Author: Joyita Roy Chowdhury and Yashobanta Parida
Flood shocks and post-disaster recovery of households: An empirical analysis from rural Odisha, India
Publisher: International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 2023
Abstract
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Links
This paper uses primary household survey data collected after the severe flooding that occurred in the Bhadrak region of Odisha in 2014. We contribute to the literature by examining the factors that enhance rural households’ disaster recovery capacities. We distinguish two main recovery outcomes: an income (economic) recovery and a housing structure (structural) recovery outcome. A Generalized Ordered Logit Model (GOLM) is employed where the recovery is determined by socioeconomic characteristics and coping mechanisms available to the households. The findings reveal that rural agricultural households adopted several measures in response to the flood. Migratory labor-based strategies significantly increased the likelihood of economic recovery one year after the disaster. Selling productive assets reduced the likelihood of recovery. Community-level coping strategies were not effective, as floods caused devastating effects on a large part of the village community. Poorer households were more constrained in their capacities to recover from disaster shock. However, there was evidence of community-level support in terms of labor exchange between households in close neighborhoods. Finally, the study finds that post-disaster public assistance was mainly provided to land-owning farmers rather than poor, landless agricultural households.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2023.104070
This paper uses primary household survey data collected after the severe flooding that occurred in the Bhadrak region of Odisha in 2014. We contribute to the literature by examining the factors that enhance rural households’ disaster recovery capacities. We distinguish two main recovery outcomes: an income (economic) recovery and a housing structure (structural) recovery outcome. A Generalized Ordered Logit Model (GOLM) is employed where the recovery is determined by socioeconomic characteristics and coping mechanisms available to the households. The findings reveal that rural agricultural households adopted several measures in response to the flood. Migratory labor-based strategies significantly increased the likelihood of economic recovery one year after the disaster. Selling productive assets reduced the likelihood of recovery. Community-level coping strategies were not effective, as floods caused devastating effects on a large part of the village community. Poorer households were more constrained in their capacities to recover from disaster shock. However, there was evidence of community-level support in terms of labor exchange between households in close neighborhoods. Finally, the study finds that post-disaster public assistance was mainly provided to land-owning farmers rather than poor, landless agricultural households.
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Author: Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar
ET-WB: water-balance-based estimations of terrestrial evaporation over global land and major global basins
Publisher: Earth System Science Data, 2023
Abstract
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Links
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4571-2023
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
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Author: Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar
ET-WB: water-balance-based estimations of terrestrial evaporation over global land and major global basins
Publisher: Earth System Science Data, 2023
Abstract
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Links
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4571-2023
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
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Author: Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar
ET-WB: water-balance-based estimations of terrestrial evaporation over global land and major global basins
Publisher: Earth System Science Data, 2023
Abstract
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Links
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4571-2023
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
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Author: Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar
ET-WB: water-balance-based estimations of terrestrial evaporation over global land and major global basins
Publisher: Earth System Science Data, 2023
Abstract
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Links
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-4571-2023
Evaporation (ET) is one of the crucial components of the water cycle, which serves as the nexus between global water, energy, and carbon cycles. Accurate quantification of ET is, therefore, pivotal in understanding various earth system processes and subsequent societal applications. The prevailing approaches for ET retrievals are either limited in spatiotemporal coverage or largely influenced by the choice of input data or simplified model physics, or a combination thereof. Here, using an independent mass conservation approach, we develop water-balance-based ET datasets (ET-WB) for the global land and the selected 168 major river basins. We generate 4669 probabilistic unique combinations of the ET-WB leveraging multi-source datasets (23 precipitation, 29 runoff, and 7 storage change datasets) from satellite products, in situ measurements, reanalysis, and hydrological simulations. We compare our results with the four auxiliary global ET datasets and previous regional studies, followed by a rigorous discussion of the uncertainties, their possible sources, and potential ways to constrain them. The seasonal cycle of global ET-WB possesses a unimodal distribution with the highest (median value: 65.61 mm per month) and lowest (median value: 36.11 mm per month) values in July and January, respectively, with the spread range of roughly ±10 mm per month from different subsets of the ensemble. Auxiliary ET products illustrate similar intra-annual characteristics with some over- or underestimation, which are completely within the range of the ET-WB ensemble. We found a gradual increase in global ET-WB from 2003 to 2010 and a subsequent decrease during 2010–2015, followed by a sharper reduction in the remaining years primarily attributed to the varying precipitation. Multiple statistical metrics show reasonably good accuracy of monthly ET-WB (e.g., a relative bias of ±20 %) in most river basins, which ameliorates at annual scales. The long-term mean annual ET-WB varies within 500–600 mm yr−1 and is consistent with the four auxiliary ET products (543–569 mm yr−1). Observed trend estimates, though regionally divergent, are evidence of the increasing ET in a warming climate. The current dataset will likely be useful for several scientific assessments centering around water resources management to benefit society at large. The dataset is publicly available in various formats (NetCDF, Mat, and Shapefile) at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8339655 (Xiong et al., 2023).
