Publications by authors named "Damodar Suar"

This paper reviews the food security status during the COVID-19. Food insecurity occurred due to disruptions in food production, food supply chain, implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA), and employment and income. Lockdown and shutdown had adversely affected the sowing of crops and harvesting in India.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in different regions of India, their socio-demographic indicators, and the presence of hidden population infected with HIV. Secondary data analyzed were obtained from national and international agencies. Considering the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in India, the low-prevalence regions in the last decade have shown a steady increase in recent years.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examined whether the death of family members intensifies the survivors' posttraumatic stress and behavioral changes. Data were collected by interviewing 416 adult survivors from nine habitations of the Nagapattinam district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India 14 months after the 2004 tsunami. Compared to those nonbereaved, bereaved survivors reported more posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, negative affect, deteriorated mental health, adverse physical health symptoms, alcohol consumption, family conflicts, and fear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines whether mood states (a) influence decision making under uncertainty and (b) affect information processing. 200 students at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur participated in this study. Positive mood was induced by showing comedy movie clips to 100 participants and negative mood was induced by showing tragedy movie clips to another 100 participants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

To be competitive, contemporary engineers must be capable of both processing and communicating information effectively. Available research suggests that Indian students would be disadvantaged in information literacy in their language of instruction (English) compared to U.S.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines the patterns of hand preference and unintentional injuries of attempted hand switchers and hand non-switchers. Data were collected from 3698 participants in Kharagpur, India, on measures of hand preference, hand switching, and unintentional injuries. The direction of left- or right-handedness was on the basis of hand used for the item "writing on paper" and the degree of handedness was based on the average score of remaining items in the handedness inventory.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Previous research has shown a positive association between unintentional injury liability and non-right-handedness (especially mixed-handedness). Research has also shown neuroticism to be one of the main predictors of unintentional injuries. In the present study we investigated the relationship of the three variables--frequency of unintentional injuries, side bias, and neuroticism.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Side dominance (upper and lower extremities, visual and auditory dominance) of 3,474 subjects of different age groups (9-83 years) was assessed using a 22-item questionnaire. Data were analyzed using a trichotomous (left, mixed, and right) association analysis among indices of side dominance. The contingency coefficients showed significantly high association between hand and foot preference across age groups compared to other paired associations of side dominance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

This study examines the (a) lifespan trends, (b) theoretical propositions, (c) factor structure, and (d) congruency among different forms of side bias in an Indian sample (N=3474) using the preference measure of handedness, footedness, eyedness, and earedness. An increase in dextral preference was found in all indices of side bias with increasing age. There were no left-handers among the oldest adults.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The study assessed the impact of the Orissa supercyclone on survivors' locus of control, anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress. The study was conducted in structured interview sessions 3 months after the supercyclone. The affected people (n = 65) who were close to the epicenter of supercyclone and lost their family members, relatives, and property, experienced more anxiety, depression, and posttraumatic stress than the unaffected (n = 65) who were away from the epicenter of supercyclone and had not experienced any loss.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF