Farmer Producer Companies in India: An Overview

Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) have emerged as a solution to the problems that small and marginal farmers confront with. This study probed into the reasons for the farmer-producer companies’ establishment, as stated in different policy documents and past literature. Performance of Farmers Producer Companies has improved significantly; however, the emergence of FPCs in India has not been consistent across the states. This paper examines the current status, geographical spread and functions of Farmer's Producer Companies (FPCs) across India, as well as suggests suitable measure to their performance. The study indicated that a total of 6471 FPCs were formed, in which around 80 per cent i.e. 5145 FPCs were promoted by Small Farmers Agri-business Consortium (SFAC) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), 1263 FPCs were promoted by various state government and other agencies, and 63 of them were self-promoted. More than 50 per cent of the FPCs are set up in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana. SFAC promoted large number of FPCs in Madhya Pradesh (149 FPCs) and NABARD has promoted large number of FPCs in Uttarakhand (362). The number of farmers mobilised through FPCs by SFAC and NABARD were highest in the state of Madhya Pradesh with 183517 farmer members, followed by Karnataka with 176732 farmer members. There were a number of factors that influenced state performance, and this study suggested some strategies to overcome them in order to promote the growth of FPCs in India.

Cultural Mistrust and Social Media Relationships

This study sought to examine the suitability of the Cultural Mistrust Inventory (CMI) items for contemporary interracial social relationships on social media. The study employed qualitative cognitive interviews with 28 persons of color in the U.S. Findings suggest that the CMI may not be a suitable measure for accurately assessing relational trust across different racial groups on social media due to generational change in consciousness about race relations, and the perceived ambiguity of the CMI items. Findings also reveal that the CMI is limited in its ability to assess racial trust on social media and may not account for how trust manifests across different social media platforms. These findings suggest that the continued use of the CMI to assess contemporary interracial relationships is not recommended.

An Investigation on the Influence of Modeling Approach and Load Pattern on Seismic Performance of RC Structures

Non-linear Static Analysis serves as a suitable measure to evaluate the performance of a structural system. The careful selection of modelling approach and the load pattern is critical to arrive at an adequate performance evaluation. The present study seeks to evaluate and compare the response of an existing eight story reinforced concrete structure, through the application of different modeling approaches and load patterns prescribed by FEMA 356. The results indicates that, with extreme clarity, that in all cases, the shape of the lateral load distribution is what the response of the buildings is finely accustomed to. This is especially true when different patterns of load are considered. It can also be observed that there is a very small difference between various load patterns.

Making occupational therapy research visible: amplifying and elevating the contribution and impacts

Researchers are increasingly required to be accountable for research findings and demonstrating outputs from research findings. A review of occupational therapy research promotes the use of impact assessments to make visible research outcomes ( Sainty, 2013 ). However, not all impacts are visible to those who are trying to balance the management of clinical services, along with delivering research and enabling clinical academic careers. Nationally and internationally research organisations are increasingly demanding researchers to be open, accountable and transparent in demonstrating the value research adds to healthcare organisations and the way the research impacts are reported are increasingly scrutinised. To capture research impacts we need to have a suitable measure which provides meaningful data for the context and type of project. Research impact frameworks enable organisations and researchers to tell their research impact stories by providing a systematic structure for organising evidence, achievements and case studies. This editorial shares the experience of developing a research impact tool for capturing research impacts within an organisation and discusses the importance of using research impact tools to amplify and elevate outcomes of clinical research in occupational therapy.

Validity and Reliability of the Korean version of the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale for Nurses

Emotional intelligence is a social ability that enables one to control one’s emotions and understand and empathize with others, which is an essential skill for medical professionals, including nurses. However, no valid and reliable instrument exists to assess the emotional intelligence of nurses in Korea. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the Korean version of the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence Scale. To do this, the existing English version of the scale was translated into Korean and its content, construct, and convergent validity were evaluated. Participants ( N = 210 nurses) were recruited from two hospitals in South Korea. The final scale showed a content validity index of .90, had adequate construct validity, and had a Cronbach’s α of .91 for the overall scale. Thus, this scale is a valid, reliable, and suitable measure of Korean hospital nurses’ emotional intelligence.