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Author: Aparna Shankar and Chaitanya Ravi
Loneliness Among Older Indian Workers: Findings From the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India
Publisher: Journal of Applied Gerontology, 2023
Abstract
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Links
The number of adults aged 60 years and over who work is growing. However, there has been relatively limited research assessing the determinants of wellbeing in this cohort. Given the known relationship between loneliness and socioeconomic disadvantage, the present analysis assessed the role of working conditions and food security on loneliness among employed Indians aged 60 years and over (N = 9035), using data from wave 1 of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India. Just over 11% of participants reported being lonely most or all of the time. Food insecurity and work that involved exposure to unpleasant conditions was associated with increased loneliness, while work requiring more mental effort was associated with lower loneliness. Policies that ensure skills training to support job transitions for older adults working in unpleasant conditions, and greater food security in later life are important to ensure wellbeing in this group.
https://doi.org/10.1177/07334648231206890
The number of adults aged 60 years and over who work is growing. However, there has been relatively limited research assessing the determinants of wellbeing in this cohort. Given the known relationship between loneliness and socioeconomic disadvantage, the present analysis assessed the role of working conditions and food security on loneliness among employed Indians aged 60 years and over (N = 9035), using data from wave 1 of the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India. Just over 11% of participants reported being lonely most or all of the time. Food insecurity and work that involved exposure to unpleasant conditions was associated with increased loneliness, while work requiring more mental effort was associated with lower loneliness. Policies that ensure skills training to support job transitions for older adults working in unpleasant conditions, and greater food security in later life are important to ensure wellbeing in this group.
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Author: Smita Chaudhry
Enhancing psychological well-being of school teachers in India: role of energy management, thriving, and stress
Publisher: Frontiers in Psychology, 2023
Abstract
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Links
"The psychological well-being of school teachers is a growing concern in the post-pandemic era. Many initiatives are undertaken by individual school authorities and government agencies to address this issue. In this study, we examine the impact of energy management, thriving, and stress on the psychological well-being of school teachers in India.
Method: Data was collected from 356 school teachers in Rajasthan, India, through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. These teachers were working both in rural and urban areas. The relationship among energy management, thriving, stress, and psychological well-being was analyzed using hierarchical regression.
Results: The findings suggest that energy management positively impacts psychological well-being. A mediating effect of thriving and stress on the relationship between energy management and psychological well-being was also found. The results support that psychological well-being can be enhanced by investing in managing school teachers’ energy levels.
Discussion: These results contribute to our theoretical and practical understanding of factors that can enhance the psychological well-being of school teachers and improve the quality of education. Institutes may design and implement interventions on energy management to enhance the psychological well-being of school teachers."
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1239587
"The psychological well-being of school teachers is a growing concern in the post-pandemic era. Many initiatives are undertaken by individual school authorities and government agencies to address this issue. In this study, we examine the impact of energy management, thriving, and stress on the psychological well-being of school teachers in India.
Method: Data was collected from 356 school teachers in Rajasthan, India, through a cross-sectional questionnaire survey. These teachers were working both in rural and urban areas. The relationship among energy management, thriving, stress, and psychological well-being was analyzed using hierarchical regression.
Results: The findings suggest that energy management positively impacts psychological well-being. A mediating effect of thriving and stress on the relationship between energy management and psychological well-being was also found. The results support that psychological well-being can be enhanced by investing in managing school teachers’ energy levels.
Discussion: These results contribute to our theoretical and practical understanding of factors that can enhance the psychological well-being of school teachers and improve the quality of education. Institutes may design and implement interventions on energy management to enhance the psychological well-being of school teachers."
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Author: Rakesh Chaturvedi
Double auction for trading perfect complements
Publisher: Journal of Public Economic Theory, 2023
Abstract
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Links
For a trading problem where a buyer is interested in an aggregate resource with fragmented ownership, the individually owned resources are perfect complements in trade. A double auction, chosen in accordance with a value alignment principle which we formulate, is shown to be strategy proof for owners. Since it also values the aggregate resource correctly, it mitigates the holdout problem by changing the source of inefficiency from complementarity on owners' side to lack of competition on buyer side. The value alignment principle implies that this double auction has a majority trading rule. With multiple buyers, a suitable modification makes the double auction strategy proof even for the buyers, thus mitigating the holdout problem by achieving approximate ex post efficiency when the number of owners is large.
