• Asian Journal of Innovation and Policy
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.154-177
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• 2015

India faces a formidable challenge in ensuring security of access to modern energy carriers to majority of its population. The fossil-fuel dominated centralized energy system has proved to be ineffective in creating sustainable access to energy, which suggests need for a radical and innovative approach. We present such an approach. First, the need for innovations given the implications of lack of energy access on sustainable development is assessed. Next, possible innovations with respect to technologies, policies, institutions, markets, financial instruments and business models are discussed. Finally, an economic and financial feasibility of implementing such innovations are analyzed. The results indicate that such a proposal needs an investment of US$ 26.2 billion over a period of 20 years for a GHG mitigation potential of 213Tg $CO_{2e}$. The proposition is profitable for the enterprises with IRRs in the range of 39%-66%. The households will get lifeline access to electricity and gas for cooking at an affordable monthly cost of about US$ 5.7.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.3949-3953
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• 2012

Head and neck cancers are amongst the commonest malignancies, accounting for approximately 20% of the cancer burden in India. The major risk factors are tobacco chewing, smoking and alcohol consumption, which are all preventable. This retrospective study presents data from the histopathology register for a five year period from 2002-2006 at Patna Medical College and Hospital, a tertiary care hospital drawing patients from the entire Bihar state, the 3rd most populous state of India with the majority of the population residing in rural areas. Incidence rates based on sex, age, site of lesion, including age standardized incidence rates for males and females, with mean age of presentation, distribution of histological variants and year wise trend were calculated. Out of 455 head and neck neoplasias, 241 were benign while 214 were malignant. The most common age group for all malignant biopsies was 7th decade for males and the 5th decade for females. Malignant cases were commoner in males than females with the male:female ratio of 3.1:1, which was found to be statistically significant by the chi-square (${\chi}^2$) test. The crude rate and age standardized incidence rate was 0.05 and 0.06 per 100,000 population respectively. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) contributed about 96% of all cases, with grade I being the most common. Larynx was the most common site for malignancy, the supraglottic region being its most commonly affected sub-site. This observed incidence patterns in the region are a reminder of widespread unawareness, low healthcare utilization with virtually non-existent cancer programs. It also underlines the need to advocate for reliable cost-effective programs to create awareness, for early detection and plan appropriate management strategies. There is a compelling demand for a cancer registry in this region as well as proper implementation of preventive measures to combat this growing threat of cancer, many of whose risk factors are preventable.

• Asian Journal for Public Opinion Research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.331-351
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• 2021

The unprecedented situation of COVID-19 caused the government of India to instruct educational institutions to switch to an online mode to mitigate the losses for students due to the pandemic. The present study attempts to explore the impact of online learning introduced as a stop-gap arrangement during the pandemic in India. A survey was conducted (N=289), via Facebook and WhatsApp, June 1-15, 2020 to understand the accessibility and effectiveness of online learning and constraints that students of higher education across the country faced during the peak times of the pandemic. The analysis and interpretation of the data revealed that the students acclimatized in a short span of time to online learning, with only 33.21% saying they were not satisfied with the online learning mode. However, the sudden shift to online education has presented more challenges for the socially and economically marginalized groups, including Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), Other Backward Class (OBC), females, and students in rural areas, due to factors like the price of high-speed Internet (78.20% identified it as a barrier to online learning), insufficient infrastructure (23.52% needed to share their device frequently or very frequently), poor Internet connectivity, etc. According to 76.47% of respondents, the future of learning will be in "blended mode." A total of 88.92% of the respondents suggested that the government should provide high-quality video conferencing facilities free to students to mitigate the division created by online education in an already divided society.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.08a
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• pp.96-96
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• 2020

Soybean seeds are important sources of non-nutritive health promoting metabolites. The contents of these metabolites are affected by both genetic and environmental factors. In the present study, the contents of five common isoflavones including daidzin, genistin, glycitin, malonyldaidzin, and malonylgenistin were analyzed in 72 soybeans of different seed coat colors, diversity, and of different origins including China (22), Japan (9), USA (12), India (4), and Korea (25). The average total isoflavone content (TIC) was maximum in Indian soybeans (3302.36 ㎍/g) and minimum in Chinese landraces (1214.95 ㎍/g). The Korean landraces had higher average TIC (2148.05 ㎍/g) than the USA genetic materials (1580.23 ㎍/g) and Japanese landraces (1485.99 ㎍/g). The content of malonylgenistin was in the range of 54.31 - 2385.68 ㎍/g in the entire population, and was the most abundant isoflavone irrespective of origin although there was content variation among individual soybeans. Besides, glycitin was the least concentrated isoflavone, and its content ranged from 0.00 to 79.79 ㎍/g. With respect to seed coat color, green soybeans from all countries displayed the maximum malonylgenistin and TIC contents. Exceptions were those of Korean and Indian origins where black and yellowish-green soybeans presented the highest malonylgenistin and TIC contents, respectively. In multivariate analysis, 92.72% of the variance was explained by the first two principal components, and the soybeans were grouped in to three clusters based on isoflavone contents. Overall, our findings signify the importance of seed coat color and origin as discriminant parameters, and provide wide spectrum of routes for breeding soybean cultivars.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.1045-1052
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• 2021

