Farm Programmes of Electronic Media: A Comparative Study of Audience Perception in Kerala

Farm communication and extension programs are vital part of the farm development attempts. Electronic media plays a major role in farm extension activities. Kerala, the consumer state, which was a complete agricultural state in pre-independence period, is the sprouting land of agricultural extension and publication activities in print media. Later AIR (All India Radio) farm programs and farm broadcasting of Doordarshan enriched the role of electronic media in farm extension activities. The media saturated southern state of India received this new electronic media farm communication revolution whole heartedly. However, after 1990, Kerala witnessed a flood of private T V channels and currently there are 24 channels in this regional language, named Malayalam. All major news and entertainment channels are broadcasting farm programs. Farm programs of AIR and Doordarshan, broadcasted in Malayalam language, have been well accepted to the farmers‘ in Kerala. However, post-independence period, witnessed the formation of Kerala state in Indian Union and the first ballot-elected communist Government started its administration. After the land reform bills, the state witnessed a gradual decrease in agricultural production. Even if it is not reflected much in the attitude and practices of farm community and farm broadcast of traditional electronic broadcasting, a change is observable after the post-liberalization era of India. Private Television channels, which were focused on entertainment value of programs, started broadcasting farm programs and the parameters of program production went through certain changes. In this situation, there is ample relevance for a study about the farm programs of electronic media in terms of a comparative study of audience perception. The study is limited in the state of Kerala as it is the most media saturated state in India. The study analyzes the rate, nature and scope of adoption of farming methods transmitted through electronic media (T.V. and Radio) in Malayalam language.All kinds of Farm programs including comprehensive program serials, success stories, seasonal cropping methods, experts opinion, been analyzed on the basis of the following objectives.  To find whether propagating new farm methods through farm programs in electronic media or the availability of adequate infrastructure and economic factors make a farmer to adopt a new farming method.  To find which electronic media has more influence on farmers to adopt agricultural programs.  To find which form of electronic media gets better feedback from farmers  To find out whether the programs of T.V. or Radio is more acceptable to farmers than the print media.  To find whether farmers gets the message through their preferred medium for the message. The researcher recorded opinions from a panel of agricultural officers, farm Information officers, agro extension researchers and experts. According to their opinions and guidelines, a pilot study is designed and conducted in Kanjikuzhy Panchayath, in Alappuzha district, Kerala. The Panchayath is selected by considering its ideal nature of being the sample for a social Science research. Besides, the nature of farming in the Panchayath, which devoid of the cultivation of cash crops also supported its sample value. As per the observations from the pilot study, researcher confirmed the Triangulation method as the methodology of research. The questionnaire survey, being the primary part contained 42 Questions with 6 independent and 32 dependent variables. The survey is conducted among 400 respondents in Idukki, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts considering geographical differences and distribution of different types of crops. The response from a total of 360 respondents, 120 from each district, finally selected for tabulation and data analysis.The data analysis, based on percentage analysis, along with the results from focus group discussion among a selected group of 20 farmers, together produced the results as follows. Farmers, who are the audience of farm programs, have a very serious approach towards the medium. They are maintaining a critical point of view towards the content of the programs. Farmers are reasonably aware about the financial side of the programs and the monitory aspirations of both private and Government owned Television channels. Even though, the farmers are not aware on the technical terminology and jargons, they have ideas about success stories, program serials and they are even informed about channels are not maintaining an audience research section like AIR. Though the farmers accept Doordarshan as the credential source of farm information and methods, they are inclined to the entertainment value of programs too. They prefer to have more entertainment value for the programs of Doordarshan. Surprisingly, they have very solid suggestions on even about the shots which add entertainment value to the farm broadcasting methods of Doordarshan. Farmers are very much aware about the fact that media is just an instrument for inspiration and persuasion. They strongly believe that the source of information and new methods is agricultural research and an effective change happens only when there are adequate infrastructure and marketing facilities, along with the proper support from Government agricultural guideline and support systems like Krishi Bhavans. They strongly believe that media alone cannot create any magic in increasing agricultural production. Farmers are pointing out the lack of response to the feedback and queries of farmers on farming methods, as an evidence for the difference in levels of commitment of Government and private owned Television channels.Farmers are still perceiving AIR farm programs are far more committed to farmers and farming than any other electronic medium. However, they are seriously lacking Radio receivers with medium wave reception facility. Farmers perceive that the farming methods on new crops are more adoptable than the farming methods of traditional crops in both private and Government owned Television channels. There are multiple factors behind this observation from farmers. Farmers changed in terms of viewing habits and they prefer success stories, which are totally irrelevant and they even think that such stories encourage people to go for farming and they opined that such stories are good sources of inspiration. However, they are all very much sure about the importance and particular about the presence of entertainment factor even in farm programs. Farmers expect direct interaction of any expert of the new farming method to implement the method in their agriculture practices. Though introduction of a new idea in the T.V. is acceptable, farmers need the direct instruction of expert on field to start implementing the new farming practices Farmers still have an affinity towards print media reports and agricultural pages and they have complaints to print media on the removal of agricultural information pages from news papers. They prefer the reports in print media as it facilitates them to collect and refer articles when they need it. Farmers are having an eye of doubt about the credibility of farm programs by private T.V. channels. Even if they prefer private Television channels for listening and adopting new farming methods and other farm information, they scrutinize programs to know whether they are sponsored programs by agrochemical or agro-fertilizer manufacturer.

