REGULATION AND ENFORCEMENT OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS FOR AGRICULTURAL BIOTECHNOLOGY IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Game theory and numerical simulation are used to analyze government's role in regulating IPRs for agricultural biotechnology in a developing country. An imported variety brings productivity gains and a negative externality. The relative effectiveness of corrective taxes or subsidies depends upon whether there is full enforcement of the IPRs.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Develpment of novel Proton Exchange membranes (PEM)

Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) was developed for the use in PEM fuel cells. Membranes were cast from various polymers and composite membranes were prepared with heteropoly acid (HPA) particles. Studies were conducted on various polymers and their possible application in fuel cells. Proton conductivity and other characterization techniques were carried out for the polymeric membranes. For high temperature operation of fuel cells novel high temperature stable polymers were developed and characterized. It was found that the new polymer based systems increased the overall performance of the system. Single membrane tests were carried out to study the performance of the fuel cell

Ali: Does He Have a ‘Choice’?

The life story of a 16 year?old boy, Ali, provides a glimpse into the livelihood choices of children living in urban slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Until recently, Ali's life and his community was characterised by urban crime and violence. In spite of having escaped the life of violence, the struggles of a child growing up in a marginalised, poor community remain far more complex and difficult than is often perceived from the outside

Genetic constraint, non-independence of traits and consequences of adaptive evolution in acridid grasshoppers

Evolutionary trajectories of quantitative traits are influenced by the underlying genetic architecture of such traits. But traits do not occur in isolation, and the genetic covariation between traits can be statistically summarized by the additive genetic variance covariance matrix, G. I studied the evolution of G for five morphological traits which are conserved, and five song traits which are presumably under sexual selection, using a half-sib breeding design in grasshoppers. I also studied male indirect genetic effects (IGEs) under a potential sexual conflict scenario in a grasshopper, as IGEs can manipulate female reproductive traits to maximize fitness because of conflicting evolutionary interests over trade-offs between current and future reproduction. I found that G matrices have diverged in shape and orientation for both conserved morphological traits and variable song traits. The differentiation in morphology has been along wing length, and the G matrix of the most distant species is the most different. Evolutionary trajectories of both the song and morphology seem to be directly influenced by selection. I also found IGEs were high initially after mating, but they tapered with time. Hence, the phenotypic evolution of female reproductive traits will be influenced mostly by direct selection on female additive genetic variance rather than indirectly on male IGEs

Ceremonial Crying: The Colonial Projection

Crying is a social phenomenon. It is highly romanticized, gendered and contested. In some cases it is perceived as a psychological syndrome. Sometimes it highly personal and at numerous other times it acts as a social necessity. In the Indian context, it is an essential part in many social occasions. Deaths, marriages and several other ceremonies are often accompanied by social crying and weeping, which depict our culture’s understanding towards multiple sociological phenomena. Social crying has its implications over several cultures, religions and cults that need to be addressed in academic pedagogy. This thesis explores that colonial travellers were greeted with an episode of social crying at multiple geographical spaces that housed indigenous communities, such as the Andamanese. In the modern times, however, due to lack of documentation and rapid modernization, the discourse does not have the strictest continuity in our traditions. What we have instead is a forgotten episode of Occidental documentation of the Orient. The thesis evaluates a variety of colonial texts, travelogues, journal entries and letters and maps the way colonial travellers were greeted with an episode of crying—yet another act of discourse—which was chiefly interpreted as a cultural endeavour to document the native. Focusing on narratives on such indigenous communities, while we argue that such documents have shaped the Oriental World, we also suggest that the documentation of it has shaped ‘Indian culture’ in framing the idea of Other in Western imagination

A H2-D2 Exchange Study on Ni-based Binary-Ternary Amorphous and Crystalline Membranes