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between financial inclusion and socio-economic and demographic factors. Ownership of bank accounts, availing of credit facility, and use of mobile banking were considered the major indicators of financial inclusion. To achieved this objective, the present study was conducted in the rural regions of three hill districts of Uttarakhand. 780 rural households were selected by using stratified and judgment sampling technique. To measure the association between the variables, binary logistic regression model was employed. The findings of the study revealed that there is a significant association of socio-economic variables with financial inclusion. The overall analysis of the study indicates that the likelihood of having bank account, usage of mobile banking facility, and availing credit facility increases with the increase in the financial literacy of an individual in hill rural regions of the state. Further, the study also indicates the vulnerability of women relative to that of men in both cases of mobile usage and availing credit. The findings of the study suggest to target the economically vulnerable section of population (as identified in case of having low financial inclusion) and enhancing the financial literacy in these regions.

• International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.33-47
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• 2015

An institutional repository includes digital assets generated by academics, such as administrative documents, course notes, learning objects, or conference proceedings. It will provide a window that gives open access to improve the sponsoring institution's visibility and status. This paper discusses the growth and development of Institutional Repositories available in BRICS Countries. The relevant data was collected from the directory of OpenDOAR. Based on the data in OpenDOAR, 242 repositories are represented from BRICS countries. Among the 242, 84 (34.71%) repositories are from Brazil, 39 (16.12%) from China, 68 (28.10%) repositories from India, 22 (9.109%) repositories from Russia, and 29(11.98%) repositories from South Africa. Brazil has the largest number of records (11, 17,688) among BRICS Countries repositories.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.233-239
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• 1988

The base of Indian milk production is the millions of nondescript cows and buffaloes in rural areas, fed mainly on crop residues and agro-industrial wastes. The mainstay of the feeding system is straws and stovers. Therefore the approach to increase the fibrous residues utilisation for animal production was ideal and useful. The methods available for the above purpose were not found acceptable in rural areas owing to certain practical problems. The development of urea molasses block was, therefore aimed at solving the practical field problems. Urea Molasses Block has been developed as a feed supplement that can bring forth an effect of rumen manipulation thereby increase the conversion rate of feeds. The formula and process technology were thus developed. Before starting the mass production and popularisation the product was tested in controlled condition in farms and also in villages. Encouraged with the results the feed is now commercially manufactured under Indian Patent No. 156047.

• Journal of Information Science Theory and Practice
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.67-75
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• 2013

This paper discusses awareness of institutional repositories and open access publishing among faculty members in Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu, India. The authors distributed 200 questionnaires among the faculty members in Annamalai University. Out of 200 questionnaires, 160 responses (80.00%) were received from faculty members. The respondents mentioned the motivating factors while using an institutional repository and indicated the benefits, constraints and strategies to develop open access in publications. It is evident from the table that more than 95% among the average of the faculty members confirm the benefits of open access in publications. 150 (93.75%) of faculty members have awareness, 6 (3.75%) have no idea and 4 (2.50%) state no opinion about awareness of institutional repository and open access publishing.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1671-1674
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• 2014

Background: To study the clinical presentation of cervical carcinoma correlating with histopathological findings in a tertiary hospital situated in the southern part of India catering to rural and semi-urban populations Materials and Methods: 199 cases histopathologically diagnosed as cervical cancer over a period of one year were considered for the study. Clinical details of the patients were noted with the help of semi-structured proforma. The data was analysed by descriptive analysis using SPSS software. Results: Out of 199 patients, 109 had moderately differentiated squamous cell carcinoma, 51 poorly differentiated and 35 well differentiated. Adenocarcinomas numbered only four. 121 cases were in the age group of 40-59 years, 59 in 60-80 years and 19 in 20-39 years. All four cases of adenocarcinoma were seen between 40-59 years. 95 (47.7%) cases were in women who had 4 or more children, 120 presented with white discharge, 89 with bleeding per vagina and 68 had constitutional symptoms. Most of the patients with adenocarcinoma presented with bleeding per vagina. 151 was in stage IIIB, 29 in stage IIB, 14 in stage IVA and 5 in stage IB. Conclusions: Screening of cervical cancer should be emphasised in women with white discharge especially in rural areas for early detection of dysplastic cells and reduce mortality and morbidity in productive age. In addition health education has to be given to women regarding the awareness of hygiene, risk factors and symptoms of cervical cancer.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.346-350
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• 2015

To identify genome sequences of Apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd) isolates in Korea, the field survey was performed from 'Hongro' apple orchards located in eight sites in South Korea (Bongwha, Cheongsong, Dangjin, Gimchoen, Muju, Mungyeong, Suwon, and Yeongwol). ASSVd was detected by RT-PCR and PCR fragments were cloned into cloning vector. Full-length viral genomes of eight ASSVd isolates were sequenced and compared with 21 isolates reported previously from Korea, India, China, Japan and Greece. Eight isolates in this study showed 92.2-99.7% nucleotide sequence identities with those reported previously. Phylogenetic analysis showed that seven isolates reported in this study belong to the same group distinct from other groups.