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpet.12672
For a trading problem where a buyer is interested in an aggregate resource with fragmented ownership, the individually owned resources are perfect complements in trade. A double auction, chosen in accordance with a value alignment principle which we formulate, is shown to be strategy proof for owners. Since it also values the aggregate resource correctly, it mitigates the holdout problem by changing the source of inefficiency from complementarity on owners' side to lack of competition on buyer side. The value alignment principle implies that this double auction has a majority trading rule. With multiple buyers, a suitable modification makes the double auction strategy proof even for the buyers, thus mitigating the holdout problem by achieving approximate ex post efficiency when the number of owners is large.
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Author: Prasad Pathak
Geographic identity and perceptions of walkable space
Publisher: Travel Behaviour and Society, 2023
Abstract
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Links
Walkability can be broadly conceived of as an evaluation of the suitability of a built environment for pedestrian locomotion and has recently become a popular concept across a multitude of disciplines. This seemingly simple concept has expanded over the years, and now operates on a multitude of scales and utilizes a variety of measurement techniques. This sprawling field now faces a challenge, with several studies concluding that walkability is becoming conceptually incoherent as it is applied in more situations—a challenge exacerbated by a lack of standardization in methodologies or definitions. Further confounding concerns of conceptual incoherence is the variability of human experience across the globe, acknowledging that different groups of people may have different values for what makes space walkable. This study explores these challenges through a comparison of two groups’ perceptions of walkable space, namely one in Montreal, Canada and one in Pune, India. By having participants from both locations rate large numbers of streetscape images based on their perceived walkability, and by comparing such ratings with machine-learning image segmentation results, aspects of the built environment that constituted walkable space for each group were evaluated. We found that while there is a difference in how walkability is conceived of in terms of elements of the built environment, a common conception of general walkability exists between the two groups. This scalar difference has important implications for future walkability work, implying that further research is needed to delineate universal walkability from contextualized walkability.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tbs.2023.100703
Walkability can be broadly conceived of as an evaluation of the suitability of a built environment for pedestrian locomotion and has recently become a popular concept across a multitude of disciplines. This seemingly simple concept has expanded over the years, and now operates on a multitude of scales and utilizes a variety of measurement techniques. This sprawling field now faces a challenge, with several studies concluding that walkability is becoming conceptually incoherent as it is applied in more situations—a challenge exacerbated by a lack of standardization in methodologies or definitions. Further confounding concerns of conceptual incoherence is the variability of human experience across the globe, acknowledging that different groups of people may have different values for what makes space walkable. This study explores these challenges through a comparison of two groups’ perceptions of walkable space, namely one in Montreal, Canada and one in Pune, India. By having participants from both locations rate large numbers of streetscape images based on their perceived walkability, and by comparing such ratings with machine-learning image segmentation results, aspects of the built environment that constituted walkable space for each group were evaluated. We found that while there is a difference in how walkability is conceived of in terms of elements of the built environment, a common conception of general walkability exists between the two groups. This scalar difference has important implications for future walkability work, implying that further research is needed to delineate universal walkability from contextualized walkability.
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Author: Anuradha Batabyal
Better together: Isolation impedes memory formation for configural learning in Lymnaea
Publisher: Journal of Experimental Biology, 2023
Abstract
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Links
Social interactions play an important role in learning and memory. There is great variability in the literature regarding the effects of social isolation on cognition. Here, we investigated how memory formation was affected when Lymnaea stagnalis, our model system, were socially isolated at three different time periods: before, during or after the configural learning training procedure. Each group of snails underwent configural learning where we recorded and compared their feeding behaviour before and after the pairing of an appetitive food stimulus with predator kairomones (i.e. the training procedure). We found that isolating snails before the training procedure had no effect on their learning and memory. However, when snails were isolated either during the training procedure or immediately after the training procedure, they no longer formed memory. These data provide further insight into how isolation impacts cognitive functioning in the context of higher-order learning.
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246478
Social interactions play an important role in learning and memory. There is great variability in the literature regarding the effects of social isolation on cognition. Here, we investigated how memory formation was affected when Lymnaea stagnalis, our model system, were socially isolated at three different time periods: before, during or after the configural learning training procedure. Each group of snails underwent configural learning where we recorded and compared their feeding behaviour before and after the pairing of an appetitive food stimulus with predator kairomones (i.e. the training procedure). We found that isolating snails before the training procedure had no effect on their learning and memory. However, when snails were isolated either during the training procedure or immediately after the training procedure, they no longer formed memory. These data provide further insight into how isolation impacts cognitive functioning in the context of higher-order learning.
