Socio-economic Factors Affecting Adoption of Modern Information and Communication Technology by Farmers in India: Analysis Using Multivariate Probit Model     

Surabhi Mittal  Mamta Mehar 《The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension》2016,22(2):199-212

Purpose: The paper analyzes factors that affect the likelihood of adoption of different agriculture-related information sources by farmers.

Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper links the theoretical understanding of the existing multiple sources of information that farmer use, with the empirical model to analyze the factors that affect the farmer's adoption of different agriculture-related information sources. The analysis is done using a multivariate probit model and primary survey data of 1,200 farmer households of five Indo-Gangetic states of India, covering 120 villages.

Findings: The results of the study highlight that farmer's age, education level and farm size influence farmer's behaviour in selecting different sources of information. The results show that farmers use multiple information sources, that may be complementary or substitutes to each other and this also implies that any single source does not satisfy all information needs of the farmer.

Practical implication: If we understand the likelihood of farmer's choice of source of information then direction can be provided and policies can be developed to provide information through those sources in targeted regions with the most effective impact.

Originality/Value: Information plays a key role in a farmer's life by enhancing their knowledge and strengthening their decision-making ability. Farmers use multiple sources of information as no one source is sufficient in itself.  相似文献   

Role of the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped in the Dissemination of Information to Visually Impaired People     

Shilpi Verma  Mega Arora 《图书馆管理杂志》2013,53(3):285-294

ABSTRACT

‘Disability’; the ‘D’ word generally speaks its own meaning, as anyone who is different from others in terms of physical and mental impairment. There are various types of disabilities; broad categories such as physical and communication disability, mental illness and mental retardation, learning disabilities and so forth. In this article, an attempt has been made to describe the term ‘visual impairment’ which falls under the category of physical and communication disability. The next section of the article presents activities of the National Institute for the Visually Handicapped, Dehradun, India to make the visually impaired self-sufficient and to recognize the role played by the Institute in disseminating information to them.  相似文献   

Genetic Variation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">CD166</Emphasis> Gene and Its Association with Bladder Cancer Risk in North Indian Population     

Archana Verma  Rakesh Kapoor  Rama Devi Mittal 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2017,32(3):292-300

Adhesion molecules play a key role in cancer progression and tumorigenesis. Genetic polymorphism of adhesion molecules may alter the normal functioning thereby leading to bladder cancer susceptibility. Hence we aimed to evaluate three SNPs of CD166 gene (CD166rs6437585 C/T, CD166rs10511244 C/T, and CD166rs1157 A/G) in bladder cancer patients and normal controls of North Indian population. A total of 270 healthy controls and 240 confirmed bladder cancer patients were recruited for this study. Three SNPs of CD166 gene viz. CD166rs6437585 C/T, CD166rs10511244 C/T, and CD166rs1157 A/G were selected for this study. CD166rs6437585 C/T and CD166rs10511244 C/T were genotyped by Taqman allelic discrimination assay and CD166rs1157 A/G was genotyped by PCR–RFLP. The statistical analysis was done using the SPSS software, version 16.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL), and p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Haplotypic analysis was done by using SNP analyzer version 1.2A. CD166rs6437585 C/T and CD166rs10511244 C/T showed significant association with reduced risk in bladder cancer while CD166rs1157 A/G showed significant high risk along with association at genotypic and allelic levels. Haplotypic analysis showed 1.8-folds risk in CCG combination, whereas CTA and TCG showed significant association with reduced risk. Further stratification on the basis of smoking, tumor grade/stage and BGC therapy revealed no association of these three polymorphic sites of CD166. Our study suggests that CD166rs6437585 C/T and CD166rs10511244 C/T are predictive for the reduced risk of bladder cancer, whereas CD166rs1157 A/G had shown significant association with high risk of bladder cancer in North Indians. This somehow suggests that CD166rs1157 A/G can be used as a marker for risk prediction of bladder cancer.  相似文献   

The influence of parents on undergraduate and graduate students’ entering the STEM disciplines and STEM careers     

Cheryl J. Craig  Rakesh Verma  Donna Stokes  Paige Evans  Bobby Abrol 《International Journal of Science Education》2018,40(6):621-643

