Archives-February 2011

Vision based AGV (Automatic Guided Vehicle) with RTOS (uC/OS-II) is designed and developed for controlling two wheeled differential servo motor drive. In order to meet the demand of function, reliability, cost and real time performance compared to its commercial counterpart of general purpose computer the system is implemented with RTOS. The multi-processor embedded system with distributed architecture consists of a main-controller of vehicle management based on the ARM LPC2378, and a sub-controller of vision navigation based on the DSP BF533. The embedded RTOS uC/OS-II is used to construct a software development platform, on which different functions needed are described as several tasks, and a number of system services facilitate software realization. In the practical application of device reformation, a commercial AGV product is upgraded by the embedded vehicular controller we develop, on which a sophisticated algorithm of path tracking is implemented successfully and efficiently. The experimental result demonstrates the effectivity and advantages of the embedded multi-processor controller with the RTOS uC/OS-II presented in this paper versus its commercial competitor.

The study evaluates the performance and risk of monthly income plans of selected mutual funds with an objective to identify the top performing monthly income plan amongst the selected plans. The study has analyzed growth performance on the basis of returns of 6 months, 1 year, 3 years and since inception returns. Growth performance of the funds have been compared with industry average, and its benchmark index i.e., CRISIL MIP Blended Index. The Standard Deviations, Sharpe Ratio and Beta of the selected schemes have been compared to analyze volatility of the schemes and return per unit of risk. The study ends up with identifying top performing monthly income plans for relatively aggressive and conservative risk profile investors.

Hexane, ethyl acetate, methanol and aqueous extracts of Swertia chirata (Gentianaceae) were screened against economically important two lepidopteran pests viz, Helicoverpa armigera and Spodoptera litura. Insects were orally treated in the third instar larval stage by no choice leaf disc method. Among the tested extracts, methanol extract of S. chirata highly inhibited the feeding activity and the different developmental stages of H. armigera and S. litura. Toxicity of S. chirata was identified as dosage dependent in both species. In H. armigera and S. litura larvae, 68 and 56% antifeedant activity was recorded as maximum respectively at 5% concentration of methanol extract. Nearly 80% and 50% larvae of H. armigera and S. litura were killed respectively by methanol extract (5%) within 96 h duration of treatment. Pupal mortality was recorded after the adult emergence, and it was varied between the treatment concentrations in H. armigera and S. litura. Due to the toxic effect of methanol extract ultimate adult emergence was gradually reduced with increasing concentration of the treatments. More than 80% of adult emergence was suppressed in both the species.

Analytical solutions are obtained for advection-dispersion equation in one-dimension longitudinal finite domain. The solute dispersion parameter is assumed temporally dependent along uniform flow. The retardation coefficient and first order decay term which inversely proportional to the dispersion coefficient is also considered. Initially the space domain is solute free. Solution are obtained for two cases, first one for uniform input and second one for increasing input condition.

The process of economic development in an economy results in distinct structural changes. As a country progresses and the gross domestic product (GDP) basket enlarges, a shift in economic activity occurs away from agriculture towards services and manufacturing sectors, owing to higher elasticity of the latter two sectors than that of former sector. The process in turn leads to structural shifts, and consequent diminishing significance of primary activities and growing dominance of secondary and tertiary activities. This process brings with it significant changes in the production process, consumption pattern and various other social indicators. An in-depth understanding of inter-sectoral dynamics becomes all the more important for policy makers so that effective monetary, credit and fiscal policies could be designed in order to be able to achieve the broader objective of inclusive development. In this backdrop, the present paper endeavors to study linkages between agriculture and other Sectors in the Indian economy both through input-output (I-O) approach

Indian banking sector faced the many challenges due to enlarging NPAs in the banks. The profitability of the banks is not only adversely affected due to these NPAs’ but also enhanced the carrying cost. The net worth of the banks is also adversely affected. Due to the enlarging NPAs in banks, the RBI made stringent rules to curb the alarming situation. But in 2009, the RBI has to liberalised the norms in January 2009 due to the slowdown of Indian Economy. The private sector banks and the foreign banks exhibited the good show in bringing down the NPAs as most of the private and foreign banks brought down the NPA level up to 2 percent. Their sub-standard assets, doubtful assets and loss assets have decreased considerably over the time. The present paper is an attempt to study NPA problem in Private Sector and Foreign Banks in India.

It is the primary responsibility of all parents to fulfill the child’s dreams and aspirations. With mounting inflation and hence a higher cost of living, parents have to ensure that their child is able to lead a life of respect and self-esteem with a financially secured future. Children’s plans offered by life insurers have emerged as a smart way to propose financial security to the children. The study examines the children’s plans offered by selected life insurers in India. It is found that plans floated by insurers are unique in providing financial means to children to pursue their goals, and these plans are the best available alternative to save and invest for the safe and bright future of the child. However, it is problematic for an individual to comprehend the trick of inherent and latent charges in these plans. The study observed that children’s plan SMART Steps Plus of Max New York Life and Young Star Plus II of HDFC SL are worth considering to save for child’s better future. On the basis of study it can be inferred that Young Star Plus II of HDFC SL is better in terms of inherent features and diverse charges as compared to SMART Steps Plus of Max New York Life.

The Indian IT companies have devised various innovative measures to face Global financial meltdown which has left its adverse impact on bottom-line of companies across the globe. Innovative strategies have helped IT majors to give improved results. IT sector has to use this downturn as an opportunity to learn, study the market carefully and design strategies accordingly. The IT players should look for servicing customers in new ways; offer them better solutions at affordable price. The paper looks into few critical areas of managerial concern such as Business Resource Planning, Towards Effective Pricing, Better customer Orientation in particular at the time of crisis, Enhancing average revenue per customer, Building long term relations with clients, Innovative initiative to engage bench employees, etc.

Mobile commerce has emerged as an innovative and consequential improved method of business over e-commerce. Mobile payment service is a modern innovation in this direction. M-Payment popularly known as ‘Pay with your mobile’ is a revolutionary, easy, convenient, and secure mobile payment service. According to Capgemini report 2008, there are approximately 30 million users of m-payments all over the world. Though it accounts for merely 1 percent of the value of gross global non-cash payments, the mobile payments market is growing very fast. In the background of these developments and changing scenario, the study examined the attitude of respondents about the new revolutionary M-payment technique. The study found that more than three fourth of the respondents have awareness and requisite know-how about introduction of M-payments facility. Retail purchases and bill payments have emerged as the two top preferences for M-payments. The survey conducted on the basis of gender of the respondents observed no significant difference in their motives and attitudes regarding the applicability and the concerns of this most far-reaching M-payments mode. It is found that the success of M-payment in principle depends on the wider acceptability of m-payments by merchants, clear picture about the settlement platform, and enactments of legislation and rules governing M-payments.

The filed of Emotional Intelligence is attracting attention of researchers, journalists, academicians, and corporate trainers across the world. Emotional intelligence is quintessentially inseparable a component for success in career. Though considerable amount of research is done in the field of Emotional Intelligence all over the world, there is a paucity of research in this field in India owing to the fact that this field of study is still in the nascent stage in India. This article draws inputs from various scientific studies conducted in the field of emotional intelligence and its implication on career success of employees from Indian perspective. A conceptual model is proposed for measuring predictive ability of Emotional Intelligence for career success using simple regression.