Author: Mitra, P., Goyal, T., Sharma, P., Kiran, G.S., Rana, S., Sharma, S.
Plasma microRNA expression and immunoregulatory cytokines in an Indian population occupationally exposed to cadmium
Publisher: Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology, 2022
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following its accumulation in the body, cadmium (Cd) exposure is associated with devastating effects on multiple organ system of the human body. The immune system is one of the sensitive targets for Cd-induced toxicity. Recently, studies have demonstrated a significant role of Cd in inducing epigenetic alterations. With this background, the present study was planned to study the changes in candidate microRNA (miRNA) expression associated with immune regulation in occupationally Cd-exposed workers. One hundred individuals involved in welding and metal handicraft manufacturing, while 80 apparently healthy subjects without any prior history of occupational exposure were recruited for the study. Blood Cd level was determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. Serum cytokine levels were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and serum miRNA expression of candidate miRNAs (miR-146a, miR-210, and miR-222) were determined by real-time polymerase chain reaction. The median Cd level (2.40 μg/L) in the occupationally exposed workers was significantly higher than the nonexposed subjects (0.90 μg/L). Among the cytokines, interleukin-4 (IL-4), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) were significantly higher while IL-2 and IL-10 were significantly lower in the exposed. The expression level of miR-146a and miR-222 were significantly different between the groups with the former showing downregulation and later showing upregulation. Correlation analysis revealed a positive and negative association of miR-222 and miR-146a with blood cadmium level, IL-17 as well as TNF-α, respectively. Furthermore, the in-silico analysis revealed a significant role of the studied miRNAs in various cellular and genetic pathways. The findings of the present study demonstrate significant involvement of Cd-induced alteration in miRNAs in varied immune regulatory changes in exposed individuals.
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Author: Bhuiyan, M.A., Hu, P., Khare, V., Hamaguchi, Y., Thakur, B.K., Rahman, M.K.
Economic feasibility of marine renewable energy: Review
Publisher: Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022
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This paper aims to comprehensively review the economic feasibility of Marine Renewable Energy. Five major continents are at different development stages of implementing MREs commercialization; Europe is in the most advanced, while Africa is at the initial stage. The Levelized Cost of Energy is usually used to make decisions and measure the plant’s economic feasibility. Literature suggests that MRE technology is still costly, and many emerging countries are sensitive to the income and use of MRE. Among various types of MREs, wind energy is the most feasible for many countries. Offshore wave energy is still at the pre-commercialization stage for many developing countries. Tidal energy plants can be economically viable depending on a reduction in investment cost and high capacity factors. Most of the world’s tidal flows have too low a speed to operate a turbine of commercial size for ocean thermal energy. In conclusion, the factors hindering MRE development are pointed out, and future challenges are discussed.
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Author: Thakur, B.K., Gupta, V., Bhattacharya, P., Chakraborty, T.
Impact of socioeconomic factors on households’ willingness to pay for arsenic-free safe drinking water - A case study of Bihar, India
Publisher: Groundwater for Sustainable Development, 2022
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The paper studies the impact of socioeconomic factors on households' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for drinking water in Bihar, India. The data were collected from 420 households through a primary survey from two arsenic affected districts. A linear regression model was used to examine the causal relationship among various socioeconomic factors and their influence on household decision to pay for water services. Around 84% of the surveyed respondents were willing to pay for better-quality water sources. Households value the good water quality, which resulted in good health, and, therefore, influenced the household decision to pay and opt for the services. Average As concentration level were found to be 130.4 μg/L and 115.2 μg/L in 2013 and 2019, respectively. The results found that socioeconomic factors that influence overall WTP are: households' income, age, education, awareness, arsenic concentration levels, and visit to the doctor. Education of the household's head and awareness are interlinked, and more education causes a shift in water sources from poor quality to safer one. WTP for better-quality drinking water were estimated through Contingent Valuation Method (CVM). The annual WTP for the individual households and for the study area were estimated at INR 240 ($4.13) and INR 17.1 ($0.29) million, respectively. The inference of the results may be used in implementing of new policies for providing arsenic free drinking water in the affected areas.
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Author: Gopalan, K., Devi, T.
