Search results

This paper aims to evaluate the impact of garden cress supplemented biscuits on the nutritional status of malnourished children.

For the present study, 60 underweight and anemic seven-nine-year-old school children were selected according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification and divided into two groups, i.e. experimental (30) and control (30). Biscuits (60 g) developed using roasted garden cress seeds were supplemented to the experimental group, while biscuits without garden cress seeds were provided to control group for a period of three months and impact was observed in terms of improvement in nutritional status of subjects before and after the supplementation.

The food and nutrient intake increased with increased percent nutrient adequacy and sharp increase (p ≤ 0.05) was noticed in cereal, fat and sugar after supplementation. Average height, weight, body mass index and mid-upper arm circumference increased, with 3.56 and 0.87 per cent gain in weight and height (p ≤ 0.05) respectively. Hemoglobin levels increased from 10.6 to 11g/dl with little improvement (p ≤ 0.05) in proteins, albumin and other indices of blood profile and nine subjects fell in non-anemic category.

The diets of both groups were not controlled, which might have varied the results.

Garden cress-seed-enriched biscuits were able to have a positive impact on the nutritional profile of malnourished and anemic school children.

The duration of supplementation was short, which may have affected these results. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to perform long-duration supplementation study for more accurate results.

This paper identifies the need for promoting garden cress seeds in supplementary foods to reduce malnutrition.

Polybisphenol maleate was prepared by the reaction of bisphenol diacetate and maleic acid and its molecular weight, relative viscosity, solubility and melting points were determined. Its structure was confirmed by spectral and chemical analysis. It was incorporated physically and chemically into linseed oil alkyds and resulting products were termed as physical blends and copolyesters respectively. Film properties of blends and copolyesters were studied and compared with those of plain linseed oil alkyds. It was found that copolyesters were superior in film properties to those of plain linseed oil alkyds, and blends were up to some extent.

Polybisphenol phthalate was synthesized and incorporated into linseed oil alkyd by replacing a part of phthalic anhydride during the preparation of alkyds. Film properties of these polybisphenol phthalate modified alkyds (also termed as copolyesters) were examined and compared with those of pure alkyds. Copolyesters were superior in film properties as compared to pure alkyd resins especially with respect to chemical resistance.

The objective is to carry out a thorough literature review and analysis of sustainable production system (SPS) and identify avenues for the future research.

A sample of 903 articles published from 1996 to 2019 in 40 journals were considered in the analysis. The classification and analysis of articles was done based on: time, focus area, methodology, research stream, authorship, industry sector, critical elements, implementation status, type of support and performance. Based on the analysis the future scope development needs are identified.

The findings are: increasing trend in empirical and conceptual research articles, need of sustainable principles implementation in the product development with combination of all the areas, need of more intercontinental research collaborations as the sustainable production is interconnected rather than isolated, need of sustainable constructs implementation as a coherent set instead of individual constructs, need of integration of sustainable philosophy with other manufacturing philosophies to achieve sustainable results and need of testing and validation of the support by researchers.

The results from the study will be useful to the researchers, academicians and professionals to trace the gaps, growth, pertinence and research developments in the field of SPS.

A government website is considered as an electronic government service delivery system (eGSDS). The authors look at this eGSDS from its process point of view. This study aims to expand the existing knowledge of e-government adoption, and to identify the significance of eGSDS process to user satisfaction.

This study uses a quantitative technique using data collected from 197 respondents. Structure equation modeling has been used to test the model and the proposed hypotheses.

The findings indicate that as the eGSDS process improves, a user’s perception of the government website’s ease of use increases, leading to increased perceived usefulness, which increases user satisfaction. The findings also indicate that eGSDS process has a significant impact on perceived usefulness and user satisfaction. This study provides evidence that the technological capabilities embedded in the government website processes are an important factor in determining e-government service quality and ultimately e-government user satisfaction.

The sample used was sufficient for this study and allowed reasonable conclusions to be drawn, but cannot be considered representative of all e-government users in India. Further research may help to validate the findings and generalize the results to a wider population. This study extends the current literature that looks at e-government adoption. Academicians and information systems researchers may use these findings for further research.

The research provides evidence that the technological capabilities embedded in the eGSDS process are critical in adopting e-government services. Government or concerned agencies may consider eGSDS process attributes (e.g. navigation, searching and transacting) while designing e-government service to give improved experience to its user.

E-government websites have become an important point of contact with citizens for many public services. However, more study is needed to understand how Web-based technological capabilities of e-government services affect user satisfaction. This study is an attempt to explore the impact of the eGSDS process on e-government user satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effect of the planned pre-electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) family teaching on depression, anxiety and stress of caregivers of patients with mental disorders receiving ECT.

In this quasi-experimental study, 130 participants were randomized allocated into intervention or control groups. The planned family teaching program consisted of four 90 min sessions held during four weeks. Assessments occurred at pre-intervention (one week before the first session), and post-intervention (one months after the four session). Data were collected using demographic questionnaire and Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21). Mean comparisons were performed using Student’s t-test while effect sizes were estimated by Cohen’s d coefficient. The significance level was considered less than 0.05.

