Jaspal Singh

High U-contents observed in some drinking waters of Punjab, India

Abstract Uranium estimation has been carried out for some water samples collected from Bathinda and Amritsar, which are cities of the Punjab state, India, by using a track etch technique. The range of U-concentration present in water samples taken from Amritsar was 17.87 ± 0.18 to 20.23 ± 0.20 ppb while that in Bathinda samples was 11.71 ± 0.15 to 113.70 ± 0.46ppb. The daily intake of uranium by the population through drinking water has also been assessed. The high U-concentrations observed in the Bathinda area suggests that this area might warrant further investigation for uranium exploration purposes as well as for its potential health hazard effects.

Customer satisfaction and universal banks: an empirical study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to determine the factors that have an impact on customer satisfaction as regards the working of select Indian universal banks.Design/methodology/approach – The study was conducted using the survey method. Data were collected through a well‐structured questionnaire from a sample of 456 respondents.Findings – The major findings of the study show that customer satisfaction is influenced by seven factors: employee responsiveness, appearance of tangibles, social responsibility, services innovation, positive word‐of‐mouth, competence, and reliability. The results of multiple regression showed that three variables: social responsibility, positive word‐of‐mouth, and reliability, are statistically significant in the model at 5 percent significance level that have an impact on the overall satisfaction of the customer.Research limitations/implications – The study suffers from a regional bias since it covers only Punjab and Chandigarh. The results do not have general application...

Radon diffusion studies in some building materials using solid state nuclear track detectors

LR-115 plastic track detector has been used to study radon diffusion through some building materials, viz. cement, soil, marble chips, sand and lime as well as air. Diffusion constant and diffusion length is calculated for all these materials.

A study of the natural radioactivity and radon exhalation rate in some cements used in India and its radiological significance

Abstract The presence of natural radioactivity and radon exhalation from building materials contribute to the radiation dose received by human. So, it is essential to evaluate the activity levels of the primordial radionuclides (238U, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K) present in the building materials for the assessment of natural radiation dose. Cement is one of the major component of the building materials and is used on a large scale. In the present study, the commercially available cement samples of fifteen different brands were used to study the radon exhalation rate and activity concentration of 238U, 226Ra, 232Th and 40K nuclides. The radon exhalation rate was measured using the can technique, while the concentration of radionuclides content was determined by using gamma ray spectroscopy. The radon exhalation rate from different brands of cements was found in the range from 1.56 to 13.1 mBqkg−1h−1 with a mean value of 5.27 mBqkg−1h−1. The specific activity of uranium was found in the range 45.3–218.9 Bqkg−1 with a mean value of 111.2 Bqkg−1; 226Ra from 20.3 to 60.1 Bqkg−1 with a mean value of 35.8 Bqkg−1; 232Th from 18.8 to 60.1 Bqkg−1 with a mean value of 33.2 Bqkg−1 and 40K varied from 160.9 to 248.1 Bqkg−1 with a mean value of 199.1 Bqkg−1. The radiological parameters – radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose, external hazard index, internal hazard index, gamma activity index and alpha index were also evaluated to assess the potential radiological hazard associated with these cement samples. Correlation coefficients for the different radionuclides have been evaluated and studied.

Customers' attitude towards technology based services provided by select Indian banks

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to determine the factors that lead to satisfaction of the customers as regards to e‐banking services provided by selected banks in India.Design/methodology/approach – Survey method was used to conduct the study. Data were collected through a well structured questionnaire from a sample of 350 respondents.Findings – As a major finding of the study, six factors namely ease of use, reliability, convenient accessibility, security, low transaction cost and the time consumption emerged as factors that lead to customer satisfaction as regards e‐banking services. Further, the results of multiple regression showed that out of the above mentioned six factors, three factors, namely, ease of use (i.e. user friendly web sites leading to easy technology‐customer interaction), low transaction cost (i.e. saving of time, speed of service delivery, convenience and reduced paper work in monetary terms) and security (i.e. dependable safety mechanism in terms of illegal access of accounts,...

