India’s economic system has undergone significant changes in recent years reflecting globalization and changes in national policies. This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of India’s economic growth, focusing on imports and exports. The study explores the key drivers of economic expansion, including trade liberalization, trade agreements, and technological advancement. It also explores the impact of international trade and geopolitical events on business models. It assesses the role of policy measures such as the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Make in India initiative, and various free trade agreements in generating economic benefits. The paper also assesses the trade balance and its impact on India’s economic stability and growth. The paper concludes with recommendations for improving the market, including diversifying entrepreneurs, investing in infrastructure, and strengthening the domestic economy. The review provides insights to policymakers, businesses, and academics who want to understand and harness India’s economic potential in the global economy
The article is a discourse analysis of the Wildflower telerserye, exploring the themes and portrayals of the main character and the ambiguities projected by her characterization. The research’s objective revolves around the details that upon the attempt of the telersye to flaunt the modern archetypes of a Filipina, a strong and empowered woman who liberates under the yoke of patriarchal hegemony, her actions and ways were deemed crucial and subjected to great scrutiny. The researcher also dealt with how these portrayals affect and reflect the Filipinos’ way of thinking and sense of morality. Two major literary theories were used to underscore the article’s crucial points. To show how the woman portrayals in teleserye try to subvert the idea and configuration of patriarchy, Feminism (Helene Cixous) was used. Meanwhile, Deconstructionism (Jacques Derrida) was employed to show that in the attempt of the teleserye to empower the woman lead character, remove her from her marginalized and stereotypical views, and liberate her from the yoke of patriarchal hegemony, the result was otherwise. Based on these analyses, a synthesis of Filipinos’ sensibilities on how it affects and reflects their ways of thinking was crafted.
Purchasing is one of the key managerial activities in every organisation, its significance having been identified during the 19th century. According to Kasilingham (2012, p.57), the period shortly before the Second World War marked the discovery of the fact that a firm’s success was not so much dependent upon what it was capable of selling but rather on how able organisations were to acquire necessary services together with materials from vendors. This discovery was triggered by a global shortage of virtually all fundamental materials for supporting operations, coupled with an abnormal rise in prices following the First World War. Since that time, purchasing has gained significance for the critical role it plays towards ensuring continuity of production (Hacioglu, 2019 p.265). Worth noting is that purchasing acts as “an interface between suppliers and functional areas within the buying organisation” (Crandall, Crandall & Chen, 2009 p.265). Among some of the functional areas that are influenced by purchasing are finance, marketing, production, and quality assurance (Magad & Amos, 2013 p.225). A vital deduction that can be made from this latter statement is that for the purchasing function to proceed smoothly and make the other functions- and the entire organisation- active, organisations must cultivate and maintain good relationships with suppliers and all other players in the supply chain. In addition, organisations operate in environments that are highly unpredictable; the techniques needed to perform the purchasing function become more refined almost every day due to constant changes in the market (Kasilingam, 2012 p.57). Subsequently, there is a need for managers in organisations to understand and embrace the idea of sustainable procurement.
Tremendous growth has been incorporated in the field of composite materials in the current scenario where the engineering applications are highly demandable. Currently composites are being used to replace conventional metallic materials in a wide range of industries including aerospace, defense, aircraft, and textile which require structural materials with high strength-to-weight and stiffness-to-weight ratios. Also natural fiber composites are currently replacing synthetic fiber composites of different applications in various engineering industries due to their low cost and eco-friendly in nature. In this work, twisted kenaf, and twisted kevlar (aramid fibers) have combined together to enhance the mechanical properties and also to improve high impact resistance with less contribution of kevlar which is very high in cost categorized next to carbon fibers. Here, the hybrid composites (natural and aramid) are done by using hand layup method, and various mechanical properties have been investigated. Also, the morphological analysis is done to observe the internal structure of the tested composite. It is observed that hybrid composite has high strength with minimum contribution of kevlar fibers.