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Author: Aileen Blaney
Going Wild on Instagram: Tiger Safaris and India’s Protected Areas in the Age of Social Media
Publisher: South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, 2023
Abstract
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Through the lens of tiger photography on Instagram, this paper investigates a desire for wilderness without the human footprint; based on a false separation between nature and society, this aspiration finds expression through visual aesthetics on the platform. Protected areas in India are increasing, but this has not halted nature’s financialisation. On the contrary, it has enhanced the availability of preserved nature for conversion to capital, mirroring earlier opportunities tied to resource extraction. Using insights from political ecology, I discuss how wildlife as hyper-spectacle on Instagram presents a natural world with the appearance of being untransformed by human intervention and available to tourism. Instagram offers a route into understanding the paradoxical stance of nature in contemporary tourism and conservation discourses.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00856401.2023.2266934
Through the lens of tiger photography on Instagram, this paper investigates a desire for wilderness without the human footprint; based on a false separation between nature and society, this aspiration finds expression through visual aesthetics on the platform. Protected areas in India are increasing, but this has not halted nature’s financialisation. On the contrary, it has enhanced the availability of preserved nature for conversion to capital, mirroring earlier opportunities tied to resource extraction. Using insights from political ecology, I discuss how wildlife as hyper-spectacle on Instagram presents a natural world with the appearance of being untransformed by human intervention and available to tourism. Instagram offers a route into understanding the paradoxical stance of nature in contemporary tourism and conservation discourses.
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Author: Noorie Baig & Nidhi Kalra
Trans*(gressive) Failures: Cis-heteronormative Gaze in OTT Media
Publisher: Journal of Creative Communications, 2023
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This study offers a critical textual analysis of trans* representation in two popular Hindi web series Sacred Games (Luegenbiehl & Motwane (Executive Producers), 2018–2019, Sacred Games [TV series]) and Paatal Lok (Sharma et al. (Executive Producers), 2020–Present, Paatal Lok [TV series]). We probe how trans* representations function to maintain normative agendas in a heteropatriarchal nation-state. Further, we examine their potential to reify dominant stereotypes in popular media. Our analysis reveals discourses surrounding hegemonic heterosexuality (Yep, 2003, Journal of Homosexuality, 45(2–4), 11–59), transnormativisation (Puar, 2015, Social Text, 33(3 (124)), 45–73) and homohindunationalism (Upadhyay, 2020, Interventions, 22(4), 464–480) based on two trans* characters—Kukkoo and Cheeni. We argue that the characters are conceptualised through a cis-heteropatriarchal imagination in a right-wing nation-state achieved through gendered and racialised othering. We uncover several mediated failures. First, how persistent male gaze functions to centre cis-heteronormative tropes that marginalise trans*ness and the trans* characters. Second, the dual pressures of Puar’s theorisation of ‘passing’ and ‘piecing’ create normativised trans* bodies that are unable to break out of the gender binary. Lastly, we argue that the Hindu-nationalist state works to co-opt and nullify progressive portrayals of trans* characters through its legal and biopolitical machinery.
https://doi.org/10.1177/09732586231193571
This study offers a critical textual analysis of trans* representation in two popular Hindi web series Sacred Games (Luegenbiehl & Motwane (Executive Producers), 2018–2019, Sacred Games [TV series]) and Paatal Lok (Sharma et al. (Executive Producers), 2020–Present, Paatal Lok [TV series]). We probe how trans* representations function to maintain normative agendas in a heteropatriarchal nation-state. Further, we examine their potential to reify dominant stereotypes in popular media. Our analysis reveals discourses surrounding hegemonic heterosexuality (Yep, 2003, Journal of Homosexuality, 45(2–4), 11–59), transnormativisation (Puar, 2015, Social Text, 33(3 (124)), 45–73) and homohindunationalism (Upadhyay, 2020, Interventions, 22(4), 464–480) based on two trans* characters—Kukkoo and Cheeni. We argue that the characters are conceptualised through a cis-heteropatriarchal imagination in a right-wing nation-state achieved through gendered and racialised othering. We uncover several mediated failures. First, how persistent male gaze functions to centre cis-heteronormative tropes that marginalise trans*ness and the trans* characters. Second, the dual pressures of Puar’s theorisation of ‘passing’ and ‘piecing’ create normativised trans* bodies that are unable to break out of the gender binary. Lastly, we argue that the Hindu-nationalist state works to co-opt and nullify progressive portrayals of trans* characters through its legal and biopolitical machinery.