This research examines the influence of parents on students’ studying the STEM disciplines and entering STEM careers. Cases of two graduate students (one female, one male) and one undergraduate student (male) are featured. The first two students in the convenience sample are biology and physics majors in a STEM teacher education programme; the third is enrolled in computer science. The narrative inquiry research method is used to elucidate the students’ academic trajectories. Incidents of circumstantial and planned parent curriculum making surfaced when the data was serially interpreted. Other themes included: (1) relationships between (student) learners and (teacher) parents, (2) invitations to inquiry, (3) modes of inquiry, (4) the improbability of certainty, and (5) changed narratives?=?changed lives. While policy briefs provide sweeping statements about parents’ positive effects on their children, narrative inquiries such as this one illuminate parents’ inquiry moves within home environments. These actions became retrospectively revealed in their adult children’s lived narratives. Nurtured by their mothers and/or fathers, students enter STEM disciplines and STEM-related careers through multiple pathways in addition to the anticipated pipeline.  相似文献   

Early childhood care and education in India     

Amita Verma 《International Journal of Early Years Education》1994,2(2):31-42

A brief history of the development of Early Childhood Care and Education in pre and post Independent India has been given first. The current situation of ECCE, teacher training and research has been described and the Research — Policy — Program interface has been delineated.

Among the myriad issues confronting ECCE in the country a few have been selected for discussion.  相似文献   

Technology Readiness, Learning Goals, and eLearning: Searching for Synergy     

Bo van der Rhee  Rohit Verma  Gerhard R. Plaschka  Jill R. Kickul 《Decision Sciences Journal of Innovative Education》2007,5(1):127-149

More and more business schools are offering classes online or classes using a mix of face‐to‐face and online elements. In this article, we focus on how technology readiness and learning‐goal orientation influence students' preference toward these mixed classes. We conducted a large‐scale survey to determine whether students who are technology ready would place higher utility on enrolling in mixed classes and/or whether there exists a participation bias such that students with low learning‐goal orientation place higher utility on enrolling in mixed classes. We found that overall students who are more technology ready do place higher utility on enrolling in mixed classes, but that learning‐goal orientation does not influence this decision. We conclude with implications and recommendations for business schools that are interested in offering mixed classes.  相似文献   

An IAD type framework for Blockchain enabled smart tourism ecosystem     

Janardan Krishna Yadav  Deepika Chandra Verma  Srinivas Jangirala  Shashi Kant Srivastava 《The Journal of High Technology Management Research》2021,32(1):100404

The concept of smart tourism remains fuzzy when it comes to practice because of the lack of clarity on the roles and responsibilities of stakeholders in addition to complex institutional ecosystem that exist within the tourism industry. Further, trust and safety of the data generated due to the advancement of smart tourism in varied institutional arrangements pose huge challenges. Extant literature proposes that the application of decentralized ledger promises possible solutions to most of these problems due to the inherent features of the Blockchain technology. This suggestion raises two practical questions. First, does the sophisticated additional layer adds complexity to its practical application? Second, will the suggested solutions really lead to a win-win for all the stakeholders involved? In this study, we use Ostrom's action arena to examine the exchanges (information, contractual and monetary) between various stakeholders in a BCT enabled smart tourism of a Blockchain enabled tourism industry to answer these two questions.  相似文献   

Combined Analysis of Anti SARS-CoV-2 IgG and IgM Responses in COVID19 Patients in India     

Mohana Kumari Chidananda  Deepy Zohmangaihi  Sant Ram  Shiv Lal Soni  Vikas Suri  Pankaj Malhotra  Ravjit Singh Jassal  Jyotdeep Kaur  Indu Verma  Sadhna Sharma 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2021,36(4):485

