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Background: India has a vast public health infrastructure with 23,391 primary health centers (PHCs) and 145,894 subcenters providing health services to 72.2% of the country’s population living in rural areas. Although the numbers look impressive, their functional status needs to be studied in terms of physical infrastructure, manpower, equipment, drugs, and other logistical supplies that are greatly needed for ensuring quality services. This work aims to study the infrastructure facilities and manpower in a sample of PHCs in the district of Nellore in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India. Methods: Randomly selected samples of 15 PHCs have been studied using structured and pretested performance standard questionnaire. Data have been analyzed with reference to the Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) of the Government of India. Results: Many deficiencies were identified in infrastructure and manpower in the PHCs studied. Some of the important findings were that the deficiency of AYUSH medical officers was 86.6% and the deficiency of health workers (female) was 13.33%. Some of the important drugs such as antihypertensives, anticonvulsants, emergency drugs, drops, ointments, and solutions were available in less than 50% of the PHCs. Only 47% of the PHCs had Typhidot tests and H2S test strips, and in the labor rooms only 20% of the PHCs have a Standard Surgical Set for episiotomies in accordance with IPHS. Conclusion: PHCs lack the manpower and vital infrastructure that are necessary for the effective day‑to‑day functioning and provision of primary healthcare to the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper identifies technology as a key solution for the challenges of sustainability and quality in housing and recognizes benchmarking as a tool for selection of appropriate technologies. Suitability of technologies for housing has been explored in respect of functional needs, sustainability needs, and performance standards. These issues have brought out the need for an objective methodology for selection of appropriate technologies, especially for mass housing. The objective framework has been developed by identification of needs of large scale projects, assessment of current issues and their shortcomings and development of objective parameters. Quality Function Deployment (QFD) has been used as tool for benchmarking. The case example of the technologies promoted by Government of India for "Housing for All" Mission has been taken up for development of the framework and benchmarking. Findings from the QFD process highlight that these emerging technologies cater to limited building elements and not for the building system as a whole. Inconsistencies amongst performance of these technologies on various parameters have been demonstrated. It is concluded that assessment and benchmarking of technologies give useful insights into the comparative performance of each of these technologies and is hence, a useful tool for selection of appropriate technology for housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on outsourced operations has primarily focused on working conditions in call centers. This study sought to focus attention on other outsourced operations to document employees' experience of shift work. In-depth interviews with both management and employees at two Indian organizations suggest that the negative consequences of shift work and working conditions are not merely individual problems, but they have adverse consequences for organizations as well. In particular, the study suggests that high attrition rates in the outsourcing industry may be an indirect result of shift work, indicating that shifting operations from India to other offshore locations may not resolve the issue. A model linking the effect of shift work on employees to attrition rates is proposed, and implications for future research and strategies organizations can implement to minimize the impact of shift work on employees' health and performance are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]