A measure of the importance of roads based on topography and traffic intensity

Mathematical models of street traffic allowing assessment of the importance of their individual segments for the functionality of the street system is considering. Based on methods of cooperative games and the reliability theory the suitable measure is constructed. The main goal is to analyze methods for assessing the importance (rank) of road fragments, including their functions. A relevance of these elements for effective accessibility for the entire system will be considered.

Migration of mineral oil in elastomers

This work describes a newly introduced experimental procedure to quantify the diffusion progress of mineral oils locally resolved in NBR. Diffusion of reference oils IRM 901, IRM 902 and IRM 903 in NBR with various acrylonitrile contents was investigated. Classical sorption experiments were performed as a basic characterization and compared to the newly introduced method. Here, elastomer specimens are only being dipped with the bottom in a relatively small reservoir of mineral oil. This provides a determination of locally resolved concentration profiles of mineral oils, and the calculation of diffusion coefficients. These diffusion coefficients follow the same trends like those determined via sorption experiments. Despite differences in the absolute numbers, activation energies of diffusion can be applied as a suitable measure for the compatibility of elastomers and fluids.

Success Factors for the Foundation of Municipal Utilities in Germany

More than 150 municipal utilities (so-called Stadtwerke) were established in Germany from the beginning of the millennium, bringing the total number of Stadtwerke currently established within the country to approximately 900. With responsibility for more than half of the supply of electricity, gas and heat in Germany, these Stadtwerke play a central role in the transformation of the energy sector, or Energiewende. In addition, due to their local and regional ties, Stadtwerke have a particular role to play in energy politics, the economy and across society. This article focuses on the motives behind, and grounds for, the current wave of newly established Stadtwerke. Further, it discusses the factors that were critical to the successful formation of new Stadtwerke in recent years. The results of our survey indicate that the establishment of municipal Stadtwerke is a suitable measure to implement the energy transition at the local level, whereby the concept of public value has a high level of importance for the local decision-makers. Collaboration and cooperation, as well as a resilience-oriented strategy, are important success factors for new Stadtwerke.

On the solvability of a nonlinear functional integral equations via measure of noncompactness in

Using the technique of a suitable measure of non-compactness and the Darbo fixed point theorem, we investigate the existence of a nonlinear functional integral equation of Urysohn type in the space of Lebesgue integrable functions Lp(RN). In this space, we show that our functional-integral equation has at least one solution. Finally, an example is also discussed to indicate the natural realizations of our abstract result.

Validation of the wrist blood pressure measuring device Omron RS6 (HEM-6221-E) among obese Sudanese patients according to the European Society of Hypertension International Protocol Revision 2010

Background: Electronic devices for measuring blood pressure (BP) need to go through independent clinical validation as recommended by different authorities, both in general and specific populations. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the Omron RS6 (HEM-6221-E) wrist oscillometric devices in obese Sudanese patients. Methods: Of 90 obese individuals invited for recruitment, 33 were included in the study, and had their BP at the level of the wrist measured using Omron RS6 and standard mercury sphygmomanometer. Two observations were made and the mean was taken. BP differences between the two methods for the 33 participants were classified into three categories (≤5, ≤10, and ≤15 mmHg), according to the European Society of Hypertension-International Protocol revision 2010 (ESH-IP2) criteria. This was then used to assess the validity of the tested Omron RS6 device. Results: Participants had a mean age of 56.97 years (standard deviation (SD), 8.75; range, 36-79). Average systolic blood pressure (SBP) was 146.21 mmHg (SD, 23.07; range, 107-182), and average diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was 93.82 mmHg (SD, 16.06; range, 67-128). There was a good agreement between the two observations using the OMRON RS6 and the standard sphygmomanometer: −4 to + 3 mmHg for SBP and −4 to +4 mmHg for DBP, with the mean difference of 1.73±1.11 mmHg for SBP and 1.49±1.02 mmHg for DBP. Conclusion: Thus, the Omron RS6 (HEM-6221-E) is a valid and suitable measure of BP according to ESH-IP2.