A Statistical Model of COVID-19 Infection Incidence in the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu
Publisher: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2022
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In this manuscript, we present an analysis of COVID-19 infection incidence in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. We used seroprevalence survey data along with COVID-19 fatality reports from a six-month period (1 June 2020 to 30 November 2020) to estimate age- and sex-specific COVID-19 infection fatality rates (IFR) for Tamil Nadu. We used these IFRs to estimate new infections occurring daily using the daily COVID-19 fatality reports published by the Government of Tamil Nadu. We found that these infection incidence estimates for the second COVID wave in Tamil Nadu were broadly consistent with the infection estimates from seroprevalence surveys. Further, we propose a composite statistical model that pairs a k-nearest neighbours model with a power-law characterisation for “out-of-range” extrapolation to estimate the COVID-19 infection incidence based on observed cases and test positivity ratio. We found that this model matched closely with the IFR-based infection incidence estimates for the first two COVID-19 waves for both Tamil Nadu as well as the neighbouring state of Karnataka. Finally, we used this statistical model to estimate the infection incidence during the recent “Omicron wave” in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
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Author: Samanta, T., Gopalan, K., Devi, T.
Blocked by Gender: Disparities in COVID19 infection detection in Tamil Nadu, India
Publisher: Frontiers in Public Health, 2022
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That gender is an important axis of inequality is well-documented in the public health scholarship globally (1). To be sure, health scholarship has consistently shown that women and girls make comparatively fewer gains in health care than men and boys across similar age and social registers in most societies. However, this empirical narrative was shifted in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic when global data revealed that men were 2.5 times more likely to be infected and are also 2.4 times more at risk of dying from COVID-19 than women (2). For example, the Global Health 50/50 repository demonstrated significant gender gaps in infections and deaths, where men seemed to fare worse in both counts. Since then, a considerable body of scholarship has attempted to explain this variation by privileging lifestyle and socio-economic factors (e.g., labor) and critiquing the biologically deterministic way of explaining disease risk (3, 4). Put simply, in societies that are governed by pervasive gender norms, the social realities of men and women are vastly different affecting their social and health outcomes. Or as a noted medical anthropologist, Paul Farmer, explains with the notion “the social production of disease” (p. 261) emphasizing how social and economic positioning produce gendered risk in epidemics and infectious disease outbreaks (4). Of all factors, the gender inequality in the labor force, finds particular attention among experts attempting to explain the variation in infection and mortality due to COVID-19 exposure. For instance, Adams showed that the percentage of female deaths due to COVID-19 were higher in countries that also have a higher proportion of women in the full-time workforce (5). In another study, Lewandowski and colleagues argue that when women work, they are largely concentrated in sectors where workplace interactions are higher (e.g., care, hospitality and education) and so is the exposure to the contagion (6). This study is significant since it undergirds the importance of labor market segregation in explaining disease risk.
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Author: Parida Y., Chowdhury, J.R., Saini, S., Dash, D.P.
Role of income and government responsiveness in reducing the death toll from floods in Indian states
Publisher: Scientific Reports, 2022
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Floods are the most commonly occurring natural disasters in India due to India’s unique geographical location and socioeconomic conditions. Frequent flooding causes enormous loss of human lives and damage crops and public utilities. Furthermore, floods adversely affect economic development and increase the government's financial burden by increasing spending on various disaster mitigation measures. Recent empirical literature based on cross-national comparisons shows that disaster fatalities and damages are monotonically decreasing in per capita income. We challenge this view on the monotonic negative relationship between income and flood damages. We examine the non-monotonic (inverted U-shaped) relationship between per capita income and flood impact in terms of deaths, people affected, and damages due to floods in 19 major Indian states from 1980 to 2011, using Poisson and Tobit estimation methods. In particular, deaths and the population affected by floods increase with a turning point of income up to 882 US$ and 578 US$, respectively, and diminishes thereafter. Our results confirm an inverted U-shaped relationship between income and fatalities and the population affected by floods. In addition to income, we argue that government responsiveness plays an essential role in mitigating the risk of floods. We employ the fixed-effect Poisson estimation method to examine the government's role in protecting people against disaster risk, focusing on regional differences in India. Deaths from floods remain non-linear and follow the inverted U-pattern with respect to government responsiveness. However, the effect of government responsiveness on flood fatalities and flood damages is statistically insignificant. Our results further suggest that high-income states experience a lower death toll from floods. The high-income (rich) states are capable of incurring a higher threshold level of income and higher natural calamity expenditure to reduce flood fatalities and protect the population affected by floods than the low-income (poor) states. The poor states have minimal resources and face severe financial constraints to reduce the death toll from floods. From the perspective of public policy, the poor states, in particular, require an increase in income, better governance, and effective disaster management policies to mitigate flood impact.
