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This paper presents the preliminary results of radon and thoron measurements in the houses of Chhatrapur area of southeastern coast of Orissa, India. This area is one of the high radiation background radiation areas in India, which consists of monazite sand as the source of thoron. Both active and passive methods were employed for the measurements. Radon and thoron concentrations were measured in the houses of Chhatrapur area using twin cup radon dosemeters, RAD7 and radon–thoron discriminative detector (Raduet). Thoron progeny concentration was also measured in the houses using deposition rate measurements. Radon and thoron concentrations in the houses of study area were found to vary from 8 to 47 Bq m−3 and the below detection level to 77 Bq m−3, respectively. While thoron progeny concentration in these houses ranges between 0.17 and 4.24 Bq m−3, preliminary investigation shows that the thoron concentration is higher than radon concentration in the houses of the study area. The thoron progeny concentration was found to be comparatively higher, which forms a base for further study in the area. The comparison between the results of various techniques is presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of the paper is to describe the Kerala type of writing as one of the Syriac scripts in the Syriac Oriental branch. It describes the characterization of the ductus. Already found in sixteenth century manuscripts, when an influence of Latin Portuguese style of writing is probable, this kind of script developed in the nineteenth century, mainly as a result of the isolation of the Syro-Malabar communities with regard to the mainstream Syriac tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses papers presented in the journal's special section that examined the history of India, including David Gilmartin's paper on the judicial treatment of caste in India, Sujit Sivasundaram's assessment of the impact of colonialism on India and Mithi Mukherjee's exploration of freedom in the Gandhian nonviolent movement.

This paper attempts to answer the question: why do the police use deadly force in a democratic country? Police shootings in India are better known as encounters, a term that refers to a specific type of police contact—a spontaneous, unplanned ‘shoot-out’ between the police and alleged criminals, in which the criminal is usually killed, with few or no police injuries. The police use of deadly force remains largely unquestioned or unaccountable. This paper explores the wider structural and systemic factors that create conditions in which killing ‘hardened’ criminals seems to be the last resort for the police to gain some control in the fight against crime. Wider cultural and specifically police sub-cultural factors that make police killing of alleged criminals both feasible and acceptable in a democratic country are discussed. Based on a qualitative study of Mumbai police officers’ narratives accounting for use of deadly force, the paper draws upon wider policing literature in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, South Africa and certain Latin American countries to explain why this form of police violence occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Is Indian classical dance a sacred art? A great many people tend to assume that the temple origin of the dance ensures that a sense of the sacred and a link with religion continues to shape its practice. In this brief paper, however, the author rejects this position, arguing that Indian classical dance has not been a sacred art for well over a century, due to the process of modernisation it underwent throughout the 20th century. The nostalgia attached to the notion of classical dance as a Hindu 'sacred' art is one example of a more widespread appropriation of Indian arts by contemporary sociopolitical agendas. Indian classical dance can however be a vehicle for modern spirituality, understood to be detached from any specific religious affiliation, and no longer dependent on tradition, but predicated on a modern subjectivity and on the performer's and audience's agency and interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While almost a decade old, Ted Hopf’s observation that the democratic peace is an observation in search of a theory still holds validity. In particular, the mechanisms behind the democratic peace are poorly understood, making it difficult for scholars to provide a compelling explanation. Underappreciated in the existing work is the role of identity and the importance this has for driving the democratic peace. With a focus on developing a dyadic democratic peace mechanism and using a case study approach, this paper utilizes the Copenhagen School’s securitization framework to examine how identity plays out in the US response to the Indian and Iranian nuclear programs. It finds that in fact identity does play an important role in how security policy is constructed. In policy terms, if the democratic peace does rely on identity to trigger the constraining norms that limit the escalation of conflict to violence, it is unlikely the democratic peace can be spread by force and it is possible that states nominally democratic can be excluded from the community of democracies if their behavior or significant other aspects of their perceived identity are at variance with the accepted democratic identity standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores a pluralist approach to moral economy in two ways. First, as a review, four major schools of thought on the rental of land in India are described. I focus on their normative and ontic assumptions. Second, noting that none of these schools is value-neutral, a plurality of six complex moral reasoning strategies emerge from this review. The advantage of the social researcher doing an overview of these normative positions is that we can compare and contrast the meta-criteria that are used. The six moral reasoning strategies are a neoliberal growth strategy, a human capabilities approach, a redistribution approach, a transformative approach, a social equality approach, and a Pareto-optimality approach. The study of these six strategies leads toward the conclusion that more research on complex moral reasoning strategies is called for, because combining them rapidly leads to difficulties. Scientific research can provide evidence to underpin and shape the moral reasoning that takes place in real-world dialogues and debates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade of the 20th century, coinciding with India's economic deregulation, the Hindu wedding became a core attraction in popular Indian cinema. Weddings in real life, in turn, became more elaborate organized by a wedding industry, which professionalized and commodifed work that was previously done by an informal economy or outside of it by members