The Ecological Impact of Place-Based Economic Policies

Does economic development have an unavoidable ecological cost? We examine the ecological impacts of one of India’s signature place-based economic policies involving massive tax benefits for new industrial and infrastructure development following the creation of the new state of Uttarakhand. The policy, which had an explicit pro-environment mandate, resulted in no meaningful change in local forest cover. Our results suggest that even in settings with low levels of enforcement, place-based economic policies with pro-environment mandates can achieve sizeable economic expansion without major ecological costs

Study and Implementation of Cryptographic Algorithms

Cryptography has a long and fascinating history. Over the centuries, an elaborate set of protocols and mechanisms has been created to deal with information security issues when the information is conveyed by physical documents. Often the objectives of information security cannot solely be achieved through mathematical algorithms and protocols alone, but require procedural techniques and abidance of laws to achieve the desired result. For example, privacy of letters is provided by sealed envelopes delivered by an accepted mail service. The physical security of the envelope is, for practical necessity, limited and so laws are enacted which make it a criminal offense to open mail for which one is not authorized. It is sometimes the case that security is achieved not through the information itself but through the physical document recording it. For example, paper currency requires special inks and material to prevent counterfeiting

Automatic mesh generation

The objective of this thesis project is a study of Pre-Processors and development of an Automatic Mesh Generator for Finite Element Analysis. The Mesh Generator developed in this thesis project can create triangular finite elements from the geometric database of Macintosh Applications. The user is required to give the density parameter to the program for mesh generation. The research is limited to Mesh Generators of planar surfaces. Delauny Triangulation method maximizes the minimum angles of a triangle. Watson\u27s Delauny Triangulation method can mesh only the \u27convex hull\u27 of a set of nodes. This algorithm has been modified to create triangular elements in convex and non-convex surfaces. The surfaces can have holes also. A node generation algorithm to place nodes on and inside a geometry has been developed in this thesis project. The mesh generation is very efficient and flexible. Geometric modeling methods have been studied to understand and integrate the Geometric Modeler with the Finite Element Mesh Generator. Expert Systems can be integrated with Finite Element Analysis. This will make Finite Element Method fully automatic. In this thesis project, Expert Systems in Finite Element Analysis are reviewed. Proposals are made for future approach for the integration of the two fields

Effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy on right ventricular function

Cardiolog

Paroxysmal Visual Phenomenon: A Rare and Confusing Manifestation of Occipital Neurocysticercosis in Children

We report a child with occipital inflammatory granuloma of neurocysticercosis who presented with paroxysmal visual phenomenon and discuss its differentiation from migraine aura. Occipital seizures due to neurocysticercosis must be considered in the differential diagnosis of visual hallucinations in children in endemic areas

The Relationship Between Leadership Styles And Employee Commitment At A Parastatal Company In South Africa

The influence of leadership style on employee commitment for the organisation has not been adequately addressed in the Parastatal companies in South Africa. A need therefore exists for greater understanding of the relationship between the leadership style and work-related attitudes (such as employee commitment) in order to develop a leadership style that will encourage organisational commitment. This study examined the relationship between leadership style, and employee commitment. Managers and their subordinates participated in the study. 348 questionnaires were distributed, 58 to managers and 290 to their subordinates. Final data for analysis included responses from 197 participants (34 managers, and 163 subordinates). 163 respondents rated their manager’s leadership behaviour on Bass and Avolio’s (1997) multi-factor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) and Meyer and Allen’s (1997) organisational commitment questionnaire (OCQ). A series of statistical procedures were followed to analyse the data. Hypotheses were tested on two levels. First, correlations among managers and subordinates with regard to the MLQ, and then the MLQ versus the OCQ. Results revealed a weak positive yet significant relationship between transformational leadership and affective commitment, normative commitment and continuance commitment. Transactional leadership had a weak but significant positive correlation with normative commitment, and Laissez-faire results indicated a weak negative yet significant correlation to affective commitment and normative commitment. Overall findings from this study suggest that leadership styles do play important roles in determining levels of affective commitment, continuance commitment and normative commitment. This study contributes to the bank of findings relating to the development of leadership and organisational commitment, not only in South Africa, but within the Parastatal organisations in particular

Gender, Risk-Taking Propensity and Culture of Entrepreneurs at Small and Medium Enterprises in Gauteng

This study analyzed the risk-taking propensity amongst the four cultural groups and its impact on the business performance, from a sample of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) within the Gauteng Province of South Africa. The data was collected using two sets of questionnaire measuring risk taking propensity and perceived business performance. 83 responses were returned from 400 respondents. The results indicate that male on average show higher risk taking, while difference in risk taking propensity between male and female was not statistically significant. A very weak or no correlation between risk taking and business performance scores for both the genders were found, indicating that gender and culture does not play a role in the relationship between risk taking and business performance. However study found that there was significant difference in risk taking behavior by different culture groups, Zimbabweans were the highest risk takers, while Chinese, Pakistanis and South Africans differed in their risk taking behavior