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Author: Abbasi, B.A., Dharan, A., Mishra, A., Saraf, D., Ahamad, I., Suravajhala, P., Valadi, J.,Jayaraman Valadi,
In Silico Characterization of Uncharacterized Proteins From Multiple Strains of Clostridium Difficile
Publisher: Frontiers in Genetics, 2022
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Clostridium difficile is a multi-strain, spore-forming, Gram-positive anaerobic bacterium posing a global threat to post-operative individuals. Infamously known for antibiotic-associated diarrhoea, it is one of the most important causes of healthcare-associated infections worldwide, leading to a quarter of reported cases of infectious diarrhoea and a broad spectrum of gastrointestinal complications, including sepsis and pseudomembranous colitis (Barbut and Petit, 2001). Studies have suggested that it is a crucial part of healthy human gut flora as it overgrows and imbalances intestinal microflora with unnecessary antibiotic therapies (Abt et al., 2016). With the progression of antibiotic-based therapeutics accompanied by sub-standard hygiene in hospitals, the incidence of C. difficile infection (CDI) has significantly increased since the 20th century (Czepiel et al., 2019). Being a major causative pathogen, C. difficile contributes to almost half a million cases with 29,000 deaths per annum in the United States alone and impacting Latin America, Europe, and the Asian regions (Goudarzi et al., 2014; Lessa et al., 2015). Whereas in India, the incidence and prevalence rates of CDI-associated diarrhoea in hospitalised patients ranges from 3 to 29% and 7.1–26.6%, respectively (Segar et al., 2017).
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Author: Jain, P.
Ecocritical Analysis of Classics by Three Indian Film Maestros: An Extended Film Review
Publisher: Worldviews: Global Religions, Culture, and Ecology, 2022
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"Satyajit Ray is the only Indian filmmaker who has received the prestigious
Academy award and India’s highest civilian honor of Bharat Ratna for his life-
time achievements and contributions to the cinema. Although he made dozens
of films, we review only those with natural elements playing essential roles in
shaping the plot. After a few of Ray’s films, we look at another maestro, Ritwik
Ghatak’s one film, which prominently features a drying river and its impact on
people. Finally, we complete our trinity by reviewing a few movies by Mrinal
Sen that show the conflicts between the people of the natural world in villages
and those from the modern world. Each film is rooted in Indian settings, yet
the themes they evoke are universal and universally accoladed with awards and
recognition worldwide."
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Author: Luthra, A., Cunningham, K., Fraser, A.M., Pandey, A., Rana, S., Singh, V.,Shweta Rana,
Ecological livelihoods of farmers and pollinators in the Himalayas: Doing critical physical geography using citizen science
Publisher: The Canadian Geographer, 2022
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An ecological livelihoods framework can be productively deployed in an investigation of inter dependant farmer pollinater relationship
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Author: Mabon, S., Kapur, S.
The complexity of (super)complexes: Pakistan, India and West Asia
Publisher: Global Discourse, 2022
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Despite areas of synergy, international relations theory has typically considered South and West Asia as analytically distinct. Following the work of Barry Buzan, whose work on regional security complexes is formative in shaping the intellectual debate, the Gulf is considered a subregion of a larger Middle Eastern regional security complex, while South Asia is regarded as its own regional security complex. This article argues that the analytical distinction between these different (sub)regional security complexes has become blurred, reflecting the emergence of a supercomplex. We contend that strong patterns of amity, enmity and securitisation that link the two regional security complexes suggest a thinning boundary between them, with the potential for them to merge. We distinguish between a supercomplex and a merger using the concepts of amity, enmity and securitisation provided by regional security complex theory. We add the English School’s ideas of order, justice and regional society to enhance our understanding. We focus on three issues in which the two regions interact: the Abraham Accords; the Iran nuclear crisis, and Jammu and Kashmir. We argue that increasing relations between the two regional security complexes have resulted in a supercomplex, with powerful states in both regional security complexes seeking to project their power into the adjacent regional security complex. We further note the strengthening patterns of amity, enmity and securitisation connecting the two regions, leading to a thinning of the boundary separating South and West Asia. We contribute to the literature on regional security complex theory by clarifying the distinction between a supercomplex and a merger through the South-West Asian case.
