The great Indian Willow Trick: Cricket,nationalism and India's TV news revolution, 1998–2005

The emergence of India as the financial and spiritual heart of world cricket in the 1990s is intrinsically linked to India's satellite TV revolution in the same period. The 1990s began with just one Indian television channel – the state owned Doordarshan – but by 2006, Indian viewers were remote-controlling their way through more than 300 private satellite television channels. While the reasons for this phenomenal growth of the television industry are varied and complex, cricket has played a central role in the story. This paper will outline Indian satellite television's linkages with cricket and what they mean for notions of identity and expressions of Indian nationhood. In particular, it focuses on India's 24-hour television news networks – there are more than 50 in 14 languages. Unlike any other country in the world, the Indian television news industry has consciously ridden on cricket's shoulders to such an extent that by 2006, cricket-oriented programming accounted for the greatest expenditure in news gathering and the greatest visibility across most news channels. Television producers looked towards cricket because of its indelible link with what might be called Indian-ness, but their focus on the game, in turn, substantially redefined and reinforced these linkages.     

Urban High School Students’ Experiences in an Afterschool College Readiness Program

This transcendental phenomenological investigation examined urban students’ experiences in Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), an afterschool college readiness program. The federally funded program provides low-income and minority students information and access to services that lead to increased opportunities for post-secondary education. Interviews with 10 participants revealed that (a) navigating the college system; (b) expansion of career options; (c) counseling relationship; (d) personal insight; and (e) future orientation were major themes. Implications for school counselor preparation and practice are discussed.     

Curative effect of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cynodon dactylon</Emphasis> against STZ induced hepatic injury in diabetic rats

The aim of the study was to ascertain the role of ethanolic extract of Cynodon dactylon against hepatic complications in streptozotocin (STZ) induced type 2 diabetic models. Effect of the pre identified most effective dose of 500 mg/kg body weight was studied on hepatic injury caused by chemically induced diabetes by 55 mg/kg body weight i.p. injection of STZ in male Wistar rats. The dose of 500mg/kg body weight given once daily for 14 days reduced the levels of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase, serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, creatinine and urine sugar significantly (P<0.05) with increase in total protein, haemoglobin and body weight was increased. High LD₅₀ validates its high margin of safety.     

New approach to visual servo control using terminal constraints

A large class of visual servo controllers relies on an a priori obtained reference image, captured at the desired position and orientation (i.e., pose) of a camera, to yield control signals to regulate the camera from its current pose to a desired pose. In many applications, accessibility and economics of the operation may prohibit acquisition of such a reference image. This paper introduces a new visual servo control paradigm that enables control of the camera in the absence of reference image using a set of terminal constraints. Specifically, the desired pose is encoded using the angle of obliquity of the optical axis with respect to the object plane and its direction of arrival at the plane. A constrained convex optimization problem is formulated over a conic section defined by the terminal constraints to yield an error system for the control problem. Subsequently, this work introduces continuous terminal sliding mode visual servo controllers to regulate the camera to the desired pose. Lyapunov-based stability analysis guarantees that the origin is a finite-time-stable equilibrium of the system. Numerical simulation results are provided to verify the performance of the proposed visual servo controller.     

Practical realization of dual S arm antenna for beam steering applications

A dual S shaped micro strip antenna with a realistic feed is proposed for generation of tilted beam radiation pattern pertaining for beam steering applications. To achieve this, four feeding points are located at a distance of 5.6 mm from the antenna centre. These feeding points when excited one by one generate four tilted beams in four different space quadrants, thus yielding a beam steerable antenna. Importantly, since the proposed antenna is symmetrical in the structure, all the four tilted beams have the same radiation pattern characteristics. A further enhancement of the antenna bandwidth is also achieved using 100-μm capacitive coupling between the feed and the antenna strip.     

Going beyond the syllabus: a study of A level Mathematics teachers and students

We explored teachers’ views and students’ experiences of going beyond the syllabus in Advanced (A) level Mathematics. Questionnaires were sent to teachers and students in a sample of 200 schools and colleges. Teachers were asked about the necessity, importance and benefits of additional teaching. Students were asked about the extra activities they undertook. Forty-seven teacher questionnaires and 299 student questionnaires were completed. Over half of the students claimed to undertake at least some extra activities. Although a few teachers thought teaching beyond the syllabus was unimportant and unnecessary, over 70% felt it should be undertaken if time allowed. Teaching efficacy was measured by comparing each teacher’s students’ Mathematics results with those students’ results in other A level subjects. Significantly more teachers with relatively high Mathematics results than with relatively low results believed teaching beyond the syllabus strengthens and expands students’ existing knowledge and adds interest to the course.