• Earthquakes and Structures
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• 제5권1호
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• pp.67-81
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• 2013

Laterite blocks are used for construction of masonry walls since ages in the South-western coastal areas of India. The south-west coastal areas of India lie in zone III of seismic zonation map of Indian code IS 1893-2002. In spite of the fact that laterite is the most favored masonry material in these regions of India, the structural performance of laterite masonry has not been systematically investigated. Again there are no previous studies addressing, in detail, the seismic performance of laterite masonry buildings. Now that these areas are becoming more and more important from point of view of trade and commerce, there is a need for a detailed research on the seismic response of laterite masonry structures located in these areas. The present paper reports the results of such a study of the seismic response of box-type laterite masonry structures. Time history analysis of these structures under El-Centro acceleration has been performed using commercial finite element software ANSYS. Effect of 'containment reinforcement' on the seismic response of box type laterite masonry structures has been evaluated.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권17호
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• pp.7535-7540
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• 2015

Background: Early initiation of smoking and chewing of diverse forms of tobacco among youth in India is a significant driver for tobacco epidemic in India. Several socio-demographic factors are predictors of tobacco use in populations, especially among youth. Interventions which address these socio-demographic factors can help policy makers to curb new initiations and avert morbidity and mortality due to tobacco use. Objective: To study the various sociodemographic variables associated with tobacco use among youth in India. Materials and Methods: Secondary analysis of data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey-India 2009-10 for the age group of 15-24 years was performed and predictors of smoking and smokeless tobacco were analyzed using data on occupation, education, and other sociodemographic factors. Results: In India there are a total of 51.3 million (22.1%) youth (15-24 years) tobacco users. Of these 35.1 million consumes chewable tobacco (15.1%), 16.2 million smoke (7%) and 1.6 million are dual users (3.1%). Males, urban, less educated, un-employed and those belonging to middle class preferred smoking over chewing; whereas, females, rural, students and those belonging to low socio-economic class are predictors of smokeless tobacco use. The major determinants of dual users are male sex, poor socio-economic strata and student class. The overall tobacco use was higher among males, rural populations, lower socioeconomic strata and un-employed class. Conclusions: India's youth is more susceptible to the tobacco addiction, especially of smokeless tobacco. Youth from rural India especially students, girls and those from poor socio-economic strata prefer to use smokeless tobacco products whereas urban, male and those less educated prefer smoking tobacco products. More population-based and region-focused research is needed to understand initiation patterns into tobacco use among youth so as to inform policymakers to devise new policy measures to curb the growing epidemic.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제3권4호
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• pp.81-90
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• 2016

The core purpose of the paper is to explore perceptual displays of rural India towards the role and impact of ICT in transforming the lives through education and telecommunications. After meticulous review of pertinent literature on ICT, and its policy framework, the researcher administers both quantitative and qualitative field data collected from the villages of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu with a sample of 250 from each state. More than 90 percent of respondents from the four southern states in India clearly thought that the role and impact of ICT is very momentous. Predominantly, cent percent respondents from Kerala evinced that ICT is the major reason for achieving the tag of "100% Literacy State". And also in the remaining three states viz., Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu, the literacy rate has crossed mind-boggling figures only because of ICT's reinforcement. Even in the arena of telecommunications, these four states average telecom density is more than the country's average. The paper concentrated only on how ICT function empirically to build human capacity in rural south-India through the sectors of only education and telecom. This study is first of its kind and precious to all stakeholders of the ICT sector like educational institutional, telecom firms, customers, employees, and governments, etc.

• 약학회지
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• 제56권2호
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• pp.116-125
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• 2012

Local pharmaceutical companies in Korea, which have grown focusing on domestic markets, have recently faced difficulties such as market saturation, price control policies and market-opening pressures by FTA. It seems to be an urgent issue for them to export pharmaceuticals to developed countries comprising the greater part of the global pharmaceutical market. Hence, this research was conducted to investigate and benchmark the strategies employed by India industry for the successful access to the global pharmaceutical markets. Drug policies as well as their influences on pharmaceutical market changes between India and Korea for the last 40 years have been searched and the differences have been comparatively analyzed. The pharmaceutical industry of India has the following strengths: low costs; experienced labor pool; excellent reverse-engineering skills; powerful IT; marketing capability; and established distribution network. After 2000, consolidations, M&A and alliances with domestic and multinational companies have been sharply increased in the industry of India. Indian companies unfolding both competition and cooperation with multinational corporations currently move up the value-added chain, and this enthusiastic strategy should be learned by local pharmaceutical companies.

• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• 제7권4호
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• pp.27-33
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• 2017

Purpose - The paper aims to explore the critical and uncover issues encountered to the supply-chain companies in launching halal based services in India. Research design, data, and methodology - After a meticulous review of relevant literature on the halal concept and halal logistics, researchers involved in a data collection by conducting semi-structured focus group interviews. Four groups with a maximum of 5 members each have chosen from the areas of transportation, warehousing, certification, and packaging. A total of 20 questionnaires were collected by applying purposive sampling method. Results - More than 95 percent of the chosen focus groups agreed that they know only about halal but don't have any exposure to halal logistics. The discussion has revealed that the adoption rate for halal transportation, warehousing, halal certification, and packaging is almost zero. The respondents were chosen only from transportation, warehousing, certification and packaging companies from south India which are operating throughout India. This research never attempts to be acquainted with the opinions of channel members who directly or indirectly involved in meeting customer demands. Conclusions - This is a ground-breaking effort aimed to study the critical issues related to Indian halal logistics which is beneficial to both logistic companies as well as to the academic world.