Context: Menstruation is one of the most basic characteristic features of girls and inadequate knowledge of adolescent girls about menstruation can result in faulty menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and inappropriate dietary management both of these can causes diseases which is a major threat for adolescent health in developing countries like Bangladesh. Aim: To identify current knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to menstruation and menstrual hygiene management (MHM) among adolescent girls. Settings and Design: It is a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in Jashore, Bangladesh. Methods and Materials: A pre-formed, pre-tested questionnaire was used. The questionnaire-based survey was conducted among randomly selected 250 adolescent girls between 10 and 19 years. Statistical analysis used: Data were analyzed statistically by Microsoft office excels and SPSS windows version 16 software programs. Results: Among 250 adolescent girls majority had their menarche between 12 and 15 years of age, 70% of adolescent girls of this study belonged to lower class families. This study revealed that 85% of the respondents had regular menstruation whereas 15% had irregular menstruations also. Most of them faced different types of Premenstrual syndrome including 76% from headache, 80% from lower abdominal pain, and 62.5% from fatigue and weakness. Only 56% had previous knowledge about puberty before attaining menarche. There was a statistically significant correlation between the mother’s education and the knowledge of participants about menstruation at puberty. All the participants used to bath and wash hand after changing pads whereas 80.8% used to avoid all types of exercises. Almost 94% of respondents used to dispose of their napkins properly. The micro-nutrient deficiency was also common; especially 49.2% were suffering from Iron deficiency and 69.6% from folic acids deficiency. Conclusion: Awareness programs regarding both menstrual hygiene and dietary management can aid to alleviate some complications during puberty and ensure better health for adolescent girls.
We present a large-eddy simulation (LES) of saliva particle transport during normal human breathing through the nose and mouth. The flow of the air–saliva mixture is modeled using an Eulerian LES that is coupled with a Lagrangian particle tracking module to obtain trajectories of saliva particles in a room with stagnant air conditions. The coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian simulation yields novel insights into the intricate dynamics of Lagrangian coherent structures (LCS) and fundamental material lines that emerge from the saliva particles' trajectories during several breathing cycles. Further, we systematically compare the quantitative LCS diagnostics of mouth breathing with those of mouth and nose normal breathing. Analyzing the simulation results of human breathing from the mouth and nose, we show that, soon after the first breathing cycle, saliva particles form a series of roll-up vortex rings that propagate forward. The forward propagation of these vortex rings leads to the formation of an asymmetrical primary forefront vortex. The individual vortex rings continuously propagate forward, merging with the forefront vortex, and ascending along the limb of the leading vortex.
Ascaris lumbricoides infestation is a worldwide common soil-transmitted helminths infection mainly affecting children in the developing and low socioeconomic status countries where the transmission is by contamination of soil by human feces or use of untreated feces as fertilizer [1]. However, it is rare in Qatar, and most cases have been reported among non-Qatari residents who visited their home country while on vacation. In this report, we presented a case of A. lumbricoides infection in a preschool child who arrived in Qatar after a trip to the Gaza strip.
Blind Taste Test of Soft-drinks – A Comparison Study on Coke and PBrand equity is “The differential effect that brand knowledge has on consumer response to the marketing of that brand” (Keller-1993).Brand equity is the added value a product acquires as a result of past investments in the marketing activity for the brand.This marketing activity resides in the mind of customers and as a result customer shapes a perception about the brand, biggest challenge here is creating positive perceptions by ensuring that customers have right type of experiences with product so that both functional experiences as well as emotional experiences become associated with the product.Thus Brand perception is the imagewhich a brand creates in the mind of the customers due to the various associations linked with the brand. The simplest way tounderstand what brand equity is to understand the typical results of product sampling and comparison tests. One such test is blind taste test in which consumers sample a product without knowing the brand what they consume and consuming the same product knowing brand i.e., open test. When consumers report different opinions about branded and unbranded versions of identical products, it must be the case that knowledge about the brand has changed their perceptions. Thus, consumers’ perceptions of product performance are highly dependent on their impressions of the brand that goes along with it Pepsi
During the 16th century, firearms played a transformative role in Indian warfare, considerably enhancing the effectiveness of the Mughal army. The introduction of muskets and artillery by Babur in 1526 revolutionized military strategies, giving the Mughals a decisive advantage in battles and sieges. The Mughal army’s structure, particularly under Akbar’s Mansabdari system, centralized control and ensured a loyal, efficient military force. This technological and organizational superiority enabled the Mughals to consolidate power over diverse regions through a combination of military might and diplomacy. By the 17th century, there was a significant change in rebellions as firearms started being used by peasants. This shift in weaponry fundamentally altered the nature of these uprisings, empowering the peasantry in new ways to resist authority. Multiethnic regional powers also recognized the importance of firearms, acquiring them from the Mughals or Europeans, and employing them effectively in battles. In the mid-18th century, the Marathas and later the Mysore Sultanate took a notable step by establishing arms factories and engaging European experts to produce advanced firearms. This marked a departure from the past, where regional powers typically relied on the Mughals or European companies for firearm procurement. This shift toward domestic arms production signaled a move toward greater self-sufficiency and the development of advanced firepower. By the 18th century, the Mughal Empire was in decline, and multiethnic regional powers and European colonial forces, equipped with advanced firearms, challenged and eventually overshadowed Mughal dominance.