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Author: Mochish, K.S.
Democratise Radio News in India
Publisher: Economic and Political Weekly, 2022
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Author: Sethiya, A., Thenmozhi, M.,
Does product market competition moderate the impact of promoter ownership on firm value?
Publisher: Managerial Finance, 2022
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This study explores whether product market competition is a substitute for or complementary to good internal governance through promoter holdings. Specifically, it examines the impact of product market competition on the linkage between promoter ownership and firm value and investigates whether this impact varies with the type of blockholders and level of ownership.
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Author: Krishna, C.Y.,
Going to the cinema: princely urbanism in Hyderabad and Secunderabad
Publisher: Urban History, 2022
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The experience of the urban in nineteenth-century Hyderabad was interwoven with the experience of modern technologies like film. Cinema participated in constituting a modern public; practices of film viewing were practices of enacting the modern. Through a study of conflicts in the space of cinema, this article examines the politics of constituting and controlling the urban in the princely city of Hyderabad and the cantonment town of Secunderabad. It suggests that the princely modern adapted new technologies but was rooted in patrimonial traditions. The article also argues that the cantonment had a dependency relationship with the princely city, and urban space as constituted through cinema was the site of power negotiations between the princely ruler and the British.
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Author: Pande, J.
Proof of a Bessel Function Integral
Publisher: Resonance, 2022
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Bessel functions are widely encountered in research and are essential components of introductory undergraduate courses on mathematical physics. Here, I present a result for the integral of a product of a Bessel function and an exponential, using the method of introducing parameters into the problem to generate some symmetries. I then present an overview of other techniques that use this idea of increasing the parameter or dimensional space in order to make a problem easier to solve.
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Author: Singh, S.
Khaps in the Making of Farmers’ Protests in Haryana: A Study of Role and Fault Lines
Publisher: Sociological Bulletin, 2022
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The farmers’ movement against the three farm-laws in India often brought together conflicting forces and entities to put up a collective fight to safeguard the peasantry. The protests though mainly located at various border points of the national capital penetrated the immediate local communities over the duration. In the state of Haryana, these protests saw an unlikely participant, the khaps, playing an active role in sustaining the agitation. This article examines the role of khaps from a sociological perspective, discussing the nature, forms and ways of their participation in the protests. The discussion attempts to underline the limitations of their participation and the social fault lines that emerged as a result of it. The research argues that participation of khaps led to a consolidation of assertion of the dominant communities and resulted in restricting the potential and ambit of the movement to forge larger solidarities among the rural masses.
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Author: Mal, H., Varma, M., Vishvakarma, N.K.,
An empirical study to prioritize the determinants of corporate sustainability performance using analytic hierarchy process
Publisher: Measuring Business Excellence, 2022
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The use of natural resources by organizations has a significant impact on society, resulting in business firms playing a vital role in developing sustainable development. As a result, corporate sustainability has become an integral aspect of a company’s vision and policy in the modern days. Companies issue sustainability reports based on various criteria and metrics, thereby attempting to gain a competitive edge. This study aims to assess and prioritize the numerous factors that influence corporate sustainability performance.
