Indian State Of Tamil Nadu Research Articles

Estimation of Runoff for Red Hills Watershed Using SCS Method and GIS

Soil Conservation Service (SCS) model was used for the estimation of runoff from an agricultural watershed namely the Red hills watershed, which is about 83.59 km 2 and part of Korattaliyar river basin catchment, situated in Thiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu state in India. The results show that a good correlation exists between rainfall and runoff and a minimum of about 66 mm rainfall per month is required to generate runoff in the area.

Situational Analysis of E-Health Initiative using ICT in Emergency Care Services

India, with its billion inhabitants, requires better emergency services to meet the growing demand for faster critical care facilitation. The scientific advances in the field of information and communication technology have contributed to the implementation of various e-health initiatives by various state governments within the country to improve the quality, access, and delivery of emergency care. “108 Emergency Response Service” is an e-health project established by the government of Tamilnadu state in India to render emergency services to the people. A qualitative study of the effectiveness of Information and Communication technologies in this Emergency Response Service (108 Emergency Service) in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu state (http://www.coimbatore.tn.nic) was done and recommendations to increase the effectiveness were provided. The results reveal that the efficiency and effectiveness of 108 ERS could be greatly enhanced by providing better telecommunication facilities in rural areas and by deploying Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) and Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) technologies to reduce the response time of the emergency vehicles.

Integrated techniques to identify groundwater vulnerability to pollution in a highly industrialized terrain, Tamilnadu, India

Investigation has been made to identify groundwater vulnerability to pollution by using geoelectric and hydrochemical investigations in an important industrial town Mettur located in Tamilnadu state of India. Schlumberger vertical electric soundings were carried out in 23 locations and groundwater samples collected from bore wells in the same locations. The resistivity value with <20 Ωm up to a depth of 36 m indicate contamination of groundwater in areas influenced by sewages from industries, domestic and agricultural practices in the central and southern part of the study area. The calculated specific conductance was noted higher than EC in central and southern part of the study area with low resistivity indicating the contaminated nature of groundwater. Concentrations of Ca, Na, Mg and K along with Cl, HCO(3), SO(4) and NO(3) were higher in certain locations when compared with WHO and ISI standards. The facies concept demarcated four groups based on the nature of groundwater contamination. The trace elements Fe and Pb were higher in locations confined to industrial zones and Zn and Cu were within the prescribed limit in all the samples.

Accidents and Disaster Management in Fireworks Industries

An explosion is a reaction-physical, chemical or nuclear in nature-resulting in a rapid release of energy in the form of light, heat, sound, and a shock wave. Accidental explosions during the manufacture of fire crackers and safety matches are reported regularly in Sivakasi, India. Sivakasi is well known as “Mini Japan” (or “Kutty Japan”), and is situated in the Virudhunagar District of Tamil Nadu State in India. Industries situated in and around Sivakasi satisfy about 90% of the global demand for fireworks products (for both civilian festival occasions and military needs for signaling).

Technical Efficiency and Scale Efficiency of District Hospitals

The Government of Tamil Nadu state in India has been implementing various health sector reforms (for example, expansion and upgradation of public health facilities, provision of round the clock services in selected primary health centres and continuous availability of quality medicines decentralisation) in a bid to improve efficiency in health care. However, few attempts have been made to make an estimate of the efficiency of hospitals in Tamil Nadu as well as in India till date. The objectives of this study are: (i) to estimate the relative technical efficiency (TE) and scale efficiency (SE) of a sample of public hospitals in Tamil Nadu; and (ii) to demonstrate policy implications for health sector policy makers. The Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach, a well-known operations research (OR) technique for evaluating the relative efficiency of a set of similar decision making units (DMU), was used to estimate the efficiency of these hospitals. To do so we made use of the data collected from the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services (DMRHS) for 29 districts of Tamil Nadu in 2004–05. The output data included are outpatient visits, number of inpatients, number of surgeries undertaken, number of deliveries and number of emergency cases. The numbers of staff members and bed strength were used as input. Of the 29 hospitals, it was found that 52 per cent were technically efficient as they had relative efficiency score 1.00 and lie on the efficiency frontier, while the remaining 48 per cent were technically inefficient and can use some of the efficient hospitals as their peers to improve their efficiency. Further, the average scale efficiency among the inefficient hospitals was 81 per cent, which implies that the scale inefficient hospitals could reduce their size by 19 per cent without reducing their current output levels.

