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M. Sc. Dissertations

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2007 - 200952010 - 20123
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Subject: Family Resource Management × End date: 2012 × Type: Thesis × Thesis Type: M.Sc ×
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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Ergonomic assessment of rural women engaged in cattle milking
    (CCSHAU, 2007) Doomra, Zeena; Kiran Singh
    The present study entitled “Ergonomic assessment of rural women engaged in cattle milking was undertaken in randomly selected villages of Fatehabad district namely Kukranwali and Nakhatia. Under Phase-I a sample of 100 respondents actively engaged in cattle milking were selected to study the involvement pattern of women in dairy related activities. Among these 30 physically fit respondents were selected for ergonomic evaluation of milking activity with existing method. Under Phase-II new techniques and tools were introduced and the best one was selected for ergonomic analysis on the same thirty respondents for the assessment. The result of the study showed that majority of the respondents were of middle age, illiterate, married and had nuclear family system. Sixty percent of the respondents had medium herd size (3-4 cattles). The mean milk production, consumption and sale (litres/day) was 12.48, 4.29 and 8.19 respectively. Maximum time was spent on cleaning the shed and perceived exertion was maximum for fodder transportation. Mean age of the respondent was 31 years having mean height and weight of 156 cm and 55 kg. Majority of the respondents were having mesomorphic body type. The results highlighted that average heart rate, average energy expenditure, TCCW and PCW were not in permissible limit with existing method. Muscular stresses and postural deviation were also found high. So new tool was developed named as “adjustable pihri” in which user can change the heights of pihri according to the comfortability. Than impact assessment of new tool was studied on the same 30 respondents. The use of new tool significantly reduces the physiological and muscular cost of milking activity. Appropriate height of the pihri improves the posture, therefore reducing the musculoskeletal problems while performing the activity.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Improved wood stove : performance assessment and modification
    (CCSHAU, 2007) Singla, Priya; Mehta, Manju
    The present study was undertaken in three villages selected purposively from Hisar district of Haryana state. Fifty respondents selected purposively comprised the sample. The objectives were: to study the performance assessment of already developed improved wood stove; to modify improved wood stove; to undertake the feasibility evaluation of modified wood stove. The study revealed that the traditional wood stove was the main cooking unit used by more than fifty per cent of the respondents. Other cooking unit used was LPG and Hara. Most of the respondents using open area for cooking and used only mud for construction of improved wood stove. While constructing of modified improved wood stove, all the respondents considered the criteria’s of placement, direction, height, width and length. Average time spent in using the wood stove was 3.00 hours/day. Majority were cleaning of wood stove alternate day. Non-commercial fuel like agro waste, cow dung cakes and wood were used by all the respondents. Most of the respondents used separate room for storage of fuel. Major problem in storage of fuel were ‘become wet in rainy reason’, ‘cause bad smell’ and ‘difficult to store big pieces’. Although all the respondents were using improved wood stove, than also they were not satisfied with it. They faced the ‘economical constraints’, ‘technical constraints’, ‘fuel constraints’ ‘cleaning and maintenance’, ‘use constraints’ and ‘health’. Due to the constraints faced in first generation improved wood stove respondents desired certain modifications in it, like ‘decrease the height and width’, ‘increase in size of holes of flame concentration plate’ and ‘used durable material’. The performance evaluation of second generation improved wood stove developed showed that, model M9 (double wall made up of mud with iron rods, grate and flame concentration plate, grate at floor level and increase the hole size of flame concentration plate) required least amount of fuel and produced lesser charcoal and least amount of ash as compared to first generation improved wood stove. It was acceptable by the respondents because this wood stove have higher thermal efficiency and power out put and lesser fuel burning rate and specific fuel consumption. So, model M9 was the better than the first generation improved wood stove. The FRM-II wood stove was acceptable by the respondents in terms of appearance, fuel reduction, and smoke reduction and easy to operate and handle. Feed back data on FRM-II wood stove after 15 days of use showed that users considered it advantageous, cleaning process was convenient. Most of the respondents/users considered FRM-II improved wood stove most feasible for them and negligible considered it not at all feasible. The feasibility index of FRM-II wood stove was 79.6 percent, which was on higher side. Hence it can be concluded that FRM-II wood stove was acceptable to the users.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Occupational health hazards and use of women friendly technologies
    (CCSHAU, 2007) Mer, Supriya; Sangwan, Veena