Bank sector crisis across the globe is largely blamed on the joint effort of bank liquidity and bank credit risks. And so, the twin concepts of liquidity and credit risks have come under keen academic scrutiny, especially in investment finance. Contributing to the extant literature on these developments, secondary data were obtained from the websites of nine banks in Ghana, spanning 2008 to 2018, to determine how liquidity and credit risks separately and interactively impact bank stability in Ghana. Analysis of data was done using a panel regression through the fixed effects model after running the Hausman Test. The study confirms an inverse liquidity risk-bank stability relationship, emphasising the need to channel idle funds into interest-earning securities to consolidate bank profits. Although a further revelation suggests an insignificant negative relationship between credit risk and bank stability, it re-echoes the need to implement policy recommendations made by the Banks and Specialised Deposit-Taking Institutions’ ACT 2016 (ACT 930), section 62 of Ghana, on the threshold to lend funds to clients. The bank-size-stability relationship was positive. Increasing bank size through establishing more branches nationwide is encouraged but to a precautionary level since banks tend to suffer diseconomies of large scale operations due to unregulated expansion. There is the need to observe the Basel III provisions on maintenance of a 30-day optimum liquidity threshold of up to 100% and above. Besides, banks should tighten up their credit requirements and also ensure loan repayments history is monitored to benefit clients who are in good standing.
Community pharmacist plays an essential role in educating the epileptic patients about their disease and medications. Improving the patient’s awareness may lead to improve their compliance and decrease drug-drug interaction and ultimately improve their quality of life. Pharmacist can detect the emergence of health problems and can help prevent progression of comorbidities. Considering the complexity of treating epilepsy and the lack of information about pharmacists’ contributions to epilepsy management, pharmacist performed pharmaceutical counselling, pharmaco-therapeutic follow-up and systematic measurement and evaluation of findings and increase medication adherence of patient with epilepsy. This study was aimed to assess the community pharmacist's knowledge about epilepsy and their treatment by antiepileptic drugs in Libya. The design of the study is a cross sectional study. The knowledge was collected through a questionnaire which included 35 questions divided into three sections: demographic data, general information about epilepsy and information about epilepsy and antiepileptic drugs. The questionnaire was prepared and validated by consultant training in Ali Omer Asker Hospital in Tripoli for two months. The findings indicate that over 200 patients are altered viewed, of whom, only epileptic patients were observed. The majority of the participants were female, qualification degree BSc and years of experience from one to five years. Unfortunately, some of the participants (40.0%) had poor knowledge and about 60.0% of them had good knowledge. This study indicates that the importance of community pharmacist in Libya requires more improvement to achieve the existing function and that the impact of continuous study of everything related to diseases and medicines is important to obtain a qualified pharmacist who can become an effective agent for a change.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
The rate of aging is rapidly increasing and the term of geriatric refers to offer a medical care to elderly people. Drug consumption study on geriatric population is a vital issue since this group is totally neglected in Libya. The aim of this study was to assess drug utilization pattern among elderly patients in terms of world health organization core prescribing indicators and to evaluate the treatment cost. A total of 106 prescriptions were randomly collected from different community pharmacies located in Tripoli during the summer 2019, and were evaluated (total number of prescribed drugs is 359) for their clinical efficacy and safety. The findings revealed that 60 drugs acting on GIT (16.7%), 50 antimicrobial drugs (13.9%), 31 antihypertensive drugs (8.6%) and 30 drugs for respiratory diseases (8.4%) were prescribed to patients who are 65 years old or more. With regard to disease pattern in the elderly Libyan patients, 27 drugs were prescribed for diabetes mellitus (7.5%), 24 drugs for cardiovascular drugs (6.7%) and 14 drugs for anti-hyperlipidemia (3.9%). According to the WHO core drug use indicator pattern, the average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 3.3. Prescription by generic name was low (41.5%). Antibiotics were 36.8% while injections were 26.6%. Thus, this study suggest that geriatric medicine and rational drug use should strongly be implanted in medical schools and teaching hospitals. Besides, a drug pattern use of the Libyan community is urgently required to avoid drug prescribing errors.