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Author: Eunny, P., Rooj, D., Sengupta, R.,Debasis Rooj
Caste-based Crime and Agriculture:Panel Data Evidence from the Indian States
Publisher: Indian Journal of Human Development, 2022
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This paper aims to empirically examine the relationship between the performance of the agricultural sector and the crime against the socially marginalised group in India. We exploit the state-wise variations in the relative size of the agricultural sector in the overall economy and the crimes against scheduled caste and scheduled tribe (SCST) communities by the upper caste group for our analysis. Using state-level panel data from 19 major states for 2001–2019 and employing panel data regression methodology, we find that improvement in the relative share of the agricultural sector in the economy leads to lesser crimes against the SCST community. Further, we also find that an increased share of SCSTs in the population and improved connectivity significantly affect such crimes. Therefore, our findings have important policy implications; improving the economic role of the agricultural sector should be one of the primary policy goals to support the marginalised population of this country.
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Author: Rajpal, S., Kumar, A., Rana, M.J., Kim, R., Subramanian, S.V.
Small area variation in severe, moderate, and mild anemia among women and children: A multilevel analysis of 707 districts in India
Publisher: Frontiers in Public Health, 2022
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India is home to the highest global number of women and children suffering from anemia, with one in every two women impacted. India's current strategy for targeting areas with a high anemia burden is based on district-level averages, yet this fails to capture the substantial small area variation in micro-geographical (small area) units such as villages. We conducted statistical and econometric analyses to quantify the extent of small area variation in the three grades of anemia (severe, moderate, and mild) among women and children across 36 states/union territories and 707 districts of India. We utilized data from the fifth round of the National Family Health Survey conducted in 2019–21. The final analytic sample for analyses was 183,883 children aged 6–59 months and 690,153 women aged 15–49 years. The primary outcome variable for the analysis was the three anemia grades among women and children. We adopted a three-level and four-level logistic regression model to compute variance partitioning of anemia among women and children. We also computed precision-weighted prevalence estimates of women and childhood anemia across 707 districts and within-district, between-cluster variation using standard deviation (SD). For severe anemia among women, small area (villages or urban blocks) account for highest share (46.1%; Var: 0.494; SE: 0.150) in total variation followed by states (39.4%; Var: 0.422; SE: 0.134) and districts (12.8%; Var: 0.156; SE: 0.012). Similarly, clusters account for the highest share in the variation in severe (61.3%; Var: 0.899; SE: 0.069) and moderate (46.4%: Var: 0.398; SE: 0.011) anemia among children. For mild and moderate anemia among women, however, states were the highest source of variation. Additionally, we found a high and positive correlation between mean prevalence and inter-cluster SD of moderate and severe anemia among women and children. In contrast, the correlation was weaker for mild anemia among women (r = 0.61) and children (0.66). In this analysis, we are positing the critical importance of small area variation within districts when designing strategies for targeting high burden areas for anemia interventions.
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Author: Verity, L., Yang, K., Nowland, R., Shankar, A., Turnbull, M. Qualter, P.,Aparna Shankar,
Loneliness From the Adolescent Perspective: A Qualitative Analysis of Conversations About Loneliness Between Adolescents and Childline Counselors
Publisher: Journal of Adolescent Research, 2022
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There is limited qualitative research on the experience of loneliness in adolescence, meaning key facets of the loneliness experience that are important in adolescence may have been overlooked. The current study addresses that gap in the literature and explores how loneliness is experienced in the context of adolescence from the perspective of adolescents. About 67 online counseling conversations between Childline counselors and adolescents (ages 12–18 years; 70% females) who had contacted Childline to talk about loneliness were analyzed using Thematic Framework Analysis to establish commonalities and salient issues involved in adolescent experiences of loneliness. Young people considered loneliness to be an intense experience that negatively impacted their daily lives. Experiences of loneliness revolved around difficulties with peer relationships, but turmoil at home worsened those experiences. Young people often employed short-term coping strategies that distracted them from loneliness. Issues with trusting others and self-worth acted as barriers to seeking long-term help. Recommendations include (1) the training of teachers and parents to recognize and support young people experiencing loneliness and (2) further research to establish the coping strategies that are used by adolescents who successfully overcome loneliness.
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Author: Chaudhry, S.,Smita Chaudhry,
Measuring diversity, equity and inclusion: a holistic approach
Publisher: Development and Learning in Organizations, 2022
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This paper aims to explore how organizations can measure diversity, equity and inclusion, and what are the potential areas where they can take initiatives to meet the diversity, equity and inclusion goals.
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