Challenges of teaching clinically applied anthropology and cultural psychiatry in India: an evolving partnership between a UK university and an Indian NGO

The current emphasis on Global Mental Health risks losing the focus on the local and the particular and rendering anthropological insight pertinent. A more critical examination of pedagogical methods and curricula, and of the challenges of establishing collaborative, balanced partnerships is required. Since 2006, a group of clinical anthropologists1 based at UCL and members of The Banyan2, have been working together on an innovative series of short, annual courses on social science theory and methods applied to mental health in South Asia. A UCL/BALM3 research unit was also established in 2008 employing local researchers to conduct joint studies into mental health and its related stigma in the Indian context. Following a brief history and outline of the collaboration, this paper discusses specific challenges: institutional issues and local economics; history and power dynamics; teaching versus training; working within mixed disciplinary and “cultural” domains both in the UK and India; and the spatial and temporal challenges of supervising research across continents. The paper concludes by reflecting on the contribution this collaboration has made to knowledge flow, examining localised and culturally specific understandings of pedagogy. These insights offer potential for similar international organisations seeking to establish inclusive and effective partnerships between frequently disparate contexts

University College London: Cultural Consultation Service

The University College London Cultural Consultation Service offers advice and support for staff or students who are experiencing challenges that may have a cultural dimension. Dr Caroline Selai and Dr Sushrut Jadhav, co-directors of the service, give a personal insight into why the service was established and its impact. The service off ers confi dential consultations on individual issues, and also assists those who wish to enhance their existing cultural skills in teaching, learning and in the provision of healthcare. Help can range from basic consultation to facilitating more complex interventions

Spherical Casimir energies and Dedekind sums

Casimir energies on space-times having general lens spaces as their spatial sections are shown to be given in terms of generalised Dedekind sums related to Zagier's. These are evaluated explicitly in certain cases as functions of the order of the lens space. An easily implemented recursion approach is used.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, v2:typos corrected, inessential equation in Discussion altered. v3:typos corrected, 1 reference and comments added. v4:typos corrected. Ancillary results added in an appendi

Load Balancing in Cloud Nodes

Cloud computing is that ensuing generation of computation. In all probability folks can have everything they need on the cloud. Cloud computing provides resources to shopper on demand. The resources also are code package resources or hardware resources. Cloud computing architectures unit distributed, parallel and serves the requirements of multiple purchasers in various things. This distributed style deploys resources distributive to deliver services with efficiency to users in various geographical channels. Purchasers in a very distributed setting generate request haphazardly in any processor. So the most important disadvantage of this randomness is expounded to task assignment. The unequal task assignment to the processor creates imbalance i.e., variety of the processors sq. measure over laden and many of them unit of measurement to a lower place loaded. The target of load equalisation is to transfer the load from over laden technique to a lower place loaded technique transparently. Load equalisation is one altogether the central issues in cloud computing. To comprehend high performance, minimum interval and high resource utilization relation we want to transfer the tasks between nodes in cloud network. Load equalisation technique is utilized to distribute tasks from over loaded nodes to a lower place loaded or idle nodes. In following sections we have a tendency to tend to stand live discuss concerning cloud computing, load equalisation techniques and additionally the planned work of our load equalisation system. Proposed load equalisation rule is simulated on Cloud Analyst toolkit. Performance is analyzed on the parameters of overall interval, knowledge transfer, average knowledge center mating time and total value of USAge. Results area unit compared with 3 existing load equalisation algorithms specifically spherical Robin, Equally unfold Current Execution Load, and Throttled. Results on the premise of case studies performed shows additional knowledge transfer with minimum interval

Pills that Swallow Policy:Clinical Ethnography of a Community Mental Health Program in Northern India

India’s National Mental Health Program (NMHP) was initiated in 1982 with objectives of promoting community participation and accessible mental health services. A key component involves Central government calculation and funding for psycho-tropic medication. Based on clinical ethnography of a community psychiatry program in north India, this paper traces the biosocial journey of psycho-tropic pills from the Centre to the Periphery. As the pill journeys from the Ministry of Health to the clinic, its symbolic meaning transforms from an emphasis on accessibility and participation to administration of ‘treatment’. At its final destination of delivery in the rural health centre, the pill becomes central to professional monologues on compliance that mute the voices of patients and families. Additionally, popular perceptions of government medication as weak and unreliable create an ambivalent public attitude towards psychiatric services. Instead of embodying participation and access, the pill achieves the opposite: silencing community voices, re-enforcing existing barriers to care, and relying on pharmacological solutions for psycho-social problems. The symbolic inscription of NMHP policies on the pill fail because these are contested by more powerful meanings generated from local social and cultural contexts. The authors argue this understanding is critical for development of training and policy that can more effectively address local mental health concerns in rural India. The paper concludes with an outline of potential areas and approaches to interrogate well meaning mental health programs that alienate the very people it is meant to serve

Thermal comfort characteristics of knitted fabrics for abaya

Fabric material plays an important role in the thermal comfort of Abaya because it is the outer garment of Muslim women. Abaya is black in colour and covers the whole body except the hands, feet and face. It is mandatory to wear Abaya in the Saudi Arabia and certain parts of Middle East countries irrespective of the outside environmental temperature which could be up to 45°C. Therefore, the thermal transmission characteristics of the abaya are extremely important as human body responds to the external thermal environment through clothing. In a hot environment, it is extremely uncomfortable to wear several layers of clothing under the Abaya. Hence it is essential to enhance the thermal comfort of fabrics used for Abaya. This study investigated five selected knitted fabrics that could be used as Abaya fabrics for thermal resistance, air permeability, thermal comfort and vapour resistance. The results indicated that the fabrics with different knit structures, fibre composition and fabric weight have greater influence on thermal comfort performance

A Study on Performance Appraisal at Future Lifestyle Fashion Ltd. (FLF) Mumbai

In this competitive world, business is playing a major role and performance appraisal (PA) has increasingly become part of strategic approach to integrating HR activities and business policies. Today we can see this standard term covering a variety of activities through which organizations seek to assess employees and develop their competence, improve performance and achieve rewards. The success of an organization depends on the performance of the employees and it is the human tendency. Appraising performance is both a difficult and an essential supervisory skill. Every organization judges formally or informally. If there are no fixed standards of judging they will start judging based on informal standards that can create lack of enthusiasm and impact the performance of the employee and in turn, the organization. Hence, it is essential that we set the right standards to judge the performance of the employees. At a strategic level, the need for speedy and effective organizational change in today's vibrant social, economic, and political environment requires that employees continually re align their performance with goals and objectives of the organization