The mean scores of the depression, anxiety and stress levels in the intervention group were significantly reduced compared to the control group (p=0.001).

The family pre-ECT teaching intervention and counseling decreased the depression, anxiety and stress level of family caregivers of patients with mental disorders receiving ECT and the maintenance of other favorable conditions at baseline. These results suggest that even a short-term educational intervention for family members of patients received ECT can improve emotional outcomes of treatment in the family.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the key enabler for total productive maintenance (TPM) implementation in Indian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by using graph theoretic approach (GTA). There are certain enablers for TPM implementation which helps the organization to implement it successfully. It is very essential to identify the nature and impact of these key enablers.

A large number of the enablers (27) have identified for TPM implementation in Indian SMEs from the available literature, questionnaire survey and expert opinion. These TPM enablers have categorized into six major categories.

In this research work, the intensity of identifying enablers has been calculated to show their impact or influence in TPM implementation. The value of intensity of TPM enablers shows the role or impact of individual enabler in the implementation of TPM in Indian SMEs.

This study provides an easy-to-use methodology for the practical decision makers in the manufacturing industry to improve their performance by implementing TPM in Indian SMEs. A detailed methodology has prepared to identify the enablers for TPM implementation in Indian SMEs by using GTA. This study also explains that how to check the feasibility of an organization to implement TPM in Indian SMEs successfully.

TPM is an improvement concept which holds the potential to improve manufacturing organizations, but its implementation is not easy in Indian SMEs. The reason behind the unsuccessful implementation of TPM in most of the organizations is the ignorance of impact of innumerable enablers and barriers.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically identify the themes of core-competencies required for future-oriented and sustainable e-governance practices, especially across the developing nations.

The present study has been conducted using the sequential mixed method research wherein the exploratory qualitative study is first carried out with the government officials involved in e-governance implementation across India to identify the themes of core-competencies. The findings of this exploratory study are then empirically tested with the 359 respondents from Group A and Group B officers of the two government departments in India using partial least square technique.

The findings suggested that to ensure the implementation of future-oriented and sustainable e-governance, it is required to develop the core-competencies. The significant core-competencies explored are, namely, process management, employee engagement, internal service quality, external service quality, citizen satisfaction, leadership, culture and technology.

As strategic implementation of e-governance is a relatively new area of study, the present study has used the learning from core-competencies studies in the non-government sector.

The findings of this study underscore the need for strategic implementation of e-governance to have long-term success of e-governance. The requirement is to develop the core-competencies. These core-competencies are the key to making the government departments proactive in dealing with any future contingency without compromising on the departmental performance.

The present research is one of the few research studies focusing on the implementation of sustainable and future-oriented e-governance. The current study has laid the stepping stone for investigating the role of core-competencies to ensure the implementation of sustainable and future-oriented e-governance.

The purpose of this paper is to verify the applicability of proposed lean production system (LPS) framework in the Indian manufacturing industry.

The authors conducted a cross-sectional study to collect responses from five major sectors, namely, automobile, process, machines and equipment, electronics and components and textile. They collected 200 responses to perform empirical validation from Indian manufacturing industry. They performed reliability analysis on the proposed framework of LPS in the Indian manufacturing industry.

The findings revealed that all the elements and sub-elements have a high value in reliability. Subsequently, the study performed principles component analysis on LPS framework. The empirical investigation revealed that the proposed LPS framework has a high level of reliability as well as validity in the Indian manufacturing industry. Hence, the study concluded that the LPS framework is helpful to implement lean principles in a structured manner in any Indian manufacturing industry to achieve excellence in organizational functions.

The authors conducted an empirical survey to verify the applicability of the proposed LPS framework in the Indian manufacturing industry. They observed that many researchers proposed various LPS frameworks, but none of the researchers focused on verifying the proposed frameworks. To overcome, the same limitations, the study verified the proposed framework with the larger sample size.

This paper aims to determine how forensic accounting contributes to fraud detection and prevention and answer the following research questions: What are the standard techniques for fraud detection and prevention; and What are the significant challenges that hinder the application of forensic accounting in fraud prevention and detection?

The authors use the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method to carry out a systematic literature review (SLR) to identify and assess the existing literature on forensic accounting.

There exists a positive correlation between forensic accounting and fraud detection and prevention. Moreover, in both the empirical and non-empirical findings, the authors note that fraud is complex, and in carrying out fraud investigations, one must be aware of its complexity.

Although drug counterfeiting is a sector where forensic accountants have paid less attention, it is a rapidly expanding fraud area. This paper finds that to detect fraud at an early stage, one must increase consumer understanding of basic forensic accounting techniques by implementing accurate supply chain monitoring systems and inventory management controls and conducting adequate and effective regulatory, honest and legitimate customs inspections.

The major factors that restrict forensic accounting are a lack of awareness and education. Hence, it is essential to incorporate forensic accounting in undergraduate and post-graduate courses.

From the existing literature, it has been observed that very few studies have been conducted in this field using the PRISMA and SLR techniques. Also, the authors carried out a holistic study that focuses on three different areas – fraud detection, fraud prevention and the challenges in forensic accounting.