Dating with River Terraces: Technique of Luminescence

Title: Dating with River Terraces: Technique of Luminescence 
Author: Bidyaswor Singh, Raheijuddin Sheikh, Nabachandra Singh, Nabadwip Singh
ISBN: 978-93-82395-47-8
Binding: Hard Cover
Language: English
First Edition: 2016

About the Book:

Thermoluminescence (TL), Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) and Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating, collectively known as Luminescence dating has emerged as a technique by itself to directly determine the age not only of ancient pottery, bricks and terracotta but also the burial age of the main mineral constituents in unheated Quaternary Sediments. Luminescence dating has a proud history of association with archaeology, beginning almost more than half a century ago. Even since the pioneering work of Farrington Daniels (University of Wisconsin, USA) who in early 1950 suggested the possibility of using TL to date geological and archaeological age.

Fluvial deposits and landforms are important archives of river response to climate, tectonics and base level change and are commonly associated with archaeological sites. Unlike radiocarbon dating, the target material for luminescence dating (sands and silts) is nearly ubiquitous in fluvial deposits and the age range for luminescence spans the last glacial – interglacial cycle, a time period of interest to many Quaternary scientists. Recent advances in luminescence dating techniques and the development of single-grain (in the case of OSL) dating capabilities have now allowed fluvial deposits, and other deposits commonly afflicted with incomplete zeroing of the luminescence signal, to be dated. The application of luminescence dating to fluvial deposits is discussed with respect to its potential to provide important contributions to research in the fields of geomorphology, palaeo-seismology and archaeology.

It is very important to date the formation ages of terraces, because a terrace surface is a good datum of cart for evaluation of fault activity and uplift-subsidence. Fluvial sequences (terrace stair cases) represent archives of Quaternary paleoclimatic fluctuation and can serve as stratigraphical frameworks for geochronology and for correlation with other depositional environments. The need of a new method for terrace dating, as dating data of terraces whose ages are estimated to be 104-106 years are lacking also, have been solved by the introduction of a new dating method like TL, OSL and ESR dating. These new methods are advantageous as a lot of quartz grains are contained in sediments.

Corporate Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Issues And Perspectives

Title: Corporate Governance & Corporate Social Responsibility In India: Issues And Perspectives
Editor: Rajkumar Giridhari Singh
ISBN: 978-93-82395-88-1
Binding: Hard Cover
First Edition: 2016

About the book

The present book is a compilation of articles related to the study of corporate governance and corporate social responsibility in India. In this book the issues from a number of different perspectives as a means of contributing towards the understanding and development of good corporate governance system and corporate social responsibility is attempted. This book can help in understanding the theoretical and practical insights into the issues of the corporate governance and corporate social responsibility and will be of assistance to practitioners and theoretical benefits to researchers, academics and students.

About the Editor 

Dr. Rajkumar Giridhari Singh holds a Ph.D in Commerce from Manipur University. He did his Post graduate (M.Com -Business Management) from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He is currently serving as Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, Mizoram University. He has a teaching experience of more than eight years to MBA students. He taught courses like Strategic Management, Management Accounting, Financial Management, Security Analysis and Portfolio Management. He has already authored a book entitled ‘Private Hospitals Management in India: A Strategic Perspective’ published by Ruby Press and Co., New Delhi in 2014. He has published his research papers in international and national journals. He also has attended many conferences and seminars held in the country.  Prior to his joining in Mizoram University he had worked in organization like the Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur, The Trident Hilton, Gurgaon and Shija Hospitals and Research Institute, Langol, Imphal. The author was awarded the prestigious Best Business Academic of the Year (BBAY) – Gold Medal in the year 2014 by Indian Commerce Association in its 67^th AICC held at KIIT University, Bhubaneswar.

An Anthology of Historical Essays

Title: An Anthology of Historical Essays
ISBN: 978-93-82395-87-4
Editor: Prof. Salam Irene
First Edition: 2016
Language: English
Publisher: Ruby Press & Co.
Category: History
Binding: Hardcover

About the Book:

The book itself is an amalgam of different histories and different perspectives on history. Most of the contributors have adopted an inter-disciplinary approach, especially apparent in the articles on divinity and possession, as also that on environmental history.