Policy Insights on User Charges from a Rural Water Supply Project: A Counter-intuitive View from South India

When government engineers work closely with rural communities to raise awareness of water as a scarce resource, greater community ownership results and water supply service delivery and user charge collections improve. This runs counter to the conventional hypothesis that (higher) user charges lead to more finances and hence, improved service delivery. More sustainable service delivery results when engineers adopt a non-prescriptive and flexible approach and work with communities—rather than impose targets of 100% collection of operation and maintenance costs from the outset, as is done widely. The key is attitudinal change, driven in this case by democratization of governance undertaken along with engineers in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

The stigmata and discrimination experienced, in southern India, by cases of lymphatic filariasis

Between November 2006 and November 2009, the stigmata and discrimination experienced by 201 cases of lymphatic filariasis (LF) living in three areas of the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu (the Pondicherry urban agglomeration and two, endemic, rural villages in Villupuram district) were investigated in interviews. The narratives of nine of the interviewees are reported here in detail, to bring to light the various domains of life in which LF cases are stigmatized and discriminated against. Lymphatic filariasis can, and often does, adversely affect each case's livelihood, marital prospects, and social and marital life and can also diminish the marital prospects of a case's children. The deformity caused by the disease and the incapacitation resulting from the often-frequent attacks of adenolymphangitis appeared to be the main reasons for the stigmatization and discrimination. Although morbidity control is one of the 'twin pillars' of the Global Programme for Elimination of Filariasis, the stigmata and discrimination associated with such morbidity also need to be addressed.

The pattern of odontogenic tumors in a government teaching hospital in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu

This hospital-based study was designed to provide demographic data on odontogenic tumors from the southern Indian population in the state of Tamil Nadu for comparison with pertinent series from other geographic regions. A total of 489 cases of odontogenic tumors registered over a period of 38 years (February 1970-March 2008) in the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Pathology of Tamil Nadu Government Dental College and Hospital, Chennai, India, were retrieved from the files of histopathology registers and were retrospectively analyzed. Odontogenic tumors in the present study constituted 4.13% of all the 11,843 registered biopsies. The mandible was the most commonly affected anatomic location, with 362 cases (74.02%). Ameloblastoma with a predilection for posterior mandible was the most frequent odontogenic tumor (67.69%), followed by adenomatoid odontogenic tumor (9%), odontoma (7.77%), and calcifying odontogenic cyst (5.52%). The patients were affected over a wide age range of 5-75 years with a mean age of 32.64 years and peak occurrence in the second and third decades of life. Among the 489 cases, only 15 (3.07%) were malignant. The relative frequency of 4.13% of odontogenic tumors observed in this study, which is the largest series from this part of the world. Ameloblastoma formed the single most common tumor of all odontogenic tumors. This study observed both regional and geographic variations in the frequency and distribution of odontogenic tumors.

Development and evaluation of a training programme on primary prevention of diabetes for primary care physicians

PURPOSE: To strengthen the capacity of primary care physicians in prevention and control of diabetes in Tamilnadu State in India. METHODS: A 2-day workshop focusing on diabetes, its prevention and control was carried out. The impart of the training programme was evaluated in two parts – (i) knowledge assessment done by administering a tool to the doctors before the start and towards the end of the sessions and (ii) clinical practice assessment - interviewing the doctors to assess diabetes service delivery, after six months. RESULTS: A significant improvement in identification of risk factors and high risk groups, primary prevention methods, screening and diagnostic procedures and treatment of diabetes by the physicians were observed. After 6 months, considerable improvement in diabetic care delivery to patients at community level was observed and some physicians had started organizing screening and awareness campaigns in their communities. CONCLUSION: Diabetic health care at primary health care level can be considerably improved through sensitization and effective educational programmes. Keywords: Diabetes; Training programme; Primary care physicians.

Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Macrozonation of Tamil Nadu in Southern India

Abstract The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the peninsular shield is a zone of low to moderate seismic activity with a sparse historical record of significant earthquakes. The current intensity-based zoning adopted by the Indian seismic code stipulates an effective peak ground acceleration (PGA) of either 0.10 or 0.16 g for different parts of the state, for the maximum considered earthquake (MCE), and the service life of a structure. In the current study, probabilistic seismic hazard contour maps for Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Pondicherry, in terms of the ground-motion parameters, PGA and spectral accelerations, at 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 sec for 2%, 5%, and 10% probabilities of exceedance in a 50 yr period, have been produced. Hazard computations have been performed over a grid of sites covering the territory at an interval of 0.2°. A comprehensive earthquake catalog has been compiled for the region extending between 2 and 20.7° N latitude and 68 and 88° E longitude and spanning ∼950 yrs. The hazard maps are produced by suitably accounting for epistemic uncertainty in the hazard computations within a logic-tree framework incorporating parameters such as different probabilistic hazard analysis methods (classical Cornell–McGuire and zone-free approaches), catalog completeness estimation methods, maximum cutoff magnitude, and ground-motion predictive equations for shallow crustal intraplate environments. The hazard maps are compared to the zoning prescribed by the seismic code. The current estimations show that the potential seismic hazard in considerable parts of the state is underestimated by the broad zoning adopted by the Indian Standards.

An Indian Student's Insatiable Ardor for Biotechnology

It is this maxim that urged me to think higher right from my young age. I am an Indian student who has been invited to share my experiences with the BIOS readers on my fascination towards the field of Biotechnology and the steps I took to become a Biotechnology student. I enjoyed my schooling in State Bank Officers Association (S.B.O.A) Matriculation Higher Secondary School which is located in my home town, Madurai, in the state of Tamilnadu in India. This Madurai, rightly called the City, has fascinating temples among which the Meenakshi Amman Temple is world famous and stands as a significant testimony for the Dravid ian's mastery over architecture in sculpting this temple. Right from my childhood I liked science subjects, especially the biological sciences and being a lover of nature, I nurtured several pet animals and plants in my home. In India the school education is taught for 14 years starting from Lower Kinder Garten (LKG), Upper Kinder Garten (UKG), Primary school course from I to V grade, Secondary school course from VI to X grade, and finally the Higher Secondary course comprising of XI and XII grade. Among this, the X and XII grade examina tions are conducted and evaluated in a central ized manner by the corresponding Indian state government. Biological Sciences consisting of Botany and Zoology is an integral part of our curriculum up to grade X. Until this grade it is compulsory for all Indian students to study Botany and Zoology. But after completing this grade, the student has a choice of what to study in grades XI and XII. Here the students select the subjects they want to learn, which are available as ready made packages in their corresponding course syllabus of the various specialized streams. The most opted streams are the Biology /Mathemat ics stream, Pure Science stream, Computer Sci ence stream and Commerce stream. Apart from these, several vocational streams like Psychology, Political sciences, Economics etc., are also of fered. The above mentioned are the specialized courses in the various streams whereas all the streams will have English as first language and other vernacular language (for example Tamil in Tamilnadu) as the second language. This point is crucial in any Indian student's life, as it is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity given to us to se lect our future career. After I got my X grade examination results (Similar to American High school sophomore level), I spent sleepless nights introspecting and discovered my hidden zest for Biology. This made me decide to opt for the Biology/Maths group. During my higher secondary course, I was able to learn different realms in Botany and Zoology, more precisely in the concepts of Bio technology (even though Biotechnology is not a subset of Botany and Zoology, as far as School

Genetic Similarity of Eggplant Shoot and Fruit Borer, Leucinodes orbonalis, Populations