of the family. Evoking the Frankfurt School, this paper locates the big wedding as a product of the emerging Bollywood culture industry and its ideological redefinition of nationalism/citizenship as both acts of consumption and the re-enactment of patriarchal and caste-based identities. Challenging the explanatory power of the notion of hybridity and its rejection of “totalization” narratives, the paper asks for a reconsideration of the meta-narratives of class and gender, capital and patriarchy to understand the ways in which global capital is most intimately experienced and lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeological data forms the primary source material for this paper on the early Hindu temple in South Asia. The paper traces the study of the temple from its 'discovery' in the nineteenth century to the present and interrogates the traditional links often suggested between the temple as an agent of political legitimisation and the emergence of the State in the first millennium AD in ancient India. The paper uses the term 'Hindu' to articulate a pan-Indian cultural identity of the local population of the subcontinent long before the European discovery of the term in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and suggests that cultural practices, rituals and imagery as evident from a study of religious architecture formed the substratum of this self-perception and distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People care about relative, and not only absolute, income. This paper investigates the importance of relative income within and between castes in the Indian caste system, using a choice experimental approach. The results indicate that slightly more than half of the marginal utility of income comes from some kind of relative income effects, on average. This is comparable to the results from previous studies in other countries. Belonging to a low caste and having a low family income are associated with higher concern for relative income. Moreover, an increase in the mean income of the caste to which the individual belongs, everything else held constant, reduces utility for the individual. Thus, the negative welfare effect of having a reduced relative income com- pared to the own caste average income dominates the positive welfare effect due to increased relative income of the own caste compared to the income of other castes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines technical practices, such as epidemiological modeling, used to produce HIVprevalence estimates within India's national policy establishment. These technical practices are a useful site within which to investigate the shifting politics between India's national government and international agencies such as the World Bank and UNAIDS. The paper argues that international actors, and the technical practices they purvey, carry a 'foreknowledge' about the epidemic. This foreknowledge provides a pre-existing template of an AIDS epidemic; it helps the government imagine what an AIDS epidemic looks like, anticipate patterns of risk, and plan public health interventions. However, pre-packaged foreknowledge leaves relatively little room for surprises, and sits alongside a selective silencing of local experiences and public health history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an empirical investigation into alternative forms of organisation of rural industries and their dynamics in the post-reform period of India by means of a field survey carried out in the state of West Bengal in 2001-02. The selected industries (handloom, brassware, hornware, clay works, conchshell and lac works) all belong to traditional crafts. The major organisational forms are 'independent units' and 'tied units', the latter being tied to traders and/or master enterprises for raw materials and work-orders, each of which account for more than 40% of our sample units. The third form, 'cooperative units', is clearly in the decline. Tied units appear to define the upcoming trend bringing the forces released by 'liberalisation', e.g., the growth of exports, drawn to the level of village-artisans. In particular, the system appears to be a vehicle for product-differentiation and innovation, both of which are very much evident in our study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cars The typical urban household in China owns a TV, a refrigerator, a washing machine, and a computer, but does not yet own a car. In this paper, we draw on data for a panel of countries and detailed household level surveys for the largest emerging markets to document a remarkably stable relationship between GDP per capita and car ownership, highlighting the importance of within-country income distribution factors: we find that car ownership is low up to per capita incomes of about US$5000 and then takes off very rapidly. Several emerging markets, including India and China, the most populous countries in the world, are currently at the stage of development when such takeoff is expected to take place. We project that the number of cars will increase by 2.3 billion between 2005 and 2050, with an increase by 1.9 billion in emerging market and developing countries. We outline a number of possible policy options to deal with the implications for the countries affected and the world as a whole. — Marcos Chamon, Paolo Mauro and Yohei Okawa [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of two randomized experiments conducted in schools in urban India. A remedial education program hired young women to teach students lagging behind in basic literacy and numeracy skills. It increased average test scores of all children in treatment schools by 0.28 standard deviation, mostly due to large gains experienced by children at the bottom of the test-score distribution. A computer-assisted learning program focusing on math increased math scores by 0.47 standard deviation. One year after the programs were over, initial gains remained significant for targeted children, but they faded to about 0.10 standard deviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The whole of South Asia is devoid of any standards and norms on any dimension of refugee reception, determination and protection. The fact that a quarter of the world's refugees find themselves in a non-standardized, if not hostile, refugee regime is a situation which does not augur well for either the mandate of UNHCR or for any civilized society The South Asian nations have their own apprehensions, real or imaginary, about the utility of CSR 1951 to their situations. Because of historical mishaps, political ignorance, unstable democracies and exaggerated concern over national security there is hardly any motivation for, or any environment in which there is a possibility for, the enactment of national legislation. Non-governmental agencies, in their own way, have been trying to influence the States to accede to the Convention and, also, to promulgate national laws. The most noticeable contribution is the draft national law for India, 'Refugees and Asylum Seekers Act', discussed and approved by the Fourth Informal Consultations on Refugees and Migratory Movement Sessions in their Dacca Session. The draft legislation has been under consideration by the Indian government for some time but the issue, nonetheless, remains both important and urgent. There is an almost complete absence of discussion about it in any forum, even the media. This paper is an attempt to examine the provisions of the draft law, insofar as it conforms to the international standards, and to show where it is found wanting. The paper also evaluates the competence of the draft law to answer security considerations after 9/11. The paper suggests suitable amendments that may make the enactment of national law a reality, so that the void in the international regime of refugee protection can be filled effectively and fast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1990s the Indian economy has seen a considerable relaxation of controls, as a consequence of which it has witnessed unprecedented growth. This is especially remarkable in the external sector. In this paper I evaluate the progress made on the macroeconomic front and address the possibility of opening up the capital account of the balance of payments. I show that given the weakness in the financial sector and the government finances, it may be dangerous to speed up the process of opening up the capital account further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the pattern of international trade specialization in Indian manufacturing since the mid-1980s by using data on trade flows. Low-technology sectors still dominate the categories for which India exhibits the largest degree of trade specialization. By contrast, high-technology sectors are prevalent among the categories for which India is import-dependent. Significantly, India has experienced an improvement in the degree of specialization in some of the most dynamic sectors of world trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A conference paper about how the World Health Organization (WHO) responded to the aftermath of the South Asian Earthquake of October 2005 is presented. It outlines how WHO worked in partnership operations and collaboration with other institutions and agencies in offering humanitarian efforts in the specific incidence of the 2005 Pakistan earthquake. It also discusses the structure and functions of WHO, which is the only specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) mandated to be responsible for global public health.

The rise in dowry payments in India has been taken as evidence that women increasingly are at a disadvantage on the marriage market and must pay for marriage. Moreover, high dowries, it is argued, add to the plight of parents of daughters and have thus contributed to the scarcity of women (brides). However, the logic is curious, and, this paper argues, flawed. The term "dowry" can mean different things, and it may be useful to distinguish between the assets the bride brings at the time of marriage (gross dowry) and those netted against the groom payments (net dowry). The former is what is generally meant by dowry, while the latter is a concept used mainly by economists. I show that there is no evidence of an increase in real net dowries post 1950 in the ICRISAT data set-a data set that has featured prominently in the literature. I take this to suggest that the widespread reports of dowry inflation refer to an increase in gross dowry, a development which may merely reflect greater parental affluence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a multiwavelength investigation of the Galactic H  ii  region IRAS 17149 − 3916. Using the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope, India, first low-frequency radio continuum observations at 610 and 1280 MHz for this region are presented. The ionized gas emission displays an interesting cometary morphology, which is likely powered by the early-type source, E4 (IRS-1). The origin of the cometary morphology is discussed under the framework of the widely accepted bow shock, champagne flow, and clumpy cloud mechanisms. The mid- and far-infrared data from Spitzer -GLIMPSE and Herschel -Hi-GAL reveal a complex network of pillars, clumps, bubble, filaments, and arcs suggesting the profound influence of massive stars on the surrounding medium. Triggered star formation at the tip of an observed pillar structure is reported. High-resolution ALMA continuum data show a string of cores detected within the identified clumps. The core masses are well explained by thermal Jeans fragmentation and support the hierarchical fragmentation scenario. Four 'super-Jeans' cores are identified which, at the resolution of the present data set, are suitable candidates to form high-mass stars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a multiperiod real financial CGE model, this paper identifies the impact of budgetary policy on credit supply as a possible factor limiting the effectiveness of structural adjustment programmes. Focusing on credit rather than money, and explicitly analysing the relation between the budget and the credit creation process, the model goes beyond earlier modelling approaches by (1) incorporating credit rationing, (2) recognising the dual role of credit for working capital and investment, and (3) allowing for endogenous switches between credit-constrained, capacityconstrained and demand-constrained regimes. With this approach, the relation between money, output and prices, and issues of crowding in versus crowding out, are solved endogenously rather than assumed a priori. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Displacement by development projects jeopardizes welfare of people living at its periphery. The acquisition of land for large industries, mines, or special economic zones gives rise to the livelihood insecurity of the poor and less privileged people. Displacement from the original habitations often means not only the physical relocation but also the loss of livelihood derived from the subsistence resources offered by the local environment. Due to displacement, people lose common property resources like forests, rivers, fields, and grazing grounds. It is estimated that some 3-5 million people have been displaced since 1950 in Odisha on account of various development projects, of which more than 50 percent are tribals (Haan, A. D and Dubey, A. (2005) Poverty, Disparities, or the Development of Underdevelopment in Orissa, Economic and Political Weekly, XL(22-23), 2321-2329). The involuntary displacement has brought imbalances in possession of land in various districts of Odisha. Therefore, this paper seeks to explore further the impact of displacement on livelihood of