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global health problem, India being the second most affected country. The kinetics of antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 in Indian population is not studied yet. To understand serological response in relation to age, gender, time period and severity of disease, Roche Elecsys anti-SARS-CoV-2 test was used which analysed both IgM and IgG. One hundred and three COVID-19 patients were enrolled. Seropositivity was seen in 64% of patients, with 33% at ≤ 7 days, 62% between 8 and 15 days and 81% at ≥ 16 days from the time of admission. Men (65%) showed higher antibody response than women (59%), whereas no difference was observed in seropositivity with respect to age of the patients. Dynamics of antibody responses revealed individual variations. Patients in ICU had higher antibody reactivity with 67% positivity as compared to 60% positivity in non-ICU patients. Kinetics of antibody response during COVID-19 disease varied in relation to gender, age, time period and severity and these factors might play an important role in treatment and control of COVID-19.  相似文献   

PCT as a Prognostic Marker in Cardiac Patients with Neutropenic Sepsis: Two Case Reports     

Neelima Verma  Shaloo Kapoor  Deepa Rao  Siddhartha Sharma  Anita Arora 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2014,29(1):107-111

Procalcitonin (PCT) is an innovative and highly specific marker for diagnosis of clinically relevant bacterial infection and sepsis. PCT supports early diagnosis and Clinical decision making. A retrospective study of two classical cases of neutropenic sepsis with elevated PCT levels in cardiac ICU was done. PCT was analyzed using Elecsys Brahms PCT kit. Serum PCT levels <0.5 ng/ml and ANC <1,000/mm³ was taken as cutoff. The first patient had initial high levels of PCT 100 ng/ml, TLC 13,600/mm³ and ANC 12,250/mm³. It was followed by drop with subsequent rise in PCT levels and drop in TLC 1,000/mm³ and ANC 70/mm³. The second patient had normal PCT 0.116 ng/ml, TLC 5,600/mm³ and ANC 4,420/mm³ levels followed with sharp increase in all the values with subsequent drop in TLC 2,000/mm³ and ANC 880 cells/mm³. Both the patients died of neutropenic sepsis with multiorgan failure. The case reports showed the correlation of PCT with TLC and ANC levels in predicting the mortality of patients with neutropenic sepsis in cardiac ICU.  相似文献   

Does LDL-C Estimation Using Anandaraja’s Formula Give a Better Agreement with Direct LDL-C Estimation than the Friedewald’s Formula?     

Shalini Gupta  Minni Verma  Kamaljit Singh 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2012,27(2):127-133

Estimation of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) is crucial in management of coronary artery disease patients. Though a number of homogenous assays are available for estimation of LDL-C, use of calculated LDL-C by Friedewald’s formula (FF) is common in Indian laboratories for logistic reasons. Recently Anandaraja and colleagues have derived a new formula for calculating LDL-C. This formula needs to be evaluated before it is extensively applied in diagnosis. We measured LDL-C by homogenous method (D-LDL-C) in 515 fasting samples. Friedewald’s and Anandaraja’s formulas were used for calculation of LDL-C (F-LDL-C and A-LDL-C, respectively). The mean LDL-C levels were 123.3 ± 53.2, 112.4 ± 50.2 and 109.2 ± 49.8 mg/dl for D-LDL-C, F-LDL-C and A-LDL-C, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the results (P > 0.001) obtained by calculation formulas compared to the measured LDL-C. There was underestimation of LDL-C by 10.8 and 14 mg/dl by Friedewald’s and Anandaraja’s formulas respectively. The Pearson’s correlation between F-LDL-C and D-LDL-C was 0.931 and that between A-LDL-C and D-LDL-C was 0.930. Bland–Altman graphs showed a definite agreement between mean and differences of the calculation formulas and direct LDL-C with 95% of values lying with in ±2 SD limits. The mean percentage difference (calculated as {(Calculated LDL-C)-(D-LDL-C)}/D-LDL-C × 100) for F-LDL-C was maximum (−11.6%) at HDL-C ≥ 60 mg/dl and TG levels of 200–300 mg/dl (−10.4%) compared to D-LDL-C. A-LDL-C results gave highest mean percentage difference at total cholesterol concentrations <100 mg/dl (−37.3%) and HDL-C < 40 mg/dl (−17.1%), respectively. The results of our study showed that FF is better in agreement with D-LDL-C than Anandaraja’s formula for estimation of LDL-C by calculation though both lead to its underestimation.  相似文献