Shoot and fruit borer, Leucinodes orbonalis (Guenee) (Pyraustidae: Lepidoptera), has become a production constraint in all eggplant (Solanum melongena Linn. [Solanaceae])-growing countries. In India, transgenic eggplants expressing Bacillus thuringiensis Cry toxins have been tested in fields by private- and public-sector agencies. Understanding population diversity is important in designing strategies for better pest management. In the present investigation, random-amplified polymorphic DNA markers were used to assess the genetic diversity of L. orbonalis population collected from different field locations in the Tamilnadu State of India. Of 17 random-amplified polymorphic DNA primers screened, only 11 primers generated polymorphic bands (up to 14 bands). According to their level of similarities, only two major clusters with no variation among population were deduced. Our results indicated that there is a steady genetic flow among the present population of L. orbonalis alleviating genetic variation, which may be attributed to passive and active dispersal of the insect besides absence of host-induced variations among the population. As molecular variability of L. orbonalis population is an important consideration for shoot and fruit damage of the eggplant, constant monitoring is essential to study the possible development of Cry protein resistance in L. orbonalis.

Ensuring Daughter Survival in Tamil Nadu, India

The South Indian state of Tamil Nadu is a relatively recent addition to the list of Indian states to experience the phenomenon of “missing girls”. Nonetheless, the government and non-governmental organizations in the state have been active for some time in collecting data to track gender differences in survival and in introducing interventions to prevent daughter elimination. Against this background, this article has two aims. First, it provides a temporal and spatial analysis of patterns of daughter deficits in Tamil Nadu over the period 1996–2003. Second, it undertakes an examination of the modus operandi, underlying assumptions, strengths and weaknesses of various interventions and assesses their effect on daughter elimination.

Ensuring Daughter Survival in Tamil Nadu, India

The south Indian state of Tamil Nadu is a relatively recent entrant to the list of Indian states exhibiting the phenomenon of ‘missing girls’. Notwithstanding the state’s relatively recent history of daughter elimination, the government and NGOs in Tamil Nadu have been active in terms of data collection to track gender differences in survival and in introducing interventions to prevent daughter elimination. Against this background, this paper has two aims. First, it provides a temporal and spatial analysis of patterns of daughter deficits in Tamil Nadu over the period 1996 to 2003. Second, it undertakes an examination of the modus operandi, underlying assumptions, strengths and weaknesses of various interventions and assesses their effect on daughter elimination.

Transgenic resistance by N gene of a Peanut bud necrosis virus isolate of characteristic phylogeny

The nucleocapsid protein (N) gene of a Tospovirus devastating tomato crop in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu was cloned and characterized. The high identity of the cloned sequence to a Peanut bud necrosis virus (PBNV) tomato isolate (97.8/99.6% nucleotide/amino acid) and a PBNV peanut isolate (94.4/96.3% nucleotide/amino acid) identified the Tospovirus as an isolate of PBNV, designated PBNV Coimbatore tomato (PBNV CT) isolate. Phylogenetic analysis of PBNV CT N gene provided useful insights into the movement and evolution of PBNV within Indian Territory. The characteristic phylogeny of PBNV CT N gene implied its potential to be an efficient transgene to confer effective PBNV resistance on crop plants. The efficacy of PBNV CT N gene in conferring PBNV resistance was studied by generating tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv Wisconsin) lines transgenic to the sense or antisense version of the gene. Several transgenic lines showed transgenic mRNA and/or protein accumulation, ranging from very high to undetectable levels, accompanied by different degrees of PBNV resistance. The undetectable or very low levels of transgene transcripts in certain PBNV-resistant sense or antisense N gene transgenic lines suggested RNA-mediated resistance by post-transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS) mechanism. However, PBNV resistance of certain transgenic lines with high levels of N gene transcripts was suggestive of possible operation of RNA-mediated non-PTGS mechanism(s) of resistance in those lines. Moreover, the high levels of N protein in certain PBNV-resistant sense N gene transgenic lines suggested protein-mediated resistance. The results predict the potential of PBNV CT N gene to confer effective PBNV resistance on tomato and other economically important crops.