tribal and non-tribal communities of Odisha. It may pinpoint key challenges faced by them due to development-induced displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is important to understand the service conditions of nurses because these influence nurses' motivations and ability to provide care. Although nurses are estimated to constitute 30% of India's health workforce, limited empirical information is available about them. This paper attempts to address this gap in research. A cross-sectional survey of 266 nurses in the state of Gujarat was conducted to understand the demographic characteristics, qualifications and employment features of nurses working in India's private and public health sectors. Descriptive and univariate analyses were performed using the collected information. A multivariate regression model was also estimated with monthly earnings as the dependent variable, and workplace, type of employment contract, caste background and years in the nursing workforce as independent variables. The three main findings presented in this article highlight considerable heterogeneity in the background and employment of nurses in India. First, 49% of nurses working in private hospitals and as temporary employees in public facilities belonged to historically disadvantaged social groups (deemed Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes) and were estimated to earn 9% less than similarly qualified and practiced nurses from general caste categories (P = 0.02). Second, 18% of nurses working in private hospitals did not have formal nursing qualifications. Third, nurses working in private hospitals and as temporary employees in public facilities earned less than the minimum wage stipulated by the Government of India. Permanent public sector nurses were estimated to earn 105% more than private sector nurses with the same qualifications, years of work and caste background (P <  0.001). This study finds that the disproportionate presence of women and socially discriminated caste groups in the nursing workforce, coupled with the failure of governmental agencies to regulate the health sector, might help explain the low wages and lack of job security that most nurses in India contend with. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective implementation of a comprehensive quality assurance (QA) programme in any individual monitoring service plays a key role in attaining and sustaining the level of performance at par with international standards. In India, individual monitoring of more than 120 000 radiation workers is provided through 16 laboratories using a CaSO4:Dy based thermoluminescence dosimetry (TLD) badge system. In such a wide-spread programme, the harmonization of procedures and regular QA check on the dosimetry system are utmost important to ensure the uniform standard of accuracy and reliability of the service. This paper discusses some aspects of the QA programme implemented at different stages of the TLD monitoring system and provides the results of the performance test of monitoring laboratories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we examine patterns of self-reported diagnosis of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and prevalences of algorithm/measured test-based, undiagnosed, and untreated NCDs in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa. Nationally representative samples of older adults aged ≥50 years were analyzed from wave 1 of the World Health Organization's Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (2007-2010; n = 34,149). Analyses focused on 6 conditions: angina, arthritis, asthma, chronic lung disease, depression, and hypertension. Outcomes for these NCDs were: 1) self-reported disease, 2) algorithm/measured test-based disease, 3) undiagnosed disease, and 4) untreated disease. Algorithm/measured test-based prevalence of NCDs was much higher than self-reported prevalence in all 6 countries, indicating underestimation of NCD prevalence in low- and middle-income countries. Undiagnosed prevalence of NCDs was highest for hypertension, ranging from 19.7% (95% confidence interval (CI): 18.1, 21.3) in India to 49.6% (95% CI: 46.2, 53.0) in South Africa. The proportion untreated among all diseases was highest for depression, ranging from 69.5% (95% CI: 57.1, 81.9) in South Africa to 93.2% (95% CI: 90.1, 95.7) in India. Higher levels of education and wealth significantly reduced the odds of an undiagnosed condition and untreated morbidity. A high prevalence of undiagnosed NCDs and an even higher proportion of untreated NCDs highlights the inadequacies in diagnosis and management of NCDs in local health-care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Health Policy & Planning is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Health Policy & Planning is the property of Oxford University Press / USA and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Background Improvement in people's knowledge of HIV/AIDS and reduction in stigma and discrimination have been key factors in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The objective of the present paper is to examine the mediation effect of comprehensive knowledge on people's attitudes towards HIV positives in India. Methods Data for the study have been drawn from nationally representative India's National Family Health Survey, 2015-16. Statistical methods of data analysis included odds ratio and logistic regression models. Results Two in every five men and of women with comprehensive knowledge held a positive attitude towards PLHIVs. The people in rural areas and females against their counterparts are less likely (OR: 0.85, p < 0.05) to have positive attitude. The mediation by comprehensive knowledge, contributed to 46% of direct effect from gender perspective on comprehensive positive attitude. Among males, aged group 25-44 and among females age <25 had most positive attitude towards people living with HIV (PLHIV) as compared to their counterparts. Conclusions There existed a difference between males and females in attaining comprehensive knowledge and having comprehensive positive attitude. The mediation by comprehensive knowledge contributed, though partially, direct effects from gender perspective on comprehensive positive attitude. The findings are programmatically relevant to device content analysis of the material in the information, education and communication strategies. Key messages The mediation effect of comprehensive knowledge on people's attitudes towards HIV positives has been substantial in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship between British-funded irrigation projects and high rates of malaria in India between nineteenth and twentieth century. Attitudes of the British officials to malaria prevention; Reassessment of malaria and British policies in the Raj era; Role of Anopheles mosquitoes in the generation of malaria.