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Author: Anuradha Batabyal
Snails go on a fast when acetylsalicylic acid comes along with heat stress: A possible effect of HSPs and serotonergic system on the feeding response
Publisher: Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part C: Toxicology & Pharmacology, 2023
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A novel food followed by sickness, causes a taste-specific conditioned aversion, known as the ‘Garcia effect’. We recently found that both a heat shock stressor (30 °C for 1 h - HS) and the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can be used as ‘sickness-inducing’ stimuli to induce a Garcia effect in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Additionally, if snails are exposed to acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) present in aspirin tablets before the LPS injection, the formation of the Garcia effect is prevented. Here, we hypothesized that exposing snails to crushed aspirin before the HS (ASA-HS) would prevent the HS-induced ‘sickness state’ and – therefore –the Garcia effect. Unexpectantly, the ASA-HS procedure induced a generalized and long-lasting feeding suppression. We thus investigate the molecular effects underlying this phenomenon. While the exposure to the HS alone resulted in a significant upregulation of the mRNA levels of the Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP 70) in snails' central ring ganglia, the ASA-HS procedure induced an even greater upregulation of HSP70, suggesting that the ASA-HS combination causes a severe stress response that inhibits feeding. Additionally, we found that the ASA-HS procedure induced a significant downregulation of the mRNA levels of genes involved with the serotoninergic system which regulates feeding in snails. Finally, the ASA-HS procedure prevented HS-induced upregulation of the mRNA levels of key neuroplasticity genes. Our study indicates that two sickness-inducing stimuli can have different physiological responses even if behavioral outcomes are similar under some learning contexts.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cbpc.2023.109805
A novel food followed by sickness, causes a taste-specific conditioned aversion, known as the ‘Garcia effect’. We recently found that both a heat shock stressor (30 °C for 1 h - HS) and the bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) can be used as ‘sickness-inducing’ stimuli to induce a Garcia effect in the pond snail Lymnaea stagnalis. Additionally, if snails are exposed to acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) present in aspirin tablets before the LPS injection, the formation of the Garcia effect is prevented. Here, we hypothesized that exposing snails to crushed aspirin before the HS (ASA-HS) would prevent the HS-induced ‘sickness state’ and – therefore –the Garcia effect. Unexpectantly, the ASA-HS procedure induced a generalized and long-lasting feeding suppression. We thus investigate the molecular effects underlying this phenomenon. While the exposure to the HS alone resulted in a significant upregulation of the mRNA levels of the Heat Shock Protein 70 (HSP 70) in snails' central ring ganglia, the ASA-HS procedure induced an even greater upregulation of HSP70, suggesting that the ASA-HS combination causes a severe stress response that inhibits feeding. Additionally, we found that the ASA-HS procedure induced a significant downregulation of the mRNA levels of genes involved with the serotoninergic system which regulates feeding in snails. Finally, the ASA-HS procedure prevented HS-induced upregulation of the mRNA levels of key neuroplasticity genes. Our study indicates that two sickness-inducing stimuli can have different physiological responses even if behavioral outcomes are similar under some learning contexts.
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Author: Debasis Rooj and Reshmi Sengupta
COVID-19 and Consumer Confidence: Evidence from India
Publisher: Arthaniti: Journal of Economic Theory and Practice, 2023
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This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted consumer confidence (CC) in India. Contrary to existing literature, we use individual-level responses on CC from a novel survey data of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to examine the effect of COVID-19 on CC. We use data on consumer sentiments from the Consumer Confidence Survey conducted by India’s central bank, the RBI, between March 2020 and May 2022. COVID-19 indicators include confirmed cases and recoveries in this article. Exploiting the variations in consumer sentiments across several Indian cities, our regression exercise shows how COVID-19-related cases impact CC. Our findings show that confirmed cases negatively and significantly impact the current perception of the economy. In contrast, COVID-19 recoveries positively and significantly impact future outlooks. We further conduct a disaggregated analysis to analyse the effects of COVID-19 indices on several other household-level indicators, for instance, present perception and expectations of household income, potential employment prospects, household spending and general price levels. Overall, we find that COVID-19-related shocks have negatively affected households’ sentiments, and Indian households are inclined to spend less on non-essential goods and services.
https://doi.org/10.1177/09767479231197688
This study examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted consumer confidence (CC) in India. Contrary to existing literature, we use individual-level responses on CC from a novel survey data of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to examine the effect of COVID-19 on CC. We use data on consumer sentiments from the Consumer Confidence Survey conducted by India’s central bank, the RBI, between March 2020 and May 2022. COVID-19 indicators include confirmed cases and recoveries in this article. Exploiting the variations in consumer sentiments across several Indian cities, our regression exercise shows how COVID-19-related cases impact CC. Our findings show that confirmed cases negatively and significantly impact the current perception of the economy. In contrast, COVID-19 recoveries positively and significantly impact future outlooks. We further conduct a disaggregated analysis to analyse the effects of COVID-19 indices on several other household-level indicators, for instance, present perception and expectations of household income, potential employment prospects, household spending and general price levels. Overall, we find that COVID-19-related shocks have negatively affected households’ sentiments, and Indian households are inclined to spend less on non-essential goods and services.