Impact of ENSO and the Indian Ocean Dipole on the north‐east monsoon rainfall of Tamil Nadu State in India

AbstractTamil Nadu State in south‐eastern India receives most of its rainfall from October through December, a phenomenon known as north‐east monsoon rainfall (NEMR). Tamil Nadu's south‐west monsoon rainfall (SWMR), received between June and September, correlates positively with the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI), whereas NEMR correlates negatively. We undertook a study to investigate the relationship between global teleconnection indicators, namely the El Niño‐Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), and precipitation over Tamil Nadu during NEMR. The results showed that NEMR had significant positive correlation with Niño‐3 sea‐surface temperatures (SST) in July. The statistical relationships between the IOD and NEMR were much weaker than those between ENSO and NEMR.To understand the relationship and/or local dynamic structure, composites of the circulation field for the extreme El Niño/La Niña years were compared with the mean state for July, September and November. Composite circulation analysis clearly showed that in extreme El Niño years, the Bay of Bengal exhibited a positive sea‐level pressure (SLP) anomaly, and the Arabian Sea exhibited a negative SLP anomaly, which resulted in strong north‐easterly winds, bringing moisture and precipitation to the southern part of India in November. The reverse was also true: A strong negative anomaly was observed in the Bay of Bengal during La Niña years, which resulted in a weak NE monsoon. However, local circulation anomalies (Bay of Bengal through Arabian Sea) did not continue from July to November. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

User Centred Design model (G2C2G) for rural e-governance projects

ICT has the potential to spawn innovative means of wealth generation in rural areas by providing timely information and public services. However an in-depth analysis of RASI in Tamil Nadu State of India, indicates that such e-government projects are usually designed from the perspective of bureaucrats, technocrats or donor bodies rather than from the perspective of the villagers. Based on a User Centred Design (UCD) approach, this paper proposes an inclusive strategy, titled Government to Citizen to Government (G2C2G), for designing rural e-governance projects that could address the needs of both the government and the governed.

Estimation of firing temperature of some archaeological pottery shreds excavated recently in Tamilnadu, India

An attempt has been made in the present work to estimate the firing temperature of the archaeological pottery shreds excavated from the three archaeological sites namely Maligaimedu, Thiruverkadu and Palur in the state of Tamilnadu in INDIA. The lower limit of firing temperature of the Archaeological pottery shreds were estimated by refiring the samples to different temperatures and recording the corresponding FT-IR spectrum. The firing methods and conditions of firing were inferred from the characteristic absorption positions and the bands observed due to the presence of magnetite and hematite in the samples. In addition, the Scanning Electron Microscopic analysis were carried out to study the internal morphology, vitrification factor and the upper limit of the firing temperature of the potteries fired at the time of manufacture.

‘Too many girls, too much dowry’: son preference and daughter aversion in rural Tamil Nadu, India

The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility, accompanied by a trend of increased son preference. This paper reports on findings from qualitative interviews with women in rural villages about their fertility decision‐making. Specifically addressed are the reasons behind increasing son preference and the consequences of this change. Findings suggest that daughter aversion, fuelled primarily by the perceived economic burden of daughters due to the proliferation of dowry, is playing a larger role in fertility decision‐making than son preference. The desire for a son is often trumped by the worry over having many daughters. Women use various means of controlling the sex of their children, which in this study appear to be primarily female infanticide. It is important to distinguish between son preference and daughter aversion and to examine repercussions of low fertility within this setting.

Success factors for the effective implementation of renewable energy options for rural electrification in India-Potentials of the CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM

Developing countries as well as international development assistance have for a long time aspired to combat energy poverty in rural areas of developing countries. However, until now a major part of national and international public and private attempts to provide affordable and stable energy supply have failed due to various economic, political, social and institutional obstacles. This situation is reflected in case of India where in comparison with other South Asian states the status of rural electrification and of energy supply are in a dismal state despite the promotion of renewable energy and rural electrification as early as from the 1960s. Embedded in the global context of the international climate change regime, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol has now emerged as a new option to facilitate investment in climate change mitigating projects. In this respect, promoting the deployment of renewable energy through this project-based mechanism opens new avenues for rural electrification. The main objective of this paper is, hence, to examine the context conditions and factors determining the effective application of renewable energy options for rural electrification in a developing country context, namely India. Understanding contextual requirements for renewable energy investment has proved imminently important in order to appreciate the potentials provided by new market-based mechanisms such as the CDM for rural poverty alleviation. Comparative political science case study research methods are applied to the analysis of CDM biomass projects in the context of the four Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. This allows for the conclusion that socio-political and historic framework conditions matter for the implementation of new renewable energy options.