We document a novel fact about neonatal death, or death in the first month of life. Globally, neonatal mortality is disproportionately concentrated in India. We identify a large effect of birth order on neonatal mortality that is unique to India: later-born siblings have a steep survival advantage relative to the birth-order gradient in other developing countries. We show that India's high prevalence of maternal undernutrition and its correlation with age and childbearing can explain this pattern. We find that Indian mothers exit the underweight body mass range at an internationally comparatively high rate as they progress through childbearing careers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A basic hypothesis of probabilistic migration models is that informal sector employment is a temporary staging post for new migrants on their way to formal sector employment. In this paper we argue that there are no conclusive tests of this hypothesis in the empirical migration literature, and examine evidence from a sample survey to test if the informal sector in Delhi performs the role postulated in probabilistic models. We also test some of the main hypotheses of the segmented labour market theory, a popular alternative to neo-classical theory for analyzing the structure of urban labour market in developing countries. The empirical evidence indicates that the migration process postulated in probabilistic models does not seem to be realistic in the case of Delhi, and that the segmentation model is only partially valid. Over one-half of the informal sector entrants had been attracted to Delhi by opportunities in this sector itself; actual and potential mobility from the informal to the formal sector was low; education and urban experience were rewarded at the same rate in both sectors; and education was one of the important determinants of mobility between sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conference on marine organisms was held in India in 1984, which is surrounded by some of the richest marine fauna in the world. This conference was held to: present Indian research on the biology of shallow-water benthic studies (the communities of bottom dwelling animals and plants); to convey modern techniques and methods, which might apply to benthic studies in the Indian Ocean; and to stimulate interest in cooperative research programs between Indian and U.S. participants.

Background People with HIV (PWH) who are coinfected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) have a higher risk of mortality compared with PWH alone. Populations such as people who inject drugs (PWID) and men who have sex with men (MSM) are particularly at high risk for HBV acquisition; yet, limited epidemiological data from these populations exist on HBV prevalence from low- and middle-income country settings (LMICs). Methods We characterized the prevalence and correlates of HBV serological markers in a sample of PWID and MSM with HIV recruited across 15 Indian cities using hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B core antibody (anti-HBc), and hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs). Testing of stored specimens for the presence of these markers was performed on the Abbott ARCHITECT i1000 as per the manufacturer's instructions. Correlates of ever being infected with HBV (reactive for anti-HBc and/or HBsAg) and chronic HBV (reactive for HBsAg) among those ever infected were assessed using univariable and multivariable multilevel logistic regression models accounting for site-level clustering. Results A total of 2198 (95%) of the 2314 participants recruited for the trial were screened for HBV markers. The median age among the PWID and MSM participants was 30 and 32 years, respectively. The prevalence of ever being infected with HBV was 75.6% vs 46.9% in PWID vs MSM, respectively (P <.01); prevalence of chronic infection was also higher in PWID vs MSM (14.1% vs 9.5%; P <.01). Correlates of ever being infected with HBV among PWID included unstable housing (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 5.02) and sharing injection paraphernalia (aOR, 2.70), and among MSM, correlates included history of injection drug use (aOR, 4.87) and gender identity. The prevalence of isolated core (anti-HBc in the absence of anti-HBs) was 34.7% vs 29.4% in PWID vs MSM (P <.05). Vaccination serostatus was <10% in both populations. Conclusions In this large sample of PWID and MSM with HIV, we observed a high prevalence of serology consistent with HBV infection and low vaccination, highlighting the need for routine screening and catch-up vaccination. The high prevalence of isolated anti-HBc reactivity highlights the need to understand the risk of reactivation with this serological pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind energy represents a clean, abundant and cost-effective power source, fostering job growth and environmental mitigation. Although wind energy harnesses several gigawatts today, its availability hinges on diverse factors, with geographical location standing out. Commercial turbines, with varying capacity ranges, saturate the market. Locating site-specific suitability and matching the appropriate turbine to meet specific requirements are of paramount importance. This study aims to assess the feasibility of wind energy in Surat, Gujarat, India and select an optimal small commercial turbine for residential use. The research involves Rayleigh and Weibull probability distribution functions based on yearlong velocity data. These distributions are fitted with actual data, revealing the most probable velocity (v mf = 3 m/s) and velocity at maximum power (v pmax = 5 m/s). The power availability of the site has been assessed as 42.6 W/m2 using both graphical and analytical methods. Several commercial turbines have been shortlisted based on on-site power criteria and their specifications are evaluated against site power availability. A comparative analysis culminates in identifying the most suitable