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This book illustrates approaches for implementing ICT in primary education. Through different initiatives and case studies, the book shows different approaches for successful implementation of ICT. While it gives details of theoretical concepts related to ICT, it also provides live examples from different initiatives as to how literacy can be achieved through customized implementation strategy. The book illustrates different ICT policies that have been implemented with varying degree of success. It also demonstrates different approaches that would be of interest to practitioners. About the Authors Subrata Sarkar has a Masters in Political Science with a specialization in Political Sociology and an additional specialization in International Relations including Defense and Strategic Studies. He also has a Bachelors in Law. His research interests are in the field of application of technology in education. He has more than 21 years of experience in education, action research and development field. He is currently heading the Digital Equalizer Program in Odisha as Operations Director with American India Foundation. Dr. Sanjay Mohapatra has done B.E. from NIT Rourkela, M. Tech from IIT Madras, PGDBM XIMB, India and has finished his Ph. D. from Utkal University, India under Management Department. At present, he is an Associate Professor in Information Systems in XIMB, India. Professor Mohapatra has more than 21 years of industry experience. He has worked in various capacities in organizations like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Larsen & Toubro, PricewaterHouse, Infosys, Polaris & J & B Software. His teaching interests are in IT Strategy and Management Information Systems and research interests are in the area of IT enabled processes. He has authored/co-authored nine books and more than twenty papers in peer reviewed international journals. J Sundarakrishnan has an MSc in Electronics, University of Delhi and also holds a Masters in Business Administration from the Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi. He has worked extensively in the development field. His work is aligned with Millennium Development Goals in increasing literacy rate in India. He is currently working in the capacity of Country Director, Digital Equalizer (DE), American India Foundation.

Salinity stress is one of the significant abiotic stresses that influence critical metabolic processes in the plant. Salinity stress limits plant growth and development by adversely affecting various physiological and biochemical processes. Enhanced generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) induced via salinity stress subsequently alters macromolecules such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, and thus constrains crop productivity. Due to which, a decreasing trend in cultivable land and a rising world population raises a question of global food security. In response to salt stress signals, plants adapt defensive mechanisms by orchestrating the synthesis, signaling, and regulation of various osmolytes and phytohormones. Under salinity stress, osmolytes have been investigated to stabilize the osmotic differences between the surrounding of cells and cytosol. They also help in the regulation of protein folding to facilitate protein functioning and stress signaling. Phytohormones play critical roles in eliciting a salinity stress adaptation response in plants. These responses enable the plants to acclimatize to adverse soil conditions. Phytohormones and osmolytes are helpful in minimizing salinity stress-related detrimental effects on plants. These phytohormones modulate the level of osmolytes through alteration in the gene expression pattern of key biosynthetic enzymes and antioxidative enzymes along with their role as signaling molecules. Thus, it becomes vital to understand the roles of these phytohormones on osmolyte accumulation and regulation to conclude the adaptive roles played by plants to avoid salinity stress.

We study the effect of board governance in state-owned and private banks by undertaking a study of commercial banks in India that has both bank groups. Covering a ten-year period from 2003 to 2012 that witnessed a large number of governance reforms in India, the results of our empirical analysis provide evidence of strong ownership effects with board independence exhibiting a significant positive correlation with the performance of private banks and a significant but negative correlation with the performance of state-owned banks. The effect of CEO duality is negative in state-owned banks where incidence of CEO duality is high. We find that a longer CEO tenure has significant positive effects on bank outcomes with these effects strengthening in the later years of CEO tenure. Our results have governance implications for strengthening the composition of board of directors and CEO tenure especially in state-owned banks.

Due to the increase in urbanization and industrialization, the load of toxicants in the environment is alarming. The most common toxicants, including heavy metals and metalloids such as hexavalent Chromium, have severe pathophysiological impacts on humans and other aquatic biotas. Therefore, developing a portable rapid detection device for such toxicants in the aquatic environment is necessary. This work portrays the development of a field-portable image analysis device coupled with 3,3’,5,5’-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) as a sensing probe for chromium (VI) detection in the aquatic ecosystem. Sensor parameters, such as reagent concentration, reaction time, etc., were optimized for the sensor development and validation using a commercial UV-Vis spectrophotometer. The chemoreceptor integrated with a uniform illumination imaging system (UIIS) revealed the system’s applicability toward Cr(VI) detection. The calibration curve using the R-value of image parameters allows Cr(VI) detection in the linear range of 25 to 600 ppb, which covers the prescribed permissible limit by various regulatory authorities. Furthermore, the adjusted R 2 = 0.992 of the linear fit and correlation coefficients of 0.99018 against the spectrophotometric method signifies the suitability of the developed system. This TMB-coupled field-portable sensing system is the first-ever reported image analysis-based technology for detecting a wide range of Cr(VI) in aquatic ecosystems to our knowledge.

