Women's empowerment and domestic violence: the role of sociocultural determinants in maternal and child undernutrition in tribal and rural communities in South India

BACKGROUND: Moderate malnutrition continues to affect 46% of children under five years of age and 47% of rural women in India. Women's lack of empowerment is believed to be an important factor in the persistent prevalence of malnutrition. In India, women's empowerment often varies by community, with tribes sometimes being the most progressive. OBJECTIVE: To explore the relationship between women's empowerment, maternal nutritional status, and the nutritional status of their children aged 6 to 24 months in rural and tribal communities. METHODS: This study in rural Karnataka, India, included tribal and rural subjects and used both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Structured interviews with mothers were performed and anthropometric measurements were obtained for 820 mother-child pairs. The data were analyzed by multivariate and logistic regression. RESULTS: Some degree of malnutrition was seen in 83.5% of children and 72.4% of mothers in the sample. Biological variables explained most of the variance in nutritional status, followed by health-care seeking and women's empowerment variables; socioeconomic variables explained the least amount of variance. Women's empowerment variables were significantly associated with child nutrition and explained 5.6% of the variance in the sample. Maternal experience of psychological abuse and sexual coercion increased the risk of malnutrition in mothers and children. Domestic violence was experienced by 34% of mothers in the sample. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to the known investments needed to reduce malnutrition, improving women's nutrition, promoting gender equality, empowering women, and ending violence against women could further reduce the prevalence of malnutrition in this segment of the Indian population.     

An empirical model for defluoridation by batch monopolar electrocoagulation/flotation (ECF) process

Excessive presence of fluoride concentration in community water supplies can cause fluorosis that affects the teeth and bones. Batch experiments with monopolar aluminium electrodes for fluoride removal were conducted and an empirical model is developed using critical parameters such as current concentration, electrode distance, and initial fluoride concentration. Fluoride ions were removed electrochemically from solution by electrocoagulation/flotation (ECF) process. The electrolytic dissolution of aluminium anodes in water produced aqueous Al3+ species and hydrogen bubbles at the aluminium cathodes. The fluoride removal efficiency increases steadily with increasing current values from 1 to 2.5 A. In the batch monopolar ECF process, the optimal detention time (dto) was found to be 55 min when the operational parameters including initial F- concentration, current value, and inter electrode distance were respectively kept at 10 mg/l, 1.5 A, and 5 mm. The experimental results showed that the rate constant (K) for defluoridation by monopolar ECF process depends on the current concentration (I/V), electrode distance (d) and initial fluoride concentration (C0). The Al3+/F- mass ratio is found to be not significantly different between monopolar and bipolar ECF systems. Overall, the results showed that the electrocoagulation technology is an effective process for defluoridation of water.     

Color stability of frozen whole tilapia exposed to pre‐mortem treatment with carbon monoxide

BACKGROUND: Color of muscle foods plays a major role in consumer perception of meat quality. Carbon monoxide (CO) has been successfully used for improving color of packaged meat and fish products. In this study, we wanted to investigate pre‐mortem treatment of live tilapia using 100% CO for its ability to improve the color of frozen whole tilapia. We compared untreated and CO‐treated whole, gutted tilapia, frozen for 2 and 4 months at ? 20 °C. Frozen tilapia samples were thawed overnight at 4 °C, filleted and analyzed for their color, heme peak wavelength and CO concentration. RESULTS: Euthanasia using CO significantly increased redness (a* value) and lightness (L* value) of tilapia white and red muscle. Frozen storage significantly (P < 0.05) decreased redness of both CO‐treated and untreated tilapia. However, even after 4 months of frozen storage, a*‐value of CO‐treated tilapia was similar to fresh untreated tilapia fillets. Heme peak wavelengths of CO‐euthanized tilapia were higher than in untreated tilapia and there was no significant (P > 0.05) decrease in heme peak wavelengths of CO‐treated tilapia white and red muscle during frozen storage. The CO content of frozen euthanized tilapia fillets was significantly (P > 0.05) higher than in untreated fillets. In general, red muscle tissue of euthanized tilapia had a higher concentration of CO than white muscle. CONCLUSION: Color stability of tilapia fillets was significantly improved by pre‐mortem CO treatment. The color of CO‐treated fillets was retained during frozen storage compared to untreated fillets. Hence, pre‐mortem CO treatment could be used as a new method for improving color of tilapia. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Enhanced gravity particle classifier: Experiments with 3D printed device and computational fluid dynamics simulations