turbine for the location. The best suitable turbine for the site with an annual energy yield of 8 MW has been suggested amongst selected turbines for small-scale residential applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing scholarly interest in what leads to global or national prioritization of specific health issues. By retrospectively analysing agenda setting for India's national burn programme, this study aimed to better understand how the agenda-setting process influenced its design, implementation and performance. We conducted document reviews and key informant interviews with stakeholders and used a combination of analytical frameworks on policy prioritization and issue framing for analysis. The READ (readying material, extracting data, analysing data and distilling findings) approach was used for document reviews, and qualitative thematic analysis was used for coding and analysis of documents and interviews. The findings suggest three critical features of burns care policy prioritization in India: challenges of issue characteristics, divergent portrayal of ideas and its framing as a social and/or health issue and over-centralization of agenda setting. First, lack of credible indicators on the magnitude of the problem and evidence on interventions limited issue framing, advocacy and agenda setting. Second, the policy response to burns has two dimensions in India: response to gender-based intentional injuries and the healthcare response. While intentional burns have received policy attention, the healthcare response was limited until the national programme was initiated in 2010 and scaled up in 2014. Third, over-centralization of agenda setting (dominated by a few homogenous actors, located in the national capital, with attention focused on the national ministry of health) contributed to limitations in programme design and implementation. We note following elements to consider when analysing issues of significant burden but limited priority: the need to analyse how actors influence issue framing, the particularities of issues, the inadequacy of any one dominant frame and the limited intersection of frames. Based on this analysis in India, we recommend a decentralized approach to agenda setting and for the design and implementation of national programmes from the outset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the discourse of sanātan dharm ("the eternal religion") as it exists in the North Indian pilgrimage and tourist town of Pushkar. Despite the term's complex pedigree, it is most frequently deployed in Pushkar as a code word for universalism. I consider it a technique of "brothering," a process which suggests that through blurring distinction and drawing large enough boundaries, the other can become the self. Tourism serves as a catalyst in the creation of this discourse, manifesting in a vast repertoire of sayings and phrases that promote a type of Hindu universalism. At the same time, given its place in Pushkar's tourism economy and its nationalist history, the promise of egalitarianism can seem at times tenuous. This article discusses how issues of moneyed interest and virulent nationalism shape, and are negotiated within, discourses of the "eternal religion," while simultaneously giving serious consideration to the prospect of brothering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the values of radon and thoron progeny concentrations for different seasons in the dwellings of Tehri Garhwal, India. The measurements have been carried out using LR-115 solid-state nuclear track detector-based passive time-integrated direct thoron progeny sensor/direct radon progeny sensor technique. In summer, the radon and thoron progeny have been found to vary from 5.7±0.8 to 153.2±4.3 Bq m-3 with an average of 37.6 Bq m-3 and 0.3±0.06 to 3.2±0.19 Bq m-3 with an average of 1.3 Bq m-3, respectively. In the rainy season, the radon and thoron progeny have been found to vary from 3.2±0.6 to 120±3.7 Bq m-3 with an average of 58.2 Bq m-3 and 0.2±0.05 to 11.3±0.37 Bq m-3 with an average of 3.4 Bq m-3, respectively. In autumn, the radon and thoron progeny have been found to vary from 4.1±0.7 to 374.4±6.7 Bq m-3 with an average of 95.6 Bq m-3 and from 0.3±0.06 to 30.5±0.60 Bq m-3 with an average of 6.6 Bq m-3, respectively. In winter, the radon and thoron progeny have been found to vary from 9.8±1.1 to 188.9±4.8 Bq m-3 with an average of 70.7 Bq m-3 and 0.1±0.03 to 7.5±0.30 Bq m-3 with an average of 2.3 Bq m-3, respectively. It has been observed that the average value of radon and thoron progeny concentrations is maximum for autumn and minimum for summer seasons. The seasonal variations in radon and thoron progeny concentrations in different houses are discussed in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To study whether disposable diapers decrease the incidence of neonatal infections compared with cloth diapers in a level II neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). Method and Material: All neonates admitted to the NICU and having duration of stay >48 h were enrolled. Those babies with signs and symptoms of infection were screened with septic screen and/or blood culture. Results: The primary outcome of the study was incidence of probable sepsis. Of 253 babies enrolled in the study period, probable sepsis was present in 101 (39.9%) infants in the total study group and was higher in cloth diaper group as compared with disposable diaper group (p = 0.01). For an average NICU stay of 6 days, cloth diapers would cost Rs. 241 vs. Rs. 162 for disposable diaper for any infant. Conclusion: Usage of disposable diapers decrease the incidence of probable sepsis in babies admitted to NICU. It is also cost effective to use disposable diapers in the NICU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editors discuss various reports within the issue on topics including the Pāñcarātra theology, the installation ceremonies and portraiture context in the Śaiva Siddhānta philosophy, and the Dīptāgama text.