ObjectiveTransient neonatal myasthenia gravis (TNMG) can render a neonate vulnerable to catastrophic respiratory depression. Our aim was to describe the clinical manifestations of TNMG, and to determine when the myasthenic signs become apparent in TNMG.MethodsWe reviewed our own experience of infants who underwent routine inpatient monitoring for TNMG and combined our local data with observations from previous studies.ResultsOnly three case series (n = 110) reported both the type and timing of onset of myasthenic signs. Adding local data (n = 37) yielded 147 infants born to women with MG. Fifteen infants (10%) developed signs of TNMG with onset being 1.5 ± 2.6 days (mean ± 3SD) after birth. Feeding difficulties and low tone were the commonest presenting signs, and only 1 of the 147 infants needed intubation for hypoventilation.ConclusionsTNMG signs were mostly not life-threatening. We suggest only 4 days of routine postnatal observation for infants born to women with MG.

ObjectiveTo test the hypothesis that brainstem hypoxic–ischemic injury on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) would be independently associated with short-term outcomes in cooled asphyxiated infants.MethodsA total of 90 consecutively cooled asphyxiated infants who survived to have brain MRI were reviewed. A neuroradiologist who was masked to outcomes evaluated MRI images for brainstem involvement. Outcomes were mortality and length of stay.ResultsBrainstem lesions were present on post-cooling brain MRI in 20 of the 90 infants (22%). Overall, four infants died before discharge, and all four had brainstem involvement. The infants with brainstem involvement had longer hospital stay (29 days, IQR 20–47 versus 16 days, IQR 10–26; P = 0.0001), compared to infants without brainstem lesions (n = 70); and upon multivariate analysis, brainstem involvement remained independently associated with prolonged hospital stay (β = 12.4, P = 0.001).ConclusionThis study demonstrates the importance of recognizing brainstem injury for the prediction of short-term outcomes in cooled asphyxiated infants.

The paper describes a wide-range practical application of the potentiometric multisensor system (MS) (1) for integral safety evaluation of a variety of natural waters at multiple locations, under various climatic conditions and anthropogenic stress and (2) for close to real consistency evaluation of waste water purification processes at urban water treatment plants. In total, 25 natural surface water samples were collected around St. Petersburg (Russia), analyzed as is, and after ultrasonic treatment. Toxicity of the samples was evaluated using bioassay and MS. Relative errors of toxicity assessment with MS in these samples were below 20%. The system was also applied for fast determination of integral water quality using chemical oxygen demand (COD) values in 20 samples of water from river and ponds in Kolkata (India) and performed with an acceptable precision of 20% to 22% in this task. Furthermore, the MS was applied for fast simultaneous evaluation of COD, biochemical oxygen demand, inorganic phosphorous, ammonia, and nitrate nitrogen at two waste water treatment plants (over 320 samples). Reasonable precision (within 25%) of such analysis is acceptable for rapid water safety evaluation and enables fast control of the purification process. MS proved to be a practicable analytical instrument for various real-world tasks related to water safety monitoring.

An investigation on quality assessment of cold rolled grain oriented (CRGO) steels is carried out in this research with the supports of microstructure, texture and magnetic property evaluation in one virgin and three service exposed CRGO sheets. The microstructure evolution reveals oxidation, precipitation and widening at grain boundary of service exposed samples, justifying structural deterioration with service exposure. Additionally, the misorientation of Goss grains is found with higher angle range for service exposed (7°–31°) than virgin (6°–17°) CRGO. The service exposed CRGO sheets are also examined with poor magnetic properties of high core loss compared to virgin one. The non-destructive evaluation explains the deterioration of magnetic anisotropy in service exposed CRGO sheets, which would be beneficial for the rapid inspection of CRGO quality. The quality degradation of CRGO sheet is justified through the lowering of magnetic anisotropy factor and Steinmetz exponent. This research outcome would be the baseline to transformer manufacturer for the separation of inferior quality CRGO sheets amongst good one.

Peasant discontent against colonial rule is a familiar feature throughout the colonial period all over India, and Cachar is no exception. The colonial rule had adversely affected the economic life of the peasantry in Cachar too. After the annexation of Cachar by the British on August 14, 1832, the peasants initially welcomed the colonial rulers and supported their efforts to improve and increase cultivation. Slowly, attempts were made by the British to increase the land revenue and imposition of new land taxes to bear the cost of administration and fulfill the greed of the exploitative colonial government. This led to the impoverishment of the peasantry, and slowly, with the formation of the Kishan Sabha in Cachar in 1937, it led to the organization of the peasant protests. This paper analyzes the causes and impact of the peasant movements of North East India in general and Cachar in particular.

Addison′s disease is a rare endocrinal disorder, with several oral and systemic manifestations. A variety of pathological processes may cause Addison′s disease. Classically, hyperpigmentation is associated with the disease, and intraoral pigmentation is perceived as the initial sign and develops earlier than the dermatological pigmentation. The symptoms of the disease usually progress slowly and an event of illness or accident can make the condition worse and may lead to a life-threatening crisis. In this case, several oral as well as systemic manifestation of the Addison′s disease was encountered.