Centrifugal force developed in a fluid flow through closed spiral channel produces enhanced gravity environment to facilitate particle classification. The novel design is inspired by open channel spiral concentrators that are used in mineral processing industries. The concept is initially validated through computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. Preferential movement of coarser particles, which experience greater centrifugal force, to the outer periphery was observed. These predictions are validated by conducting experiments on a 3D printed spiral classifier. The CFD simulations compared well with observed experimental separation function. The model was further used to conduct parametric study of various design and operational parameters. Simulations reveal that the cut-size could change from 8 μm to 260 μm depending on the splitter position. The novel device will allow a direct and online control of cut size/density when suitably enhanced with required mechanisms.     

Oxidative stability of mahi mahi red muscle dipped in tilapia protein hydrolysates

The oxidative stability of mahi mahi red muscle dipped in tilapia protein hydrolysates was evaluated. Alkali solubilised tilapia protein isolate was hydrolysed using Flavourzyme to 13% degree of hydrolysis. Whole tilapia protein hydrolysate and ultrafiltered fraction <10 kDa were used as dip solutions. Mahi mahi red muscle was dip treated either for 2 or 4 min and stored at 4 °C. Lipid hydroperoxides (PV), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and a∗ value were measured at regular intervals. Results showed that dip treatments significantly decreased (p < 0.05) the formation of PV and TBARS over 90 h storage time. There was no significant (p > 0.05) difference between WH and <10 kDa fractions, and between 2 and 4 min treatments. Red colour of treated samples measured as a∗ value decreased with storage time, but was not significantly different from the control. It could be concluded that dip treatment for 2 min in whole tilapia protein hydrolysate may be used as a potential antioxidant treatment for improving oxidative stability of fish fillets.     

Uplift capacity of horizontal anchor plate in geocell reinforced sand

The paper investigates the uplift performance of horizontal anchor plate in geocell reinforced sand through a series of model tests. It is noted that the unreinforced anchor plate undergoes a clear failure at a displacement of about 3% of its width, whereas with the provision of geocell and a layer of geotextile right below the geocell mattress significantly increases the uplift capacity by about 4.5 times higher than that of unreinforced sand and could sustain anchor displacement of more than 60%. Results indicates that the geocell mattress by virtue of its rigidity distributes the uplift load in the lateral directions to a larger area, thereby reducing the stress in the overlying soil mass and hence increases the performance of anchor plate system. The provision of the additional geotextile layer right below the geocell mattress is found to be very effective in increasing the stiffness as well as load carrying capacity of anchor plate system. The optimum size (i.e., width and length) of geocell mattress giving adequate load carrying capacity of anchor plate is found to be 5.4 times of anchor width (5.4B). The comparison of model tests results with 3D numerical analysis shows good agreement, indicating that the proposed model is able to capture the uplift load-displacement behaviour of geocell reinforced anchor plate system.     

Understanding continuance usage of mobile shopping applications in India: the role of espoused cultural values and perceived risk

We drew on the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT2) model, and perceived risk construct to propose an integrated model to explain continuance usage of mobile shopping applications. Espoused national cultural values of individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term/short-term orientation act as moderators to examine the influence of within-culture variation on app usage. Findings reveal habit as the strongest predictor of both continuance intention and use behaviour, but interestingly perceived risk did not influence the post-acceptance behaviour of users significantly. Individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, and long-term/short-term orientation espoused cultural values significantly moderated the relationships in the model. Noteworthy theoretical and managerial implications of the research are discussed further.