The article provides an overview of the copyright law of India. Topics discussed include the history of Indian copyright law, the Indian Copyright Act (ICA) of 1957 and its amendments, the first enactment in 1847 and the succeeding ICA 1914 based on the British Copyright Act 1911. It also mentions the benefits and threats of digital technology to copyright and the Technology Protection Measure (TPM) mandated in 2012 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Copyright Treaty.

Exploring the implementation blackbox from a perspective that considers embedded practices of power is critical to understand the policy process. However, the literature is scarce on this subject. To address the paucity of explicit analyses of everyday politics and power in health policy implementation, this article presents the experience of implementing a flagship health policy in India. Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), launched in the year 2011, has not been able to fully deliver its promises of providing free maternal and child health services in public hospitals. To examine how power practices, influence implementation, we undertook a qualitative analysis of JSSK implementation in one state of India. We drew on an actor-oriented perspective of development and used 'actor interface analysis' to guide the study design and analysis. Data collection included in-depth interviews of implementing actors and JSSK service recipients, document review and observations of actor interactions. A framework analysis method was used for analysing data, and the framework used was founded on the constructs of actor lifeworlds, which help understand the often neglected and lived realities of policy actors. The findings illustrate that implementation was both strengthened and constrained by practices of power at various interface encounters. The implementation decisions and actions were influenced by power struggles such as domination, control, resistance, contestation, facilitation and collaboration. Such practices were rooted in: Social and organizational power relationships like organizational hierarchies and social positions; personal concerns or characteristics like interests, attitudes and previous experiences and the worldviews of actors constructed by social and ideological paradigms like their values and beliefs. Application of 'actor interface analysis' and further nuancing of the concept of 'actor lifeworlds' to understand the origin of practices of power can be useful for understanding the influence of everyday power and politics on the policy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiwavelength analysis of star formation associated with the extended green object, G19.88-0.53 is presented in this paper. With multiple detected radio and millimetre components, G19.88-0.53 unveils as harbouring a protocluster rather than a single massive young stellar object. We detect an ionized thermal jet using the upgraded Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope, India, which is found to be associated with a massive, dense and hot ALMA 2.7 mm core driving a bipolar CO outflow. Near-infrared spectroscopy with UKIRT–UIST shows the presence of multiple shock-excited H2 lines concurrent with the nature of this region. Detailed investigation of the gas kinematics using ALMA data reveals G19.88-0.53 as an active protocluster with high-mass star-forming components spanning a wide evolutionary spectrum from hot cores in accretion phase to cores driving multiple outflows to possible UCH  ii regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exploit threshold rules governing margin trading eligibility in India to identify a causal link between margin trading and increased comovement during crises. Margin trading explains more than one-quarter of the increase return comovement that we observe during crises. To understand the mechanisms driving this result, we evaluate the relative importance of stock connections through common brokers (who provide margin financing) versus common margin traders. We find that common brokers are most important. Margin-eligible stocks that are more connected through common brokers experience larger crisis-period increases in pairwise return comovement, especially when those brokers' clients have experienced recent portfolio losses, when their clients have outstanding margin loans in more volatile stocks, and when the brokers are large. These findings are consistent with Brunnermeier and Pedersen (2009) , in which initial shocks propagate due to the tightening of margin constraints imposed by financial intermediaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent legislative trends in India reflect the need for a mandatory pre-legislative process. Pre-legislative consultation affords the benefit of legitimacy to laws arrived at through citizen participation. Furthermore, it informs decision-makers of the lived experiences of those most likely impacted by the legislation. Laws that receive pre-legislative consultation are attuned to realities, which increases the likelihood of their effectiveness. This article explores how several of India's recent laws that received pre-legislative consultation have been rendered more robust and effective than others. As exemplified by current protests by transgender, intersex and gender non-conforming people in India, the Government's most recent Transgender Bill, which neglected pre-legislative deliberation process, fails the people it purports to protect. As explored in this article, the Bill fails to uphold constitutionally protected principles, as recognized in the recent Supreme Court case that upheld transgender persons' fundamental rights. As such, the Transgender Bill reflects a need to engage with the intrinsic and instrumental value of pre-legislative consultation and deliberation