Investigations on the mechanism of carrier transport in plasma polymerized pyrrole thin films

Plasma polymerization is found to be an excellent technique for the preparation of good quality, pinhole-free, polymer thin films from different monomer precursors. The present work describes the preparation and characterization of polypyrrole (PPy) thin films by ac plasma polymerization technique in their pristine and in situ iodine doped forms. The electrical conductivity studies of the aluminiumpolymeraluminium (AlpolymerAl) structures have been carried out and a space charge limited conduction (SCLC) mechanism is identified as the most probable mechanism of carrier transport in these polymer films. The electrical conductivity shows an enhanced value in the iodine doped sample. The reduction of optical band gap by iodine doping is correlated with the observed conductivity results.

Theory of differential inequalities with appliciations to singular perturbiation problems and method of lines

During recent years, the theory of differential inequalities has been extensively used to discuss singular perturbation problems and method of lines to partial differential equations. The present thesis deals with some differential inequality theorems and their applications to singularly perturbed initial value problems, boundary value problems for ordinary differential equations in Banach space and initial boundary value problems for parabolic differential equations. The method of lines to parabolic and elliptic differential equations are also dealt The thesis is organised into nine chapters

Librarians' perceptions on the use of electronic resources at Catalan academic libraries: results of a focus group

The aim of this paper is to expand on previous quantitative and qualitative research into the use of electronic information resources and its impact on the information behaviour of academics at Catalan universities.

Non-destructive evaluation of carrier transport properties in CuInS2 and CuInSe2 thin films using photothermal deflection technique

Photothermal deflection technique (PTD) is a non-destructive tool for measuring the temperature distribution in and around a sample, due to various non-radiative decay processes occurring within the material. This tool was used to measure the carrier transport properties of CuInS2 and CuInSe2 thin films. Films with thickness <1 μm were prepared with different Cu/In ratios to vary the electrical properties. The surface recombination velocity was least for Cu-rich films (5×105 cm/s for CuInS2, 1×103 cm/s for CuInSe2), while stoichiometric films exhibited high mobility (0.6 cm2/V s for CuInS2, 32 cm2/V s for CuInSe2) and high minority carrier lifetime (0.35 μs for CuInS2, 12 μs for CuInSe2