    India is an agrarian country. Maximum of the Indian population depends on agriculture only for their livelihood. Women play a significant role in agriculture. They perform various agricultural activities and experience a number of health hazards. The root cause of these hazards was use of wrong body postures, other physical, mechanical and environmental factors and use of traditional agricultural tools and technologies. Thus the objectives of the study were to assess the occupational health hazards of rural women in the farm sector, to investigate the usage pattern of women friendly technologies in farm sector and to study the factors affecting the use of these technologies. The present study was undertaken in Hisar and Ambala districts of Haryana state. Six villages from Hisar district and two villages from Ambala district were selected purposively. A total of 150 farm women constituted the sample of the study. Four crops, viz. wheat, cotton, paddy and maize were selected for the study. Results revealed that majority of the respondents were in the age range of 20-35 years, could read and write only (33.33%), belonged to middle caste (52.00%), joint family (55.33%), having more than 10 members in their family (54.66%). They faced maximum health hazards due to physical factors in maize with a mean score of 4.32, paddy (3.80), wheat (3.71) and cotton (3.64). This was because they were using standing pasture for long hrs while maize cultivation. Maximum health hazards due to mechanical factors experienced in paddy (2.53), wheat (2.30), cotton (1.94) and maize (0.49). Environmental factors also contributed to health hazards in paddy (3.53), maize (3.28), cotton (3.12) and wheat (3.10). The reason for this may be that the respondents had to stand for long hours in water while transplanting of paddy and other activities of paddy cultivation are also performed in harsh weather conditions. Results also revealed that farm women were using pick bag (3.24), improved sickle (3.20), capron (3.08), weeder (1.00), hand ridger (1.000 and tabular maize sheller (0.66). During the study, it was found that age (6.95*), caste (7.34), family type (8.57*), education of the respondents (16.83*), occupation of the respondents (6.76*) and family income (7.71*) were significantly associated with the use of women friendly agricultural tools, i.e. these were the factors affecting the use of these tools.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Assessment of indoor air pollution in rural kitchens through traditional chulha
    (CCSHAU, 2009) Kritika Singh; Sehgal, Binoo
    (An Abstract of the dissertation submitted to the CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of Master of Science in the subject of Family Resource Management) Present study was undertaken in two villages each selected randomly from Hisar district of Haryana state purposively. Hundred respondents were randomly selected for the study. The objectives were: 1. To assess the use pattern of chulha and awareness level regarding ill-effects caused due to emission of smoke from chulha. 2. To explore and measure the indoor air pollutants present in rural kitchens due to smoke from traditional chulha. 3. To test acceptability of remedial measures to overcome pollution due to chulha smoke. The study revealed that the traditional chulha was the main cooking unit used by all the respondents. Other cooking units used were LPG stove, kerosene stove and smokeless chulha (with pipe). Ventilator, door and window were not present in home of most of the respondents. Most of the cooking activities was done on traditional chulha, other cooking units were used for specific cooking. Near about 45 percent used traditional chulha due to habitual taste. Most of the respondents used traditional chulha in open area while LPG stove and kerosene store and smokeless chulha were used in covered area. Majority of the respondents complained about breathing problem caused due to smoke of chulha. All the respondents considered LPG stove safe for health. It was found that SPM, SO2 and NO2/NO3 present in smoke of traditional chulha was more as compared to that in improved chulha and permissible limit during cooking. Having open ventilators in kitchen was the most acceptable remedial measure by the respondents.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Health hazards of women working in paddy cultivation
    (CCSHAU, 2008) Sunita Kumari; Kiran Singh
    The present study entitled “Health hazards of women working in paddy cultivation” was undertaken in randomly selected villages of Kaithal district namely Kaul and Deoban and from Kurukshetra district village Mirzapur and Kirmich. Under phase-I a sample of 200 respondents actively involved in paddy cultivation were selected to study the work pattern and health hazards of women in paddy cultivation. Among these 15 farm women from each district were selected randomly for ergonomic evaluation in paddy transplanting and harvesting activity. Under phase-II remedial measures were introduced to 50 farm women for two most chronic health problems. Evolvement and feasibility testing of remedial measures was done. The result of the study showed that majority of the respondents were of young age, illiterate, belonged to middle caste, had medium level of family education status and had nuclear family system. Sixty per cent of the respondents had occupation as agriculture and 39 per cent of them were landless. Average number of days 40.82 spent annually by farm women in paddy cultivation were highest in transplanting activity and time spent hrs/day in harvesting activity was 9.39. Participation of women was found highest (84%) in transplanting activity. Skin allergy (WMS 2.42) and asthma (WMS 2.4) were found most common physiological problems. Transplanting paddy emerged out to be the most hazardous activity in all the activities of paddy cultivation. The results highlighted that average heart rate (128 bpm and 129 bpm), average energy expenditure (11.6 kj/min and 11.8 kj/min) were found to be high in transplanting and harvesting activity. Musculoskeletal problems exhibited severe pain in low back (4.8) followed by mid back (4.1) and upper back (4.0). Waterproof socks as a remedial measure for skin problem and capron for reducing the breathing problem were provided to the respondents.