in India. In locating transnational trends towards employing such a process, this article argues that India would greatly benefit from mandatory pre-legislative consultation and deliberation. By creating a process that allows for citizen participation in law-making, particularly when such laws impact marginalized communities, legislation would reflect societal needs and eschew a top-down, majoritarian approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many developing countries use employment guarantee programs to combat poverty. This study examines the consequences of such employment guarantee programs for the human capital accumulation of children. It exploits the phased roll-out of India's flagship Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) to study the effects on enrollment in schools and child labor. Introduction of MGNREGA results in lower relative school enrollment in treated districts. It also finds that the drop in enrollment is driven by primary school children. Children in higher grades are just as likely to attend school under MGNREGA, but their school performance deteriorates. Using nationally representative employment data, the study finds evidence indicating an increase in child labor highlighting the unintentional perverse effects of the employment guarantee schemes for human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In October 2022, the Centre for Ethics of Yenepoya University hosted a national workshop entitled: "Respect for human dignity of the unidentified dead from mass disasters and other violence: strategies for the ethical management of biological samples and personal data". The aim was to explore and share experience and ethical considerations regarding the management and identification of human remains in the event of disasters, with the purpose to arrive at a general consensus about what constitutes the ethical foundation of the management of unidentified human remains in forensic practice and, in particular, contextualizing this in India. The main ethical consideration that emerged was tracing the missing and identifying the dead are crucial to maintaining or restoring basic human rights and responsible relief activities. Identification is not only an organizational and scientific achievement but, regardless of circumstances, also necessarily and always an activity with significant political, epistemic, and philosophical relevance and consequence. In India, it could be important to consider new legal provisions for the management of human samples so that this would provide a starting point for the treatment of human remains managed for forensic purposes with uniformity in the country. Another important step in which governments should take part regards the involvement and education of the general public to develop their interest in this important goal. In the field of forensic anthropology, artificial intelligence can support, through the use of algorithms, the decision-making process that leads to the identification of the victim or its remains. Furthermore, they can be used to extract new knowledge from huge databases and shorten identification through computer automation of data binding activities. Applying artificial intelligence tools in forensic sciences to collect new information from massive datasets to enhance knowledge, and reduce human subjectivity and errors, provides a greater scientific basis that could improve the strength of the evidence and support the admissibility of expert evidence. In light of the general lack of national/international guidance about ethical oversight for identification and care of human remains, the fact that regulations are frequently not adequate to govern ethical aspects, we hope that an internationally recognized body should develop such guidance in collaboration with relevant organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributions of long-lived radioelements (Th, U and K) in the upper crust play a vital role in lithospheric thermal modelling and understanding of underlying geodynamic processes. In the present study, we report abundances of Th, U, K and radiogenic heat production (A) in Paleoarchaean and early Neoarchaean granitoids from the Singhbhum Craton, located in the eastern part of the Indian shield, for the first time in a systematic way, using laboratory gamma-ray spectrometric set-up. We have studied 204 samples consisting of Paleoarchaean gneiss, three phases of Paleoarchaean Singhbhum Granite and early Neoarchaean granitoid. Th, U, K and A in the Paleoarchaean Singhbhum Granite are found to be marginally higher (10.8 ppm, 1.4 ppm, 2.4 per cent and 1.3 μWm−3) than the Paleoarchaean gneiss (9.6 ppm, 1.7 ppm, 1.8 per cent and 1.3 μWm−3). In comparison, such values are much higher in the early Neoarchaean granitoid (31.1 ppm, 4.2 ppm, 3.9 per cent, and 3.6 μWm−3). The surface heat production (1.36 μWm−3) of this craton is comparatively low compared to most cratons worldwide. In addition, it has the lowest average crustal heat production (0.42 µWm−3), due to which it will contribute little to the observed surface heat flow. Moreover, Th is a dominant component in heat production, followed by U and K in these granitoids. Spatially, radioelement ratios Th/U and K/U show similar trends as the radioelements, indicating systematic depletion of Th and U, compared to K. The study also indicates that the spatially separated coeval granitoids are formed from different magma sources in the heterogeneous crust that prevailed during the Archaeans. The lower radioelement abundances in the Paleoarchaean granitoids mostly resulted from the partial melting of mafic sources, whereas higher radioelement abundances in the early Neoarchaean granitoids resulted from the partial melting of the felsic source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]