As Manipur is still a pre-dominantly agrarian society, two of the articles deal with agriculture and the land-holding system. The Art of pottery is an ancient craft, and there is an illuminating article on Ethno-Archaeology with its focus on pottery. Two of the articles focus on the Muslims of Manipur who assimilated in Manipuri society to such a degree that they were known as Pangal Meiteis. One of the articles is on women as and Gender. Studies now occupies a prominent place in history. There is another article on women of different communities of Manipur.

Many papers contain elements of symbolism, especially concerning the passage of rites and the cosmogony of the Loktak Lake. Other papers refer to the origin of people viz. the Tangkhul Nagas and Vaipheis and also incorporate elements of primeval religion. Another important paper deals with information gleaned from the Royal Chronicle of Manipur. There is also an interesting article on the evolution of print journalism in Manipur, and another on the oft repeated story of carving an image of Shri Govindjee on a uprooted jackfruit tree of Kaina.

Anthropometry of the Meitei Women Athletes of Manipur

Title: Anthropometry of the Meitei Women Athletes of Manipur
Author: Hijam Sorojini Devi
ISBN: 978-9382395867
Language: English
First Edition: 2016
Binding: Hard Cover

About the Book

Every community has a history of games and sports in the form of indigenous nature. In the earlier days, sports were associated with human culture and it was a part of religious festivals. Games and sports has now been given a high status as it concerns about physical fitness, personal prestige as well as owing to various national and international competitions and the organisation of Olympic Games. The human physical structure or physique and its role in sports performance is a matter of importance. The realisation of the importance of the subject of Anthropometry, which is the sub-branch of Physical anthropology, perhaps grew considerably during the last a few decades. With the applied knowledge of this subject in the field of games and sports, we can assess the various physical structures of the athletes of various sports events. 

The present book entitled Anthropometry of the Meitei Women Athletes of Manipur deals with the various physical structures of the Meitei women athletes of 7 (seven) sports events of hockey, football, weight lifting, running, throwing, cycling and gymnastics.

About the Author

Dr. H. Sorojini Devi earned her master’s degree from Manipur University in 1986. She was awarded Ph.D from the same University in 2003 and thereafter, LLB from LMS Law College, Imphal in 2009. 

She is at present Reader and Associate Professor of D.M. College of Science, Imphal, Manipur. Besides, she has been engaged in independent research works and guiding research scholars.  She was awarded minor and major projects under the financial supports of University Grants Commission. She has published more than 15 research articles in Indian and International leading Journals. She is a casual talker in various programmes of All India Radio, Imphal, particularly, in live phoning programme and telling stories of the children programme. She has been engaged as resource person in the refresher courses and workshops organised by Department of Anthropology, Manipur University as well as for E-learning programme under EMMRC. She has participated in many seminars and conferences in various parts of India. She is an active member of many academic associations and also a member of Bar Council of Assam.

Her areas of interest are sports science, health and nutrition and human genetics. 

Is it really clean: Creating a WASH Index

Title: Is it really clean: Creating a WASH Index
ISBN: 978-81-922182-8-1
Authors: Paresh Kumar, Vijay Avinandan, Digambar Sharma, & Abhishek Sharma
First Edition: 2015
Language: English
Publisher: Ruby Press & Co. in association with "Sambodhi Research and Communications Private Limited"

About the Book:

The book titled, “Is it really clean? – Creating a WASH Index”, was initially rooted in the idea that available data on Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) should be simplified for easier interpretation and comparison across study units. As a group of researchers engaged in monitoring and evaluating WASH interventions, we were faced with the issue that there were presently several indicators available to describe the WASH conditions of a certain area. However, there was no widely accepted single unit of measure/scale that could be used as a tool for units under study.

The period also coincided with the increasing focus of policy planners toward extending WASH services to the larger populace. While the central and state budget allocations for constructing drinking water facilities and improved toilets witnessed an increase, there was no robust method to monitor the actual impact caused by the interventions.

