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In this paper, we draw on three ethnographic studies of surrogacy we carried out separately in different contexts: the western US state of California, the south Indian state of Karnataka, and the western Russian metropolis of St Petersburg. In our interviews with surrogate mothers, intended parents, and surrogacy professionals, we traced the meanings and ideologies through which they understood the clinical labour of surrogacy. We found that in the US, interviewed surrogates, intended parents and professionals understood surrogacy as an exchange of both gifts and commodities, where gift-giving, reciprocity, and relatedness between surrogates and intended parents were the major tropes. In India, differing narratives of surrogacy were offered by its different parties: whilst professionals and intended parents framed it as a win-win exchange with an emphasis on the economic side, the interviewed surrogate mothers talked about surrogacy as creative labour of giving life. In Russia, approaches to surrogacy among the interviewed surrogate mothers, professionals and intended parents overlapped in framing it as work and a businesslike commodity exchange. We suggest these three different ways of ethical reasoning about the clinical labour of surrogacy, including justifications of women's incorporation into this labour, were situated in local moral frameworks. We name them "repro-regional moral frameworks", inspired by earlier work on moral frameworks as well as on reproductive nationalisms and transnational reproduction. Building on these findings, we argue that any international or global regulation of surrogacy, or indeed any moral stance on it, needs to take these local differences into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global health diplomacy has gained significant importance and undoubtedly remained high on the agendas of many nations, regional and global platforms amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Many countries have realized the importance of the health sector and the value of a healthy workforce. However, there is little control on issues related to trade that impact on human health due to the dominance of profit-oriented business lobbies. A balance, however, needs to be struck between economic profits and a healthy global population. This paper aimed to highlight the importance of building capacity in global health diplomacy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic so that health personnel may effectively negotiate on the multisectoral stage to secure the resources they need. The recent proposal to waive off certain provisions of the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) agreement for the prevention, containment and treatment of COVID-19 by India and South Africa at the World Trade Organization (WTO) presents an important opportunity for all governments to unite and stand up for public health, global solidarity, and equitable access at the international level so that both developed and developing nations may enjoy improved health outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the composition, social organization and wide range of activities of the Indian maritime merchant of the early modern period. Regional contrasts between Gujarat, the Coromandel coast and Bengal are discussed. The last section of the paper discusses the interaction between the Indian maritime merchants and the Europeans, both the corporate enterprises as well as private traders. It is argued that the Indian merchants displayed a remarkable degree of adaptiveness and resilience and refused to be overwhelmed by the competition provided by the Europeans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Common information model (CIM) in vogue represents transmission and distribution components, and market operations in the perspective of electrical system, as unified modeling language (UML) objects. UML is object centric. CIM can offer interoperability and facilitate model exchange for large systems and is being adopted by many utilities. However, dealing effectively with multiple business processes is the backbone of the restructured power systems. Since CIM lacks chronological process sense, this has to be superimposed on CIM models, which is not easy due to inherent limitations of UML. To overcome this, this paper proposes to utilize business process modeling notation (BPMN) standards as a kind of pre-processor. BPMN is used to represent process centric interoperability requirements as business objects. UML object representation in CIM model is derived subsequently from it. The proposal is illustrated with an application use case—deriving CIM model of day-ahead market (DAM) transaction of distribution company, from its business process representation. Semantic model of DAM transaction using CIM IEC 62325 (Markets) and extensions required are presented with a sample Indian system. DAM models in BPMN and CIM can be utilized to build an efficient software application. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on family politics and exchange of goods in British India. This paper also situates Anglo-Indian gifts within a spectrum of emotionally-charged exchange mechanisms through which products circulated in British India. The gift-giving and market-orientated consumer behaviors occupied shifting positions within a register of exchange in Anglo-India.

Examines the correlation between trade and total factor productivity (TFP) in South Africa. Impact of trade liberalization on the economic performance of the country; Effect of tariff reduction on employment rate; Influence of openness and technology on productivity.