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Author: Ruzbeh Bodhanwala
Tata Motors: The Dividend Dilemma
Publisher: IVEY Publication, 2023
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Tata Motors Limited (Tata Motors), an Indian automobile major with a consolidated annual turnover of more than ₹2,497 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2021, was struggling to turn profitable and reinstate dividend payments to its investors. The case discusses the dividend policy of Tata Motors, comparing it with the dividend policies of the company’s peers and examining its relevance to the investor community at large. With Tata Motors’ long history as a dividend-paying company, its sudden withdrawal of dividends in FY 2016, with no payouts in the following five years, has made investors jittery. The company was working on the turnaround plan and internal reorganization that would allow it to provide a differentiated focus on its three business verticals—the commercial vehicle segment, the passenger vehicle segment, and the electric vehicle segment. Tata Motors had already communicated its decision to conserve cash to reduce its leverage and become debt-free by FY 2024. However, with an increase in pressure from a certain section of investors, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Motors, was considering when to reinstate dividends. What signal would doing so send to the market? Would the ownership structure of the company have an impact on its dividend policy? Did the company’s cash flows support the dividend payment at this stage?
https://www.iveypublishing.ca/s/product/tata-motors-the-dividend-dilemma/01t5c00000DMiw1AAD
Tata Motors Limited (Tata Motors), an Indian automobile major with a consolidated annual turnover of more than ₹2,497 billion in fiscal year (FY) 2021, was struggling to turn profitable and reinstate dividend payments to its investors. The case discusses the dividend policy of Tata Motors, comparing it with the dividend policies of the company’s peers and examining its relevance to the investor community at large. With Tata Motors’ long history as a dividend-paying company, its sudden withdrawal of dividends in FY 2016, with no payouts in the following five years, has made investors jittery. The company was working on the turnaround plan and internal reorganization that would allow it to provide a differentiated focus on its three business verticals—the commercial vehicle segment, the passenger vehicle segment, and the electric vehicle segment. Tata Motors had already communicated its decision to conserve cash to reduce its leverage and become debt-free by FY 2024. However, with an increase in pressure from a certain section of investors, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chair of Tata Motors, was considering when to reinstate dividends. What signal would doing so send to the market? Would the ownership structure of the company have an impact on its dividend policy? Did the company’s cash flows support the dividend payment at this stage?
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Author: Ruzbeh Bodhanwala
Macy’s, Inc.: “Polaris” turnaround strategy and the road ahead
Publisher: Emerald, The Case Journal, 2023
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"he case is written based on publicly available data from primary sources such as the company’s annual reports, company website and the company’s presentations, as well as from secondary sources comprising newspaper articles, research papers, research magazines, magazine articles, industry reports, research reports, etc. as indicated in the references. The company’s financials and peer data are sourced from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database.
Case overview/synopsis
The case examines the financial position of Macy’s, Inc., America’s largest and one of the oldest premier departmental stores, with a consolidated annual turnover of US$18,097m in the fiscal year 2020/2021 (FY, 2021). Over the previous few years, the company had been struggling with decreasing market share and profitability mainly due to increasing competition from online retailers and deep discounters, which was affecting the company’s share price. With the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO) in fiscal year (FY) 2017, Macy’s, Inc. undertook several changes to revive its financial health and improve its market share. However, it still registered heavy losses of US$3,944m in the FY 2020/2021, the company’s first time in the past decade. With many retailers filing for bankruptcy, was there more that Macy’s could do to improve the company’s position and regain lost investor confidence? Will its entry into emerging markets play a crucial role in its turnaround?"
https://doi.org/10.1108/TCJ-11-2022-0193
"he case is written based on publicly available data from primary sources such as the company’s annual reports, company website and the company’s presentations, as well as from secondary sources comprising newspaper articles, research papers, research magazines, magazine articles, industry reports, research reports, etc. as indicated in the references. The company’s financials and peer data are sourced from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database.