Background: The deliberate postponement of significant academic assignments with due dates is known as academic procrastination. The undesirable habit known as procrastination is the inability to start or finish a task within the allotted time, which results in detrimental effects on students' future employment, as well as stress, guilt, poor academic achievement, and low self-esteem. Method: Descriptive Research design was adopted for a study to assess the Variables influencing Nursing students' Academic Procrastination at selected Nursing college of Bhopal, M.P. Sample size 60 B.Sc. Nursing students. Result: Result revealed that majority of students were females, 27 out of 60 were in age group of 20-21yeras, 25 (41.6%) were studying in B.Sc. N 3rd year. Most of students resided in Rural area (36), 54 out of 60 belong to nuclear family and 35 mothers of students were educated as compared to 51 fathers. The mean score and SD of influencing variables of academic procrastination were as follows Personal variable was 2.6 ± 0.48, Environmental 2.26 ± 0.71, and Academic was 1.78 ± 0.41. Majority of nursing students 39 (65%) were moderately affected by Personal variables, Environmental variables affected 23 (38%) students moderately and academic variables affected 17 (28%) students moderately. Only Personal factor had more effect on 5 students as compared to none in other two variables. Conclusion: The study concluded that Environmental and personal factor had more effect on Academic procrastination as compared to academic variables.
This comparative study was conducted between local (Libyan) and imported (Chinese) garlic to evaluate their antibacterial activity against some isolated gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The study was carried out by using the agar well diffusion method at different aqueous extract concentrations (25%, 50%, 75% and 100%). The results showed that distinct antibacterial effects on both types of garlic with some differences between local and imported garlic. However, the zone of inhibition was more against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia and Escherichia coli, respectively. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity increased with the increase of concentration. So, this study recommends that garlic should be used against bacterial infection and more studies may be done against other bacterial species, especially multidrug-resistance strains.
Mediterranean journal of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences
Abstract: Recent studies on hydrogels have shown them as promising biomaterials for numerous applications involving tissue engineering, drug-screening, drug-delivery, and 3-D bioprinting because they show unique physicochemical properties. The ability of these structures to hold large amounts of water is because of their hydrophilic nature that provides a soft and hydrated environment like natural tissues. This makes them ideal for mimicking the extracellular matrix and supporting cell growth and proliferation. In tissue engineering, hydrogels might be used to create scaffolds that promote cell growth and facilitate tissue regeneration. Hydrogels can also be engineered in such a way that they intimate the mechanical and biochemical in vivo characteristics making them a versatile tool for applications in tissue engineering. Hydrogels are being used in drug screening, as they can be functionalized with different biochemicals in order to match the microenvironment of specific tissues. This allows researchers to study how drugs interact with cells and tissues in-vitro conditions, which can lead to more efficient strategies for drug development. For applications in drug delivery hydrogels are designed to release drugs in a sustainable and controlled way, improving the drug efficacy and reducing the toxicity of drugs. Designing can also be done in a way that they can target specific tissues and cells making them a promising tool for personalized medicine. Hydrogels are being used in 3-D bioprinting, where they serve as bio-inks that can be fabricated into complex structures with high precision. In comparison to conventional technologies, this is a promising technique that allows the construction of complex three-dimensional structures in a sequential manner by a computeraided system. One major challenge in bioprinting is finding such material that is suitable for printing and also satisfies the mechanical strength requisite for tissue engineering applications. That is where hydrogels serve as the most appropriate model and have encouraging or favorable operation potential as cell-affable materials. This technique has revolutionized tissue engineering by allowing researchers to create functional tissues and organoids and spheroids. Overall, hydrogel-based tissue engineering, drug screening, drug delivery, and 3D bioprinting are exciting areas of research with great potential to significantly impact different areas of medicine and biology.
