POLITICAL HISTORY OF LADAKH ( Pre 9th to 12th CE)

Ladakh is the Northern most division of Indian Union which falls in Jammu and Kashmir state. Generally the recorded history of Ladakh begins with the coming of Tibetans to Ladakh in the late 9th CE. This paper is an attempt to string together the Pre 9th political history and the post 9th political history of Ladakh till 12th CE. For this purpose folk lore and oral traditions have been employed as well in order to logically fill the lacunae in the pre 9th CE history of Ladakh. This paper also provides a geographical glimpse of Ladakh. Key Words: Ladakh, Geographical, Political, Chronicle, Tibet, Ladakhi Kingdom

Concept of Compassion in Buddhism, Its Ethical Implication in the Contemporary World

Buddhism is often considered as a path for purification vissudhimagga. During an era of empire building and extreme asceticism, it advocated a middle path based on moral perfection. Compassion in Buddhism enjoys an exalted position and its embodiment, Bodhisattva is highly venerated. This concept finds its applicability more in the contemporary era of materialistic race and political chaos, degrading social norms and decaying moral values. This paper is an attempt to analyze the possibility of compassion as a tool to restore peace and prosperity in the contemporary world. Keywords: Compassion, Buddhism, Violence, materialistic race, global peace, humanity, terrorism. DOI: 10.7176/JCSD/49-04 Publication date:June 30th 201

Investigating the impact of workplace bullying on employees’ morale, performance and turnover intentions in five-star Egyptian hotel operations

In today’s competitive business environment, human resources are one of the most critical assets particularly for service-focused organizations. Consequently, employees’ morale has become invaluable for maintaining outstanding organizational performance and retaining employees. One of the most important factors which may affect employees’ satisfaction is workplace bullying from employers and colleagues at large. It is considered a negative and unethical issue which may degrade, humiliate and create a risk to a healthy working environment. Therefore, the main objective of this research is to investigate the extent to which workplace bullying may affect the organizational outcomes of a sample of five-star hotels in Egypt. Two questionnaires were distributed among the subjects of the sample; bell desk staff, kitchen stewards and head departments. The results of this research confirmed that there is a correlation between workplace bullying, employees’ morale and turnover intentions but, showed no correlation between workplace bullying and employees’ work performance

Inter-community relations in Kashmir (Sixteenth to Twentieth Century).

The debate on religious identities and inter-religious conflicts in South Asia emanates from the orientalist writings which perpetuate exclusive model of competing religio-cultural traditions in the region. Taking the thread forward Sandria Fretieg and Peter van der Veer view communalism inherent part of South Asian tradition, albeit transformed by the colonial encounter. It is in this context Peter van der Veer argues against treating religious discourse and practice as a mere smoke screen that hide the real clash of material interests. However, the neo-imperialist school historians popularly called Cambridge school view inter-religious conflict in South Asia as a product of economic hardships than expression of religious zeal. Writing about Allahabad between 1880 to 1920, C.A. Bayly concludes that religious attributions were often banners under which different economic and social groups organized whose motives have little to do with religion. Francis Robinson advances a similar claim about the Muslims of Uttar Pradesh in his “Separatism among Indian Muslims”. He says that in their pursuit of ―provincial, class and sectarian interests Muslim politicians adopted the Muslim identity when it suited them and discarded it when it had served their purpose.‖Digital copy of ThesisUniversity of Kashmir

Typha orientalis Presl (Typhaceae): a new species record for India

Typha orientalis C. Presl (Typhaceae) is recorded for the first time from the Kashmir Himalaya, India.and for the first time in the entire Indian sub-continent. A detailed taxonomic description and photographs of the diagnostic characters are provided to facilitate its identification in the field. Also provided are diagnostic characters used to distinguish T. orientalis C. Presl from T. latifolia L

Functional dissection of the catalytic carboxyl-terminal domain of Origin Recognition Complex Subunit 1 (PfORC1) of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum

Origin Recognition Complex subunit 1 (ORC1) is essential for DNA replication in eukaryotes. The deadly human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum contains an ORC1/CDC6 homolog with several interesting domains at the catalytic carboxyl-terminal region that include a putative nucleoside triphosphate-binding and hydrolysis domain, a putative PCNA-Interacting-Protein (PIP) motif and an extreme C-terminal region that shows poor homology with other ORC1 homologs. Due to the unavailability of a dependable inducible gene expression system, it is difficult to study the structure and function of essential genes in Plasmodium. Using a genetic yeast complementation system and biochemical experiments, here we show that the putative PIP domain in ORC1 that facilitates in vitro physical interaction with PCNA is functional in both yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and Plasmodium in vivo, confirming its essential biological role in eukaryotes. Furthermore, despite having less sequence homology, the extreme C-terminal region can be swapped between S. cerevisiae and P. falciparum and it binds to DNA directly, suggesting a conserved role of this region in DNA replication. These results not only provide us a useful system to study the function of the essential genes in Plasmodium, they help us to identify the previously undiscovered unique features of replication proteins in general

Pathogenic variability in Exserohilum turcicum and identification of resistant sources to turcicum leaf blight of maize (Zea mays L.)

Turcicum leaf blight of maize incited by Exserohilum turcicum (Pass.) Leonard and Suggs is the major limiting factor of maize production in temperate agro-ecologies. Disease management through host plant resistance is the most effective strategy. In the present study among 26 maize genotypes which were initially screened for resistance against E. turcicum under field conditions, 8 genotypes viz., PS 39, CML 451, CML 470, CML 472, VL 1030, VL 1018140, VL1018527 and SMI178-1 were found resistant when screened against twelve isolates of E. turcicum under artificial epiphytotic conditions. Eight genotypes viz., PS45, CML165, CML459, VL1249, VL0536, SMC-5, SMC-3 and KDL 211 were found moderately resistant with disease grade ranged from 2.1-2.5. These maize genotypes possess resistance to turcicum leaf blight can be used successfully in developing high yielding early maturing varieties for high altitude temperate agro-ecologies. The fungus E. turcicum is highly variable in nature. Variability studies on pathogenicity were conducted on twelve isolates of E. turcicum on eleven putative differential maize lines. During the present study a wide pathogenic variation was observed among the twelve isolates of E. turcicum. Cluster analysis on the basis of similarity or dissimilarity in reaction types exhibited by the differential hosts, clustered the isolates into 6 pathogenic groups. The isolates belonged to higher altitudes (Kti 10, Kti11, Kti5) were found to be more aggressive as compared to the isolates of low altitude areas

An unusual case of frost bite autoamputation of toes

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Single-stranded DNA binding protein from human malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum is encoded in the nucleus and targeted to the apicoplast

Apicoplast, an essential organelle of human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum contains a ∼35 kb circular genome and is a possible target for therapy. Proteins required for the replication and maintenance of the apicoplast DNA are not clearly known. Here we report the presence of single–stranded DNA binding protein (SSB) in P falciparum. PfSSB is targeted to the apicoplast and it binds to apicoplast DNA. A strong ssDNA binding activity specific to SSB was also detected in P. falciparum lysate. Both the recombinant and endogenous proteins form tetramers and the homology modelling shows the presence of an oligosaccharide/oligonucleotide-binding fold responsible for ssDNA binding. Additionally, we used SSB as a tool to track the mechanism of delayed death phenomena shown by apicoplast targeted drugs ciprofloxacin and tetracycline. We find that the transport of PfSSB is severely affected during the second life cycle following drug treatment. Moreover, the translation of PfSSB protein and not the transcription of PfSSB seem to be down-regulated specifically during second life cycle although there is no considerable change in protein expression profile between drug-treated and untreated parasites. These results suggest dual control of translocation and translation of apicoplast targeted proteins behind the delayed death phenomena