THE THEORY OF FUNCTION OF POETRY PROPOUNDED BY T. S. ELIOT AND S. H. VATSYAYAN

Hindi

On Vessiot's Theory of Partial Differential Equations

The object of research presented here is Vessiot's theory of partial differential equations: for a given differential equation one constructs a distribution both tangential to the differential equation and contained within the contact distribution of the jet bundle. Then within it, one seeks n-dimensional subdistributions which are transversal to the base manifold, the integral distributions. These consist of integral elements, and these again shall be adapted so that they make a subdistribution which closes under the Lie-bracket. This then is called a flat Vessiot connection. Solutions to the differential equation may be regarded as integral manifolds of these distributions. In the first part of the thesis, I give a survey of the present state of the formal theory of partial differential equations: one regards differential equations as fibred submanifolds in a suitable jet bundle and considers formal integrability and the stronger notion of involutivity of differential equations for analyzing their solvability. An arbitrary system may (locally) be represented in reduced Cartan normal form. This leads to a natural description of its geometric symbol. The Vessiot distribution now can be split into the direct sum of the symbol and a horizontal complement (which is not unique). The n-dimensional subdistributions which close under the Lie bracket and are transversal to the base manifold are the sought tangential approximations for the solutions of the differential equation. It is now possible to show their existence by analyzing the structure equations. Vessiot's theory is now based on a rigorous foundation. Furthermore, the relation between Vessiot's approach and the crucial notions of the formal theory (like formal integrability and involutivity of differential equations) is clarified. The possible obstructions to involution of a differential equation are deduced explicitly. In the second part of the thesis it is shown that Vessiot's approach for the construction of the wanted distributions step by step succeeds if, and only if, the given system is involutive. Firstly, an existence theorem for integral distributions is proven. Then an existence theorem for flat Vessiot connections is shown. The differential-geometric structure of the basic systems is analyzed and simplified, as compared to those of other approaches, in particular the structure equations which are considered for the proofs of the existence theorems: here, they are a set of linear equations and an involutive system of differential equations. The definition of integral elements given here links Vessiot theory and the dual Cartan-Kähler theory of exterior systems. The analysis of the structure equations not only yields theoretical insight but also produces an algorithm which can be used to derive the coefficients of the vector fields, which span the integral distributions, explicitly. Therefore implementing the algorithm in the computer algebra system MuPAD now is possible.

Shifts of electronic KX-rays in muonic atoms

Energies of electronic K X-rays in muonic atoms were calculated for muons in various outer orbitals and for different numbers of electrons. Energy shifts were obtained with respect to characteristic X-rays belonging to nuclear charge (Z - 1) and their possible observation is discussed. The shifts in muonic Sn as an example amount to 19, 37, and 59 eV for the muon in 5g, 6h, and 7i states respectively. However, shifts due to the number of electrons present and the electron vacancy distribution in the L-shell are significantly larger. Accurate measurements of the K X-ray energies would therefore enable us to learn more about the electronic structure during the muonic cascade.

Development and applications of density matrix functional theory of generalized Hubbard Models