Case overview/synopsis
The case examines the financial position of Macy’s, Inc., America’s largest and one of the oldest premier departmental stores, with a consolidated annual turnover of US$18,097m in the fiscal year 2020/2021 (FY, 2021). Over the previous few years, the company had been struggling with decreasing market share and profitability mainly due to increasing competition from online retailers and deep discounters, which was affecting the company’s share price. With the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO) in fiscal year (FY) 2017, Macy’s, Inc. undertook several changes to revive its financial health and improve its market share. However, it still registered heavy losses of US$3,944m in the FY 2020/2021, the company’s first time in the past decade. With many retailers filing for bankruptcy, was there more that Macy’s could do to improve the company’s position and regain lost investor confidence? Will its entry into emerging markets play a crucial role in its turnaround?"
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Author: Alexios Tsigkas
Writing, Aesthetic Judgment, and the Spectre of ChatGPT
Publisher: The Jugaad Project, 2023
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The speed at which ChatGPT has penetrated higher education has been nothing short of astounding. ChatGPT is able to respond to prompts or commands and generate original content: in other words, it can write. For writers and readers ChatGPT may trigger anxieties about the very essence of authorship and originality, which in turn reflect certain deeply held notions of subjectivity: between the lines of texts that we cherish lies an author we admire (or disagree with), a poet that moves us, a journalist we respect–perhaps ourselves, our colleagues, our students. It is hard not to feel unsettled by the current moment. In this essay I wish to reflect on the very practice of writing itself, and the values we ascribe to it, at this very moment at which its upending seems likely. I approach writing, and by all means reading, as fundamentally intersubjective aesthetic practices: to write is to make a judgment, to deem an experience worthy of capturing, worthy of sharing. Like all judgments, it is an outward plea for assent. To read is to accept that invitation, to yield oneself to another's perspective. Are we ready to cede the exercise of aesthetic judgment to artificial intelligence?
https://www.thejugaadproject.pub/writing-aesthetic-judgment
The speed at which ChatGPT has penetrated higher education has been nothing short of astounding. ChatGPT is able to respond to prompts or commands and generate original content: in other words, it can write. For writers and readers ChatGPT may trigger anxieties about the very essence of authorship and originality, which in turn reflect certain deeply held notions of subjectivity: between the lines of texts that we cherish lies an author we admire (or disagree with), a poet that moves us, a journalist we respect–perhaps ourselves, our colleagues, our students. It is hard not to feel unsettled by the current moment. In this essay I wish to reflect on the very practice of writing itself, and the values we ascribe to it, at this very moment at which its upending seems likely. I approach writing, and by all means reading, as fundamentally intersubjective aesthetic practices: to write is to make a judgment, to deem an experience worthy of capturing, worthy of sharing. Like all judgments, it is an outward plea for assent. To read is to accept that invitation, to yield oneself to another's perspective. Are we ready to cede the exercise of aesthetic judgment to artificial intelligence?
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Author: Shweta Rana
Encapsulated nanopesticides application in plant protection Quo vadis
Publisher: Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Elsevier, 2023
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The increased global food insecurity due to the growing population can be addressed with precision and sustainable agricultural practices. To tackle the issues regarding food insecurity, farmers used different agrochemicals that improved plant growth and protection. Among these agrochemicals, synthetic pesticides used for plant protection in the agricultural field have various disadvantages. Conventional applications of synthetic pesticides have drawbacks such as rapid degradation, poor solubility, and non-target effects, as well as increased pesticide runoff that pollutes the environment. Nanotechnology has evolved as a potential solution to increase agricultural productivity through the development of different nanoforms of agrochemicals such as nanopesticides, nano-fabricated fertilizers, nanocapsules, nanospheres, nanogels, nanofibers, nanomicelles, and nano-based growth promoters. Encapsulation of these pesticides inside the nanomaterials has provided good biocompatibility over conventional application by inhibiting the early degradation of active ingredients (AI), increasing the uptake and adhesion of pesticides, improving the stability, solubility, and permeability of the pesticides, and decreasing the environmental impacts due to the pesticide runoff. In this review, different nanoforms of encapsulated pesticides and their smart delivery systems; nanocarriers in RNA interference (RNAi) based pesticides; environmental fate, practical implications, management of nanopesticides; and future perspectives are discussed.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108225
The increased global food insecurity due to the growing population can be addressed with precision and sustainable agricultural practices. To tackle the issues regarding food insecurity, farmers used different agrochemicals that improved plant growth and protection. Among these agrochemicals, synthetic pesticides used for plant protection in the agricultural field have various disadvantages. Conventional applications of synthetic pesticides have drawbacks such as rapid degradation, poor solubility, and non-target effects, as well as increased pesticide runoff that pollutes the environment. Nanotechnology has evolved as a potential solution to increase agricultural productivity through the development of different nanoforms of agrochemicals such as nanopesticides, nano-fabricated fertilizers, nanocapsules, nanospheres, nanogels, nanofibers, nanomicelles, and nano-based growth promoters. Encapsulation of these pesticides inside the nanomaterials has provided good biocompatibility over conventional application by inhibiting the early degradation of active ingredients (AI), increasing the uptake and adhesion of pesticides, improving the stability, solubility, and permeability of the pesticides, and decreasing the environmental impacts due to the pesticide runoff. In this review, different nanoforms of encapsulated pesticides and their smart delivery systems; nanocarriers in RNA interference (RNAi) based pesticides; environmental fate, practical implications, management of nanopesticides; and future perspectives are discussed.