A comparison of fission track and laser fluorometry techniques for uranium analysis in water samples

Water samples were collected from different areas of the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in India for uranium analysis. The sources of these samples comprise of drains ponds, springs, dug wells, handpumps, municipal committee supply and tube wells. Initially, the fission track technique was used for the estimation U-content. As some of the samples showed high values of U-content, all these samples along with some new samples were also analysed using the laser fluorometry technique in order to confirm the results. A comparative analysis of the results obtained from these two different techniques has been made. The comparison confirmed high U-content in some of the samples. It is observed that the laser fluorometry technique is more suitable for analysis of the water samples having high U-content than the fission track technique.

Etching studies of CR-39 plastic track recorder

Abstract The etching studies are carried out in CR-39 plastic track recorder. The bulk etch rate V B , the track etch rate V T , and etching efficiency η, are determined at the temperatures of 65, 70, 75 and 80°C using 6.25N NaOH as the track etchant. The activation energies for bulk and track etching are determined. The new track etchant Ba (OH) 2 . 8H 2 O, proposed earlier in this laboratory for Lexan 1 , is tested for CR-39. The etching parameters measured using this new etchant are compared with NaOH and LiOH.H 2 O etchants. It is found that etching rates are higher with Ba(OH) 2 . 8H 2 O as compared with these etchants.

Determinants of Job Satisfaction in Select Indian Universal Banks-An Empirical Study

The study attempts to evaluate the job satisfaction level of Universal bank employees in India. It focuses on identifying the factors of job satisfaction and their influence on the overall job satisfaction level of Universal bank employees. Data were collected from a sample of 200 bank employees, using convenience sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis reveals that eleven factors-Workplace Environment, Supervision, Job Security, Cooperation from Peers, Pay and Other Facilities, Employee Acceptance, Delegation of Authority, Job Contentment, Workplace Discrimination, Opportunities for Growth, Transparent Salary Structure as the important determinants of job satisfaction. The results of multiple regression analysis shows that Supervision, Cooperation from Peers, Payment and Other Facilities, and Delegation of Authority (independent variables) influenced the level of job satisfaction (dependent variable)of bank employees.

Heavy ion radiation damage annealing in garnet crystal

Abstract The annealing kinetics of U-238 (15.36 MeV/n) ion produced defects in garnet as a function of both time and temperature are investigated. Two annealing processes one at lower temperature range and the other at higher temperature range are found and described by two empirical relations, based on the extensive experimental annealing data. It is observed that the track etch velocity parameter is more sensitive at lower temperatures while at higher temperatures the track retention rate dominates for the annealing studies. The values of two activation energies corresponding to two annealing stages are determined using empirical relations.

HUMAN KIDNEY AND SKELETON URANIUM BURDEN, RADIATION DOSE AND HEALTH RISKS FROM HIGH URANIUM CONTENTS IN DRINKING WATER OF BATHINDA DISTRICT (MALWA REGION) OF PUNJAB STATE, INDIA

Uranium concentration has been measured in drinking water samples from the Bathinda district. It ranges from 2.4 to 529 µg/l with a mean value of 120 µg/l. The mean uranium kidney burden for children and adults is 0.0838 and 0.059 µg U/g, respectively, which crosses the safe limit of 0.02 µg U/g. The mean values for skeleton burden are 1925.7 µg for children and 4108.2 µg for an adult. These values are 32 and 69 times higher than the skeleton burden of 59.4 µg for a normal adult. Radiological and chemical risk is also found to be higher than the recommended values. The mean effective ingestion dose for different age groups and genders is 188.2 µSv/y, while the safety limit is 100 µSv/y. The dose to the kidney, bone surface and bone marrow has also been evaluated. The observed values of the studied parameters show that people of this area may be at higher health risks corresponding to the intake of water; children may be the most affected.