Poverty Among Elderly in India

Using consumption expenditure data of the National Sample Survey 2004?C2005, this paper estimates the size of elderly poor and tests the hypotheses that elderly households are not economically better-off compared to non-elderly households in India. Poverty estimates are derived under three scenarios??by applying the official cut-off point of the poverty line to household consumption expenditure (unadjusted), consumption expenditure adjusted to household size and consumption expenditure adjusted to household composition. Results show that an estimated 18?million elderly in India are living below the poverty line. On adjusting the consumption expenditure to household size and composition, there are no significant differences in the incidence of poverty among elderly and non-elderly households in India. This is in contrast to the notion that elderly households are better off than non-elderly households in India. Based on the findings, we suggest that the age dimension should be integrated into social policies for evidence based planning.     

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Gambling: Results From a National Survey

Pathological gambling disorder and problem gambling are addictive disorders with severe consequences for individuals, families, and society. Knowledge about associations between childhood adverse experiences (i.e., physical, sexual, and emotional abuse) and gambling pathology in adulthood is limited. Using data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions (NESARC), associations between adverse childhood experiences and lifetime gambling status were tested. Strong bivariate associations between adverse childhood experiences and gambling status were found, which were attenuated with the inclusion of clinical covariates. Adverse childhood experiences might be related to pathological gambling in adulthood, but this relationship might not be gambling-specific.     

Local principal differential analysis: Graphical methods for functional data with covariates

We focus on principal differential analysis (PDA) of functional data for obtaining a low-dimensional representation of a collection of curves. PDA assumes there exists a linear differential operator that results in the zero-function when it is applied to each of the data curves, or equivalently, that the curves belong to a low-dimensional subspace of a normed linear space. PDA sets out to estimate this linear differential operator from the data and proceeds from there. Our contribution is to explain how subject covariates can be incorporated into a PDA analysis for graphical exploration of patterns in the data.     

Moving beyond the employee: The role of the organizational context in leader workplace aggression

Management and psychology scholars are increasingly seeking to examine how organizational characteristics that contextualize leadership shape the occurrence, impact, and prevention of leader workplace aggression. However, a comprehensive review of this literature has not yet been conducted, so a systematic understanding is lacking regarding questions including: (1) when, why and how is such aggression more likely to occur; (2) how do contextual factors enable or constrain effects of these leader behaviors on employees; and (3) how can organizations proactively manage their internal dynamics to prevent or reduce such incidences? Drawing on Porter and McLaughlin's (2006) components of organizational context, I review existing leader aggression research that intersects with seven categories: (1) culture/climate; (2) goals/purposes; (3) people/composition; (4) processes; (5) state/condition; (6) structure; and (7) time. I then offer theoretical propositions for future work, which are grounded in the roles and responsibilities inherent to the nature of leadership and coupled with the changing nature of organizational life. As a result, I set the research agenda for the next decade of organizational context × leader workplace aggression studies.     

Groom price-female human capital: Some empirical evidence

This paper examines the effect of female human capital endowment on the groom price or dowry by using a newly available data set that was created by surveying the middle-class residents of Patna, Bihar. The estimates based on the OLS and 2SLS suggest the existence of positive association between the two variables for the sample under study. The result can be viewed as a positive; albeit, a small step towards settling the issue as to whether or not dowry is an obstacle to female human capital formation.     

Ergonomic intervention in aonla pricking operation during preserve preparation in food processing industries

Aonla is an important Indian fruit crop with great potential for processing into various quality products. Aonla preserve making is an important economic activity in our country. The pricking methods are age old, hence a hand operated aonla pricking machine was introduced in preserve making industries to speed up the pricking task. OWAS and RULA two of the most commonly used ergonomic assessment tools were evaluated for their efficacy in the assessment pricking along with Rating of perceived exertion scale. Analysis of working posture using RULA revealed that the pricking task with existing methods i.e. fork and hand tool requires immediate investigation and changes in working posture while with machine pricking investigations and changes are required soon. The results of OWAS indicated that the posture maintained while pricking with existing methods need to be changed in future planning while with machine was acceptable. The subjective assessment revealed that machine pricking was less exerting activity as compared to the existing methods. The preserve prepared from machine pricked fruit was most acceptable among consumers. Hence, in the form of machine ergonomic intervention was brought about in preservation industries which have proved beneficial for workers in terms of their safety and productivity.     

Beyond social networking: Performing global Englishes in Facebook by college youth in Nepal1

Until recently, scholarship on online social networking has mostly focused on issues of social relationship, privacy, identity and literacy. Research on the interface between multilingualism, multimodality and online social networking from a discursive perspective is relatively limited. This ethno‐graphic study draws data from Facebook pages composed and hosted over two years by three economically and educationally privileged undergraduate students in Nepal and uses conceptual constructs of mediascape, convergence culture and global Englishes. The study investigates how the advent of social networking online in Facebook by college youth has influenced their use of the English language and other semiotic resources to index both their local and cosmopolitan identities. Findings suggest that these youth are using social networking to redefine the role of English in relation to their existing social relationships, innovatively mixing English and Nepali in order to construct their bilingual identities, and embedding English with other texts to recontextualize both local and global media content. The paper concludes with a summary of major findings which suggest that online social networking practices have significantly helped to bring about a cultural change among this particular social group in Nepal.