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Author: Shweta Rana
Encapsulated nanopesticides application in plant protection Quo vadis
Publisher: Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Elsevier, 2023
Abstract
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The increased global food insecurity due to the growing population can be addressed with precision and sustainable agricultural practices. To tackle the issues regarding food insecurity, farmers used different agrochemicals that improved plant growth and protection. Among these agrochemicals, synthetic pesticides used for plant protection in the agricultural field have various disadvantages. Conventional applications of synthetic pesticides have drawbacks such as rapid degradation, poor solubility, and non-target effects, as well as increased pesticide runoff that pollutes the environment. Nanotechnology has evolved as a potential solution to increase agricultural productivity through the development of different nanoforms of agrochemicals such as nanopesticides, nano-fabricated fertilizers, nanocapsules, nanospheres, nanogels, nanofibers, nanomicelles, and nano-based growth promoters. Encapsulation of these pesticides inside the nanomaterials has provided good biocompatibility over conventional application by inhibiting the early degradation of active ingredients (AI), increasing the uptake and adhesion of pesticides, improving the stability, solubility, and permeability of the pesticides, and decreasing the environmental impacts due to the pesticide runoff. In this review, different nanoforms of encapsulated pesticides and their smart delivery systems; nanocarriers in RNA interference (RNAi) based pesticides; environmental fate, practical implications, management of nanopesticides; and future perspectives are discussed.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.plaphy.2023.108225
The increased global food insecurity due to the growing population can be addressed with precision and sustainable agricultural practices. To tackle the issues regarding food insecurity, farmers used different agrochemicals that improved plant growth and protection. Among these agrochemicals, synthetic pesticides used for plant protection in the agricultural field have various disadvantages. Conventional applications of synthetic pesticides have drawbacks such as rapid degradation, poor solubility, and non-target effects, as well as increased pesticide runoff that pollutes the environment. Nanotechnology has evolved as a potential solution to increase agricultural productivity through the development of different nanoforms of agrochemicals such as nanopesticides, nano-fabricated fertilizers, nanocapsules, nanospheres, nanogels, nanofibers, nanomicelles, and nano-based growth promoters. Encapsulation of these pesticides inside the nanomaterials has provided good biocompatibility over conventional application by inhibiting the early degradation of active ingredients (AI), increasing the uptake and adhesion of pesticides, improving the stability, solubility, and permeability of the pesticides, and decreasing the environmental impacts due to the pesticide runoff. In this review, different nanoforms of encapsulated pesticides and their smart delivery systems; nanocarriers in RNA interference (RNAi) based pesticides; environmental fate, practical implications, management of nanopesticides; and future perspectives are discussed.
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Author: Anuradha Batabyal
Better together: isolation impedes memory formation for configural learning in Lymnaea stagnalis
Publisher: Journal of Experimental Biology, 2023
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Social interactions play an important role in learning and memory. There is great variability in the literature regarding the effects of social isolation on cognition. Here, we investigated how memory formation was affected when Lymnaea stagnalis, our model system, were socially isolated at three different time periods: before, during or after the configural learning training procedure. Each group of snails underwent configural learning where we recorded and compared their feeding behaviour before and after the pairing of an appetitive food stimulus with predator kairomones (i.e. the training procedure). We found that isolating snails before the training procedure had no effect on their learning and memory. However, when snails were isolated either during the training procedure or immediately after the training procedure, they no longer formed memory. These data provide further insight into how isolation impacts cognitive functioning in the context of higher-order learning.
https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.246478
Social interactions play an important role in learning and memory. There is great variability in the literature regarding the effects of social isolation on cognition. Here, we investigated how memory formation was affected when Lymnaea stagnalis, our model system, were socially isolated at three different time periods: before, during or after the configural learning training procedure. Each group of snails underwent configural learning where we recorded and compared their feeding behaviour before and after the pairing of an appetitive food stimulus with predator kairomones (i.e. the training procedure). We found that isolating snails before the training procedure had no effect on their learning and memory. However, when snails were isolated either during the training procedure or immediately after the training procedure, they no longer formed memory. These data provide further insight into how isolation impacts cognitive functioning in the context of higher-order learning.
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