The Distribution of Household Wealth in India

assets, liabilities, vertical inequality, horizontal inequality, land, real estate

Out of school and (probably) in work: Child labour and capability deprivation in India

This paper explores the hypothesis that the phenomenon of child labour is explicable in terms of poverty that compels a household to keep its children out of school and put them to work in the cause of the household’s survival. In exploring the link between child labour and poverty in the Indian context, the paper advances the view that the nature of the connection is more readily apprehended if both the variables under study are defined more expansively and inclusively than is customarily the case. Specifically, the suggestion is that it may be realistic to include those children who are conventionally categorized as ‘non-workers not attending school’ within the count of child labourers. It is also suggested that poverty is meaningfully measured in terms of a multi-dimensional approach to the problem, wherein the aim is to assess generalized capability failure—arising from want of access to elementary infrastructural facilities and essential amenities—with respect to a number of basic human functionings. The core of the paper’s argument is presented by means of a simple analytical model of child labour and deprivation, and the issues emerging from it are studied in the Indian context with the support of both primary and secondary data

Growth and inequality in the distribution of India's consumption expenditure 1983 to 2009-10

This paper undertakes an assessment of the evolution of inequality in the distribution of consumption expenditure in India over the last quarter-century, from 1983 to 2009-10, employing data available in the quinquennial 'thick' surveys of the National Sample Survey Office. We find that plausible adjustments to the data, along with an emphasis on 'centrist' rather than 'rightist' or 'leftist' inequality measures, lead to a picture of inequality in the distribution of consumption expenditure widening over time, which is at odds with the impression of more or less unchanging inequality conveyed in some of the literature available on the subject in India

On the 'inclusiveness' of India's consumption expenditure growth

This paper reviews the evidence on the 'inclusiveness' of the growth in consumption expenditure that has occurred in India over the last four decades or so. The notion of dynamic inclusiveness is framed in terms of imagined normative allocations of the inter-temporal product of growth, as dictated by notions of equity of varying orders of demandingness. There are analytical parallels between these exercises and those involved in the study of bankruptcy in 'Talmudic estate problems', as well as in the determination of optimal anti-poverty budgetary allocations. The issue of inclusive growth is reviewed in this paper with respect to inclusiveness across both income classes and social groups such as caste and occupation. The results of the investigation undertaken in the essay suggest distressingly little evidence of inclusiveness in India's consumption growth experience

Dedifferentiation of committed epithelial cells into stem cells in vivo

Summary Cellular plasticity contributes to the regenerative capacity of plants, invertebrates, teleost fishes, and amphibians. In vertebrates, differentiated cells are known to revert into replicating progenitors, but these cells do not persist as stable stem cells. We now present evidence that differentiated airway epithelial cells can revert into stable and functional stem cells in vivo. Following the ablation of airway stem cells, we observed a surprising increase in the proliferation of committed secretory cells. Subsequent lineage tracing demonstrated that the luminal secretory cells had dedifferentiated into basal stem cells. Dedifferentiated cells were morphologically indistinguishable from stem cells and they functioned as well as their endogenous counterparts to repair epithelial injury. Indeed, single secretory cells clonally dedifferentiated into multipotent stem cells when they were cultured ex vivo without basal stem cells. In contrast, direct contact with a single basal stem cell was sufficient to prevent secretory cell dedifferentiation. In analogy to classical descriptions of amphibian nuclear reprogramming, the propensity of committed cells to dedifferentiate was inversely correlated to their state of maturity. This capacity of committed cells to dedifferentiate into stem cells may play a more general role in the regeneration of many tissues and in multiple disease states, notably cancer

The Role of CNN-RNN Hybrid Models and Attention Mechanisms in EEG Signal Recognition for Correct Seizure Detection

Epileptic seizure detection is crucial for effective management and treatment of epilepsy. This research proposes a novel hybrid model combining Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), and attention mechanisms to enhance the accuracy and reliability of seizure detection from EEG signals. Utilizing the Bonn dataset, our method encompasses advanced preprocessing techniques, including noise reduction and wavelet transforms, to capture multi-scale features from raw EEG data. CNNs extract spatial features, while Bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) and Gated Recurrent Units (GRU) capture temporal dynamics, with attention mechanisms further refining feature relevance.To ensure interpretability and trust, Explainable AI (XAI) techniques such as saliency maps, Grad-CAM, and attention maps are integrated. The hybrid model demonstrates superior performance, achieving 95.2% accuracy, 94.1% sensitivity, and 96.5% specificity, significantly outperforming existing methods.The research highlights the model\u27s robustness through comprehensive evaluation metrics and comparative analysis. Future directions involve testing with diverse datasets, exploring more XAI methods, and real-time implementation. This study advances seizure detection by improving accuracy, interpretability, and clinical applicability, paving the way for enhanced patient care in epilepsy management

Effect of Clerodendrum serratum leaf extract on biochemical and oxidative stress parameters of testis in 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene induced skin carcinogenesis in Swiss albino mice

The biochemical contents and antioxidant potential of Clerodendrum serratum (Verbenaceae) leaf extract (CSLE) on 7, 12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) induced skin carcinogenicity in testis of mice was investigated. Group I received distilled water served as control. The skin lesions were induced by twice-weekly topical application of DMBA for 2 weeks on the shaved backs of group II, III, IV and V mice. CSLE was administered to group III, IV and V mice at the dose of 300, 600 and 900 mg/kg b.wt/day, for 4 week before DMBA application, and continued till 45 days. On 46th day the mice were sacrificed, testis were dissected out freed from adherent tissue and weighed to nearest milligram and evaluated the biochemical contents DNA, RNA, protein, glycogen, cholesterol, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), Succinic dehydrogenase (SDH), acid phosphatase (ACP) and alkaline phosphatase (AKP) activities, oxidative stress parameters, levels of glutathione (GSH), thiobarbaturic acid reactive substances (TBARS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione-s-transferase (GST). DMBA induced skin carcinogenesis decreased body and testis weight, DNA, RNA, protein, glycogen, GSH level, SDH, AKP, SOD, CAT and GST activities. But there was increase in cholesterol content, LDH, ACP activities and TBARS level. DMBA act via generating reactive oxygen species (ROS) as tumor initiator and free radicals inducing oxidative stress. The results revealed that there was a recovery in biochemical contents, dehydrogenases, phosphatases and oxidative stress parameters in testis. Thus, the present study inferred that CSLE administration significantly curtailed tumor development and counteracted all the biochemical effects. Many plant secondary metabolites exhibit potent anticarcinogenic potential and known to exert their effects by quenching reactive oxygen, inhibiting lipid peroxidation