• 대한원격탐사학회:학술대회논문집
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• 대한원격탐사학회 2004년도 Proceedings of ISRS 2004
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• pp.701-701
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• 2004

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권12호
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• pp.7237-7241
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• 2013

Background: Smokeless tobacco use in South Asia is believed to be a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality. In India, only a few studies involving health educational intervention by health care providers have demonstrated reduction in smokeless tobacco usage. In the present study we assessed the cessation efforts towards smokeless tobacco by physicians in two high tobacco prevalence states of India. The study also identified opportunities and barriers for integration of tobacco cessation services in routine practices of physicians. Materials and Methods: This mixed method study involved qualitative (phase I) and quantitative research study (phase II). In phase I, 59 in-depth interviews with physicians were conducted. In phase II, a quantitative study conducted among 238 physicians. An inductive approach was followed to analyze qualitative data using ATLAS. Ti software. The Chi-square test was employed to test the association between different variables of interest using SPSS version 17. Results: The majority of physicians related only respiratory problems and cancer with smokeless tobacco. Other major health effects like cardio-vascular problems, oral diseases, and effects on reproductive and neonatal health were recognized only by a few physicians. The age-group of 10-19 years was identified as most vulnerable to smokeless tobacco use. Less than one-third of physicians reported recording smokeless tobacco history of all patients. Findings indicated that less than half of physicians provided information on harmful health effects of smokeless tobacco with regard to specific diseases. Conclusions: The study revealed a low level of knowledge of physicians about harmful effects of tobacco and their suboptimal engagement in tobacco control practices. The study indicates the need of capacity building initiatives to equip physicians with skills in tobacco cessation.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제16권8호
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• pp.3505-3508
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• 2015

Background: Ras genes are thought to play an important role in human cancer since they have been found to be activated frequently in several types of tumors including breast cancer, where the overall incidence of K-RAS oncogene activation is 0-10%. Evaluation of K-RAS gene not only for mutational frequency but also for mutation types in this downstream signaling gene pathway is necessary to determine the mechanisms of action. The present study was conducted to test the hypothesis that K-RAS activation is involved in breast cancer risk of south Indian population. Materials and Methods: A total of 70 paired pathologically confirmed tumor and non-tumor tissues from the same breast cancer patients were analysed for most common K-RAS mutations of codon 12,13 and 61 by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction digestion and direct nucleotide sequencing method. Results: We found that a high rate of homozygous and heterozygous mutations of codon 12, but not codon 13 and 61, may influence the invasive ductal carcinoma of breast risk in this study. Conclusions: Our study indicated that only codon 12 may be involved in initiating breast carcinogenesis in India.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제13권2호
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• pp.539-543
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• 2012

Background: The results of the Global School Personnel Survey (GSPS) conducted in India in 2009 are compared with 2006 GSPS to assess any change in 2009 on tobacco use and knowledge and attitudes to tobacco use, training and availability of tobacco control teaching material in schools and the existence of school tobacco control policies. Methods: GSPS is a cross sectional survey conducted twice (2006 and 2009) in entire India. A total of 180 schools were surveyed each time. Results: Of the participating school personnel, 2660 in 2006 and 2575 in 2009, about 95% were teachers and the balance administrators. In 2009, compared to 2006 the prevalence of current smoking of cigarettes (19.6% in 2006 and 10.3% in 2009) and bidis (21.5% in 2006 and 13.9% in 2009) was found to be significantly lower; the percentage of teachers receiving training on preventing youth tobacco use has significantly reduced (16.7% in 2006 and 10.1% in 2009); access of teachers to educational materials on tobacco use and how to prevent its use among youth had not increased (34.6% in 2006 and 37.8% in 2009); there was no change in policy prohibiting tobacco use among students and school personnel; however, ever use of any tobacco on school premises was significantly lower (15.6% in 2006 and 9.6% in 2009). Conclusions: The prevalence of current smoking (cigarettes/bidis) among school personnel and use of any tobacco on school premises were significantly decreased in 2009 as compared to 2006. Necessary action should be planned to increase the number of teachers trained and the availability of teaching materials on preventing youth tobacco use in order to have effective prevention of tobacco use among students.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권2호
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• pp.625-630
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• 2013

Background: Hardcore smoking is represented by a subset of daily smokers with high nicotine dependence, inability to quit and unwillingness to quit. Estimating the related burden could help us in identifying a high risk population prone to tobacco induced diseases and improve cessation planning for them. This study assessed the prevalence and associated factors of hardcore smoking in three South-East Asian countries and discussed its implication for smoking cessation intervention in this region. Materials and Methods: Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) data of India, Bangladesh and Thailand were analyzed to quantify the hardcore smoking prevalence in the region. On the basis of review, an operational definition of hardcore smoking was adopted that includes (1) current daily smoker, (2) no quit attempt in the past 12 months of survey or last quit attempt of less than 24 hours duration, (3) no intention to quit in next 12 months or not interested in quitting, (4) time to first smoke within 30 minutes of waking up, and (5) knowledge of smoking hazards. Logistic regression analysis was carried out using hardcore smoking status as response variable and gender, type of residence, occupation, education, wealth index and age-group as possible predictors. Results: There were 31.3 million hardcore smokers in the three Asian countries. The adult prevalence of hardcore smoking in these countries ranges between 3.1% in India to 6% in Thailand. These hardcore smokers constitute 18.3-29.7% of daily smokers. The logistic regression model indicated that age, gender, occupation and wealth index are the major predictors of hardcore smoking with varied influence across countries. Conclusions: Presence of a higher number of hardcore smoking populations in Asia is a major public health challenge for tobacco control and cancer prevention. There is need of intensive cessation interventions with due consideration of contextual predictors.