, social resources and monetary resource of enterprises, innovation and growth of the firm. The ultimate objective of this model is that these resources lead to growth of the enterprise. Based on the data analysis from 217 micro small and medium sized enterprises in Madurai City located at Tamilnadu state of India, the mediational model implication of entrepreneurship and innovation is concluded.

Assessment of Groundwater Quality Index in and Around Sholinganallur Area, Tamil Nadu

Groundwater is an essential and valuable natural source of water supply all over the world. To meet out the rising demand it is crucial to identify and recognize the fresh water resources and also to find out remedial methods for improvement of water quality. The present study aims in determining the groundwater quality in and around Sholinganallur area, Kancheepuram District. Sholinganallur is a suburban town of Chennai city situated on the southern IT corridor of Chennai in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The increase in growth of Sholinganallur’s economy, population density and infrastructure developments aggravated the stress on water and land related issues. The areal extent of a study area is 46.25 km2 from Navalur to Karapakkam. The Water Quality Index explains overall quality at certain location and time, based on several physio-chemical parameters. It provides anexcellent representation of overall quality of water for various purposes in the arena of water management. Water samples were collected from ten sampling points and tested for several physiochemical parameters like pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Hardness, Alkalinity, Sulphates, Nitrates, Chloride and Fluoride. Further the study uses Arc GIS for mapping the water quality to identify the spatial variation in groundwater quality. From the study, the presence of high TDS occurs in most of the locations and the ground water quality status of the selected area is found to be critical. Further the study identified potential suggestive measures and recommendations.

Development of a decision support system for potato crop scheduling in Nilgiri hills of Western Ghats

A decision support system (DSS) tool has been developed for providing information on the optimum time of planting and the likely consequences of early or late planting of potato in about one hundred and seventy three locations of Nilgiris region of Tamil Nadu state in India for the most popular variety of the region i.e., Kufri Jyoti. The effect of harvest at two different durations i.e., 100 and 120 days after planting is also incorporated in this DSS. The tool consists of a database of simulated yield at 100 and 120 days after planting derived through InfoCrop-potato model. This DSS is developed with the data base generated using the daily weather data developed through weather generators and the potential yields estimated with the help of InfoCrop-Potato model. The methodology of development of the data base and the user interface of the DSS has been discussed in this paper.

A Study on Growth Pattern of Vellore Urban Agglomerations- A Systems Approach

A city is considered as a complex system. It consists of numerous interactive sub-systems and is affected by various factors including governmental land policies, population growth, and transportation infrastructure. Land use and transport are considered as the most important factors determining the urban form and its structure. Vellore district is one of the 32 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Vellore City is the headquarters of this district. As of 2011 it was the third most populous district of Tamil Nadu (out of 30), after Chennai and Kanchipuram. The Gudiyattam and Vaniyambadi were the two urban agglomerations of the Vellore district with the population of 1,89,681 and 1,36,548 respectively. As per the UDPFI guidelines, these two urban agglomerations are classified under the medium city. In order to regulate the growth of the study area in an orderly manner for the present and the foreseeable future, this paper make an attempt to study and appreciate the development trends in study area and to suggest the strategies to plan city towards sustainability. For Gudiyattam, the population is restricted to achieve the population below 500,000 so that the city will be under the medium city itself. The land available for the development is minimum so the vicinity area like Peranampattu and Pallikonda could be development to improve the quality of life. For Vaniyambadi, the population is about 4,42,879 and available land area is 957.21 hectares. The area under industrial use is 49.33 hectareswhich constitutes about 11.06% of the industrial area. Tanneries occupy the maximum area under industrial use. As per the records, there are 77 tanneries, 9 flourmills, 2 engineering industries in Vaniyambadi. The land area available is maximum but the residential area is minimum where people are not willing to settle in Vaniyambadi. The analysis results predict that the Gudiyattam and Vaniyambadi are not capable to become the large cities. The boundary of vicinity area gets increase Gudiyattam may able to become large city in future. In case of Vaniyambadi, the residential area should be planned in such a way that it should be free from industrial area to improve the quality of life.

Identification of Azo Dye Degrading Sphingomonas Strain EMBS022 and EMBS023 Using 16S rRNA Gene Sequencing

Azo dyes form substantial industrial pollutants owing to their poor biodegradation capacity. Present study identifies azo dye detoxifying strain of bacteria from waste water near textile industries. In order to identify the azo dye degrading strain, 16S rRNA gene was sequenced from the pure bacterial culture obtained from the samples collected from textile industry area at Erode in Tamil Nadu state of India. Two novel azo dye degrading bacteria were found out of 60 samples investigated, which were respectively named Sphingomonas sp strain EMBS022 and Sphingomonas sp strain EMBS023. Isolates of Sphingomonas sp strains - EMBS022 and EMBS023 were deposited in GenBank with accession numbers ‘KF951596’ & ‘KF951597’respectively. UNAFOLD and RNA fold web servers were employed to predict the secondary structure of 16s RNA of these strains. Free energy estimate for secondary structures of 16s rRNA of strains EMBS022 and EMBS023 were ΔG = -159.00 kcal/mol and ΔG = -159.90 kcal/mol, confirming the structures to be considerably stable. Keywords: Azo dyes degrading bacteria, Sphingomonas species, Sphingomonas sp strain EMBS022 and EMBS023, 16S rRNA gene sequencing.