Online interviews can be powerful tools in global health research. In this article, we review the literature on the use of and challenges associated with online interviews in health research in Africa and make recommendations for future online qualitative studies. The scoping review methodology was used. We searched on Medline and Embase in March 2022 for qualitative articles that used internet-based interviews as a data collection method. Following full-text reviews, we included nine articles. We found that online interviews were typically conducted via Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp, Facebook Messaging and E-mail chats. Online interviews were used in Africa because of the restrictions imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic and the need to sample participants across multiple countries or communities. Recruitment for online interviews occurred online, interviews were characterised by inaudible sounds, the inability to use video options and the challenges of including people with low income and education. We recommend that researchers critically evaluate the feasibility of online interviews within a particular African locality before fully implementing this data collection approach. Researchers may also collaborate with community-based organisations to help recruit a more socioeconomically diverse sample because of the potential of excluding participants with limited internet access.
The study examined psychological predictors and mediators of teacher subjective well-being. Participants included 174 teachers from urban middle and highschools. The first objective was to explore the psychological correlates of the teacher SWB: self-esteem, general self-efficacy (core self-evaluation), teacher self-efficacy, optimism (cognitive trait related to the psychological well-being), and perceived social support (psychosocial trait related to the psychological wellbeing. The second objective was to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy in the association between optimism and subjective well-being. The third objective was to explore the mediating role of teacher self-efficacy in the relation between perceived social support and teacher subjective well-being. Correlation, linear regression and mediation model analyses through the Sobel test were computed. Results confirmed the research assumptions. The findings of this study enhance the understanding of personal factors associated with teacher subjective wellbeing. The constructs linked to subjective well-being (predictors and mediators) could be target of school psychologists’ interventions, in order to have more engaged and performing teachers in schools. The findings were discussed in the context of designing the interventions for enhancement of the subjective wellbeing among teachers.
Undergraduate students’ attitudes towards Artificial Intelligence (AI) in developing countries like Vietnam are rarely explored despite AI’s increasing presence in higher education. This study aims to investigate the attitudes of undergraduate students towards AI. A quantitative research method was used, involving a self-reported survey questionnaire. The sample consisted of 460 undergraduate students (196 males and 264 females) from five public and private universities in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Data collection took place through a cross-sectional survey in November and December 2023. The General Attitudes Towards Artificial Intelligence Scale (GAAIS), originally developed and validated in English by Schepman and Rodway (2020), was adapted to Vietnamese for this study. The scale comprised 20 items to evaluate students’ attitudes towards AI. Data analysis included descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, t-tests, and one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results indicated a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.705 for the total variable, demonstrating acceptable reliability. Consequently, Vietnamese undergraduate students displayed moderately positive attitudes towards AI. The findings also revealed no significant difference in attitudes based on gender, but there was a notable variation based on the student’s year of study at university.
Gender discrimination in the athletics industry has long been a controversial topic- even the founder of the modern Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, said in 1896, “No matter how toughened a sportswoman may be, her organism is not cut out to sustain certain shocks.” Since then, gender equality in sports has come a long way, including UNESCO recognizing sports and physical activity as a human right in 1978. Despite the obstacles women face in athletics, many women have led and are leading the way to gender equity. This paper profiles women athletes and administrators who have paved the way, and offers "Strategies for Change" that women and girl athletes, coaches, administrators, and parents can take to make school and college athletics more equitable. Participation in sports benefits women just as it does men, helping to develop leadership skills, boosting self-esteem and grades, and promoting physical fitness and health. Women and girls who participate in sports and fitness programs are healthier and more academically successful. Unsurprisingly, sports, which house the careers of the most passionate and the aspiring, are also a major concern when it comes to the issue of gender discrimination. Male dominance in sports has become a nightmare for female athletes, who in the hope of pursuing their careers in the field of sports, have been deprived of self-esteem among a plethora of gender discrimination instances. This in turn can lead to increased violence against women by these male athletes. We need to create a climate in which sports and fitness are for everyone, not just a few, and in which everyone's abilities are tested and respected.
Urolithiasis is a global health problem with a high recurrence rate. Different in vivo and in vitro models have been successfully used to evaluate the antiurolithiatic potential of medicinal plants. In vitro models study renal stone formation, and in vivo models reveal the pathological effects of urolithiasis. Thus, in vitro models are significantly and effectively used to evaluate prophylactic management, and in vivo models direct urolithiasis treatment. This paper describes the advantages, limitations and applications of both models, especially the role of in vitro studies in the evaluation of prophylactic management.