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Development and testing of low cost solar box for drying of vegetables
    (CCSHAU, 2011) Gautam, Anita; Singal, Savita
    The study was conducted in two parts viz. preliminary survey and experimental work. Survey was carried out in 2 villages of Hisar district to study the existing practices of drying of vegetables with a sample of 100 women respondents (50 from each village) who were drying vegetables at home. In part-II, experiments were conducted to develop a low cost solar box, solar drying of vegetables, and testing the cooking quality of dried vegetables. Majority of the respondents were drying fenugreek leaves, kachar, and chillies. Some respondents also dried bitter gourd, round gourd, cluster beans, cauliflower, green peas and in the quantity of 4-6 kgs for about 6 months. Experiments were conducted in the open area of department of Family Resource Management CCSHAU, Hisar under three phases. In phase-I low cost solar box (measurements: length-1.2 m, width-0.6 m, height of front wall-0.2 m, height of back wall-0.6 m) were developed with the help of College of Agricultural Engineering.. All sides of box and lid were covered with white polythene sheet and base was covered with black polythene sheet. Holes (1cm diameter) was made in the front wall and at the back wall of the box for the inlet and outlet of air. In phase-II, eight vegetables were selected viz. green peas, carrot, fenugreek leaves, cluster beans, round gourd, cauliflower, bitter gourd, and french beans for drying in open sun and in solar box. Initial moisture content of these vegetables was recorded with the help of oven on wet basis. Drying of selected vegetables was conducted from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm under open sun (Sample A) and inside solar box (Sample B) Temperature inside solar box was higher than ambient temperature. Therefore, box drying rate of vegetables inside solar box was faster than open sun drying. Solar box dried vegetables regained more moisture than open sun dried vegetables when soaked in water. In phase-III, cooking quality of dried vegetables was evaluated on the basis of organoleptic test (using 9 point hedonic scale) through 10 judges. Results showed that overall acceptability of solar box dried cooked vegetables in terms of color, appearance, aroma, texture and taste almost all were significantly better than cooking quality of open sun dried vegetables.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Management Of household waste In urban areas In Hisar district
    (2011) Hemlata; Sangwan, Veena
    The present investigation aims at studying the existing garbage disposal practices and selecting the efficient and easy disposal method to be introduced at household level and studying its acceptability. Knowledge level of the respondents about various aspects related to garbage and its problems was tested before and after the mass media exposure. Existing method of waste generation and disposal was studied on a sample of 100 respondents in two localities of Hisar district.. Experiment work was conducted in Dept of Family Resource Management, COHS, CCSHAU, Hisar. Effectiveness of the compost prepared was tested on the basis of C/N ratio. Regarding generation of waste, varying nature of waste including organic and inorganic was coming out of every household and maximum share was of organic waste (91.19%). Out of 8.81 per cent of inorganic waste, paper was generated in large quantity (3.75%) followed by clothes (1.94%). Majority of the respondents were not satisfied with the existing garbage disposal practices outside the home (64.0%). Compost prepared with earthworms was found best as it had narrowed C/N ratio. After mass media exposure, maximum gain in knowledge was found on various aspects of waste and its problems. Gain in knowledge was highest for ‘Effect of garbage on health and environment’ (43.34%) followed by ‘vermicomposting of organic waste’ (40.21 %) and segregation of garbage (37.11). Regarding various aspects of acceptability of the appropriate disposal method it was found that the respondents were willing to do segregation of garbage and found segregation as easy to do. Regarding vermicomposting technique most of the respondents liked vermicomposting and reported it as a good method of converting household waste into rich manure. However, did not agree to adopt this method at household level but agreed to segregate the garbage if composting is done at community level. At household level organic waste is being generated as a huge amount, 91.19 per cent of the total waste. If this organic waste can be disposed off at close vicinity by vermicomposting, a major problem can be tackled down along with saving the environment.