In dieser Doktorarbeit wird eine akkurate Methode zur Bestimmung von Grundzustandseigenschaften stark korrelierter Elektronen im Rahmen von Gittermodellen entwickelt und angewandt. In der Dichtematrix-Funktional-Theorie (LDFT, vom englischen lattice density functional theory) ist die Ein-Teilchen-Dichtematrix γ die fundamentale Variable. Auf der Basis eines verallgemeinerten Hohenberg-Kohn-Theorems ergibt sich die Grundzustandsenergie Egs[γgs] = min° E[γ] durch die Minimierung des Energiefunktionals E[γ] bezüglich aller physikalischer bzw. repräsentativer γ. Das Energiefunktional kann in zwei Beiträge aufgeteilt werden: Das Funktional der kinetischen Energie T[γ], dessen lineare Abhängigkeit von γ genau bekannt ist, und das Funktional der Korrelationsenergie W[γ], dessen Abhängigkeit von γ nicht explizit bekannt ist. Das Auffinden präziser Näherungen für W[γ] stellt die tatsächliche Herausforderung dieser These dar. Einem Teil dieser Arbeit liegen vorausgegangene Studien zu Grunde, in denen eine Näherung des Funktionals W[γ] für das Hubbardmodell, basierend auf Skalierungshypothesen und exakten analytischen Ergebnissen für das Dimer, hergeleitet wird. Jedoch ist dieser Ansatz begrenzt auf spin-unabhängige und homogene Systeme. Um den Anwendungsbereich von LDFT zu erweitern, entwickeln wir drei verschiedene Ansätze zur Herleitung von W[γ], die das Studium von Systemen mit gebrochener Symmetrie ermöglichen. Zuerst wird das bisherige Skalierungsfunktional erweitert auf Systeme mit Ladungstransfer. Eine systematische Untersuchung der Abhängigkeit des Funktionals W[γ] von der Ladungsverteilung ergibt ähnliche Skalierungseigenschaften wie für den homogenen Fall. Daraufhin wird eine Erweiterung auf das Hubbardmodell auf bipartiten Gittern hergeleitet und an sowohl endlichen als auch unendlichen Systemen mit repulsiver und attraktiver Wechselwirkung angewandt. Die hohe Genauigkeit dieses Funktionals wird aufgezeigt. Es erweist sich jedoch als schwierig, diesen Ansatz auf komplexere Systeme zu übertragen, da bei der Berechnung von W[γ] das System als ganzes betrachtet wird. Um dieses Problem zu bewältigen, leiten wir eine weitere Näherung basierend auf lokalen Skalierungseigenschaften her. Dieses Funktional ist lokal bezüglich der Gitterplätze formuliert und ist daher anwendbar auf jede Art von geordneten oder ungeordneten Hamiltonoperatoren mit lokalen Wechselwirkungen. Als Anwendungen untersuchen wir den Metall-Isolator-Übergang sowohl im ionischen Hubbardmodell in einer und zwei Dimensionen als auch in eindimensionalen Hubbardketten mit nächsten und übernächsten Nachbarn. Schließlich entwickeln wir ein numerisches Verfahren zur Berechnung von W[γ], basierend auf exakten Diagonalisierungen eines effektiven Vielteilchen-Hamilton-Operators, welcher einen von einem effektiven Medium umgebenen Cluster beschreibt. Dieser effektive Hamiltonoperator hängt von der Dichtematrix γ ab und erlaubt die Herleitung von Näherungen an W[γ], dessen Qualität sich systematisch mit steigender Clustergröße verbessert. Die Formulierung ist spinabhängig und ermöglicht eine direkte Verallgemeinerung auf korrelierte Systeme mit mehreren Orbitalen, wie zum Beispiel auf den spd-Hamilton-Operator. Darüber hinaus berücksichtigt sie die Effekte kurzreichweitiger Ladungs- und Spinfluktuationen in dem Funktional. Für das Hubbardmodell wird die Genauigkeit der Methode durch Vergleich mit Bethe-Ansatz-Resultaten (1D) und Quanten-Monte-Carlo-Simulationen (2D) veranschaulicht. Zum Abschluss wird ein Ausblick auf relevante zukünftige Entwicklungen dieser Theorie gegeben.

A Theory of Quantitative Inference Applied to a Mechanical Design Compiler

This thesis presents the ideas underlying a computer program that takes as input a schematic of a mechanical or hydraulic power transmission system, plus specifications and a utility function, and returns catalog numbers from predefined catalogs for the optimal selection of components implementing the design. Unlike programs for designing single components or systems, the program provides the designer with a high level "language" in which to compose new designs. It then performs some of the detailed design process. The process of "compilation" is based on a formalization of quantitative inferences about hierarchically organized sets of artifacts and operating conditions. This allows the design compilation without the exhaustive enumeration of alternatives.

Microscale thermal engineering of electronic systems

The electronics industry is encountering thermal challenges and opportunities with lengthscales comparable to or much less than one micrometer. Examples include nanoscale phonon hotspots in transistors and the increasing temperature rise in onchip interconnects. Millimeter-scale hotspots on microprocessors, resulting from varying rates of power consumption, are being addressed using two-phase microchannel heat sinks. Nanoscale thermal data storage technology has received much attention recently. This paper provides an overview of these topics with a focus on related research at Stanford University.

Predicting adolescent perpetration in cyberbullying : An aplication of the theory of planned behavior

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n