Hydrogen is a major role player in current global sustainable energy scenario. Research around the world is carried out to harness hydrogen from all possible sources. One of these sources is water gas shift reaction after the coal gasification process. Sustainable infrastructure can be viable in countries like USA and Australia, making this process viable. Various methods are used to harness this hydrogen from the water gas. One of these methods is the use of inorganic membranes based on Pd, Ag, Ni, Zr and other transition metals. Pd addition to the membranes makes the membranes more expensive for commercial use. Various bulk properties like hydrogen permeation and absorption are studied on Pd and Pd-based alloys. Alternate alloys based on Ni, V, Ta etc are being studied to substitute the use of Pd making this technology more cost efficient. A current balance in research in this area is fund to exist by coating the non-precious metal membranes with Pd to improve the surface interaction with hydrogen. The nature of membranes used for hydrogen separation is important aspect for the overall performance. Crystalline materials provide better bulk properties, however, are not durable under high temperature and hydrogen pressure. In this research, non-Pd coated Ni-based amorphous membranes were made by melt spin technique, which have been studied for their surface properties. Gas phase H2-D2 exchange reaction has been carried out on the membrane surface. This provides a measure of catalytic activity of the above mentioned membranes. More studies included the crystallographic phase change determination, bulk hydrogen solubility measurements, surface conduction measurements and surface morphological studies. During this research, it has been observed that crystalline materials provide more surface activity for hydrogen than their amorphous counterparts. Ni64Zr36 alloy has been shown to exhibit similar kinetic rates as metallic Ni. Also, microkinetic analysis was performed to determine the heat of hydrogen absorption and desorption on the alloy surface. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy was conducted on the membranes to determine the surface resistance and it was found that Ni64Zr36 as-spun ribbon displayed highest resistance while Ni60Ta20Zr20 showed lowest resistance. Absorption studies on Ni60V40 binary alloy and Ni60V20Zr20 ternary alloy indicated that the addition of Zr to these non-coated alloys increased the hydrogen solubility in the bulk. SEM and TEM analyses showed the presence of possible nano crystalline phases in Ni64Zr36 membrane. XRD and SEM studies conducted on post treated samples showed the possible phase segregation of Ni and ZrO2. Ni60Nb40 did not show any phase transformations after hydrogen heat treated unlike its ternary composition, Ni60Nb20Zr20. It is noteworthy to mention that bubbles were observed during SEM on Ni64Zr36 post-treated sample on the surface due to possible hydrogen trapping and subsequent release of hydrogen gas

A Novel Approach to Discontinuous Bond Percolation Transition

We introduce a bond percolation procedure on a $D$-dimensional lattice where two neighbouring sites are connected by $N$ channels, each operated by valves at both ends. Out of a total of $N$, randomly chosen $n$ valves are open at every site. A bond is said to connect two sites if there is at least one channel between them, which has open valves at both ends. We show analytically that in all spatial dimensions, this system undergoes a discontinuous percolation transition in the $N\to \infty$ limit when $\gamma =\frac{\ln n}{\ln N}$ crosses a threshold. It must be emphasized that, in contrast to the ordinary percolation models, here the transition occurs even in one dimensional systems, albeit discontinuously. We also show that a special kind of discontinuous percolation occurs only in one dimension when $N$ depends on the system size.Comment: 6 pages, 6 eps figure

THE NEWS EFFECT OF COVID-19 ON GLOBAL FINANCIAL MARKET VOLATILITY

This study investigates whether the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic caused a contagion and negatively affected the stock market. Using data from the 10 worst-hit countries over the period from December 2019 to May 2020 and an EGARCH model, the study shows that market speculations lead to negative stock returns and higher stock market volatility. Further, estimates of both bivariate time-series regression and random-effects panel regression show significant effects of COVID-19 related media coverage on the stock market

Effects of physical and mental tasks on heart rate variability

Demands at work are associated with an increased risk of cardio vascular diseases, but little is known about its underlying connection. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of physical and mental tasks that induced stress, on Heart Rate Variability (HRV). Another aim was to observe the trends in subjective workload ratings in conjunction with the physiological response of the heart and also to assess the comfort level of the participants while wearing the heart rate monitor and performing tasks. Heart rate was recorded while at rest and while performing the tasks. Subjective workload ratings were obtained from NASA-TLX and the comfort scores from a comfort questionnaire for each task. The power spectral components HF, LF, LF/HF and the time domain RMSSD, were used as the components of HRV in the analysis. The results indicated that all the components of HRV examined were sensitive to physical and mental demands. The HF and RMSSD components decreased with increase in demands from the baseline values. The LF and the LF/HF ratio increased with increase in demands. Overall results indicated reduction in HRV when demanding physical and mental tasks were performed. Subjective workload ratings changed in accordance with the physiological response. Subjective workload rating was high for both the tasks. Overall comfort score indicated that the participants were comfortable while wearing the heart rate monitor and performing the tasks. The evidence from this study suggested that these simulated work factors (physical and mental demands) influence risk factors that may increase risk for CVDs in work places. It is recommended that future research be conducted in the field to quantify HRV and the workplace/tasks be redesigned to reduce excessive physical and mental demands