Hence the conception of WASH index was an amalgamation of multiple factors; need for robust yet simpler tool, gap in existing body of knowledge etc. Before the actual collection of data for creating the index, several rounds of discussions with sector experts and M&E specialists were held in order to chalk out the feasibility of the proposed concept. Pilot data for the index was subsequently collected across 49 districts of Uttar Pradesh on a statistically valid sample size.

While constructing the WASH index, we increasingly became aware of the diverse factors influencing WASH behaviour among communities. Though the index would provide a promising tool for effective and quick monitoring, it was felt that the Index would remain incomplete without a contextual understanding of the sector in India. It was visualised that providing a reader with a backdrop of events leading to the need for this tool, and possible linkages offered by the tool would be a more comprehensive read than statistical paper.

To arrive at the final index the methodology underwent several iterations under the guidance and supervision of Mr. Kultar Singh. Mr. Kultar Singh (CEO and Founder – Sambodhi Research and Communications) is also the author of “Quantitative Social Research Methods, Sage Publications (2007)”, and “Data Analysis using SPSS”, Sambodhi Research and Communications (2008)”. The contents and contextual literature was then reviewed by Mr. Depinder Kapur (Former Director, Programme and Advocacy, Oxfam India and present Secretary – India WASH Forum). The proof reading and text edits were done by Ms. Tilotamma Bhalla, presently a Lecturer in English, Delhi University.

The present book contributes to an evolving body of knowledge in the sector of WASH while keeping the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in view. Innovations have been used to visualize and convert reliable data in order to aid effective decision-making. The proposed score-card, is one among the many attempts being currently carried out by social researchers andimplementers across the globe, who aim to create an environment of effective concurrent monitoring methods for multi-faceted problems.

Small States in International Politics: A Case Study of Foreign Policy of Sri Lanka

Title: Small States in International Politics: A Case Study of Foreign Policy of Sri Lanka

Author: Sivananda Patnaik
ISBN: 978-93-82395-79-9
Publisher: Ruby Press & Co.
First Edition: 2015
Language: English 
Binding: Hard Cover 

About the Book:

The Anglo-American tradition, which has dominated the discipline of International Relations Studies until recently, had an explicit discriminatory bias in favour of the analysis of the foreign policies of powerful and dominant states of the international system. This scholarly orientation has resulted in a substantial corpus of theoretical knowledge on various aspects of the foreign policies of dominant states. However, in the case of small states such orientation has been considerably weak or inadequate. With the dominant tradition having consciously neglected the study of the foreign policies of small states, there is a significant lack of theoretical literature on the foreign policies of these states. It can hardly be overemphasized that the absence of a scholarly perspective on the foreign policies of small states in the discipline has led to an inadequate and distorted understanding of international politics in general.

About the Author:
Mr. Sivananda Patnaik has done his M.Phil from JNU and Ph.D. from MS University Baroda. He has been teaching International Relations at MSU for almost 20 years.

Mass Media In Conflict Zones

Title: Mass Media In Conflict Zones Author: Ksh. Chitrabhanu Devi, Md. Raheijuddin Sheikh ISBN 978-93-82395-52-2 Binding: Hard Cover Language: English First Edition: 2015

About the Book:

Conflict is defined as a disagreement through which the parties involved perceived a threat to their needs, interest or concerns. It is also pursuit of incompatible goals which can intensify struggle between opposing forces, especially in the absence of collaborative problem-solving mechanism. In conflict situations, resources are mobilized to force the other party to change their behavior according to one’s own wishes. Mismanaged conflict turns into violence causing mass destruction. Conflict is the actual or perceived opposition of needs, values and interests. Conflict is a concept which explains many aspects of the social life such as social disagreement, conflicts of interests, and fights between individuals, groups or organizations. In political terms, “conflict” can refer to wars, revolutions or other struggles, which may involve the use of force as in the term armed conflict. Without proper social arrangement or resolution, conflicts in social settings can result in stress or tensions among stakeholders. When an interpersonal conflict does occur, its effect is often broader than two individuals involved, and can affect many associate individuals and relationships, in more or less adverse and sometimes even way.