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    ThesisItemOpen Access
    Ergonomic Evaluation of Conventional and Improved Methods of Aonla Pricking
    (CCSHAU, 2012) Rai, Arpana; Gandhi, Sudesh
    Indian food preservation industry is predominantly occupied with processed aonla products especially aonla preserve. Women are the vital and most productive workers in preserve making SMEs and do the most monotonous job of pricking individual aonla fruit for preserve making. Till date, the pricking of aonla fruits in these enterprises is done manually employing poorly designed hand tools thus, making the pricking task very tiresome and time consuming for workers resulting into lowered productivity. Therefore, a hand operated aonla pricking machine developed by AICRP on PHT, CCSHAU, Hisar was ergonomically tested with women workers. A study was conducted on ergonomic evaluation of conventional and improved methods of aonla pricking which was carried out in 3 phases i.e. field survey to study working conditions and work profile of workers in selected four preserve making units, experimental work to conduct ergonomic evaluation of conventional (fork and hand tool) and improved (pricking machine) methods of aonla pricking, user’s acceptability of machine, organoleptic evaluation of preserve prepared. Thereafter, a sit-stand workstation was developed using RSM and improvements were suggested for preserve making SMEs as per WISE methodology. The results revealed that working conditions, processing tools and techniques were not satisfactory in all the units. The workers were doing pricking by using poorly designed hand tools in awkward postures and there were no defined workstations in all the units. Ergonomic evaluation of all the tools in various postures in terms of physiological, biomechanical and psychophysical parameters with 15 women workers selected from four enterprises revealed that physiological parameters while working with all the tools were within the acceptable limits for women workers. The HR showed maximum increase while pricking with machine in squatting posture (90 beats.min-1). However, biomechanical and psychophysical parameters were higher while working with conventional tools as compared to the machine. The grip fatigue was found to be maximum with fork in squatting posture (26 %). The reason for this was attributed to use of poorly designed conventional tools and lack of proper workstation. Machine was found highly acceptable by the users due to more safety, comfort and higher economic benefits while working. The preserve prepared with machine pricked aonla obtained highest sensory score (8.5), highest ascorbic acid content (150 mg/100 gm of fresh fruit) and least water activity (0.53). A fully adjustable ergonomically designed workstation was developed and used for the experiment. RSM was used to find out the best combination of posture (200 mm-600 mm-1000 mm), duration of the pricking activity (1hr-2 hr- 3 hr) and light (100 lux-300 lux -500 lux) while working with conventional tools and machine that has yielded most favorable results. The most desirable combinations obtained were 500 mm height +500 lux light + 2 hr time with conventional tools in sitting posture and 200 mm height+300 lux light+1.45 hr time and 1000 mm height+300 lux light+1.30 hr time with machine in low stool posture and standing posture respectively. Improvements were also suggested for preserve making SMEs using WISE methodology concerning with material storage and handling, workstation design and work environment. This all has resulted into reducing drudgery of women workers involved in preserve making activity.