Basic Science of Intraocular Lens Materials

This chapter will explain the materials used in making intraocular lenses. Rigid IOL’s made of PMMA have now given way to foldable silicone and acrylic lenses. This chapter will also throw light on the indications and contraindications for using each of the IOL’s. The composition of each of the lenses, their water content, mechanical properties and their special ultraviolet absorbing features will be discussed in detail. The mechanism by which hydrophilic lenses are inserted through small incisions during cataract surgery will need a special mention. The problems with use of different types of intraocular lenses will also be dealt with

Intensification of climate-smart agriculture technology in semi-arid regions of India

Technology adoption has been proven to be an efficient way to improve agricultural productivity as well as farmers’ income across the semi-arid regions of the globe. However, an upcoming method to improve food and livelihood security is through sustainable technology intensification. The study tries to assess the impact of climate-smart agriculture (CSA) technology intensification on farmers’ income using inverse probability weighted regression adjustment method. The results show a rise in average income for high intensified farmers in comparison to the low intensified farmers. The results also show a rise in income for CSA intensified farmers in comparison to the farmers adopting only improved technologies. Therefore, technology intensification of CSA technologies has been found to be an effective way in ensuring income security to the farmers

A meta‐analysis of mental rotation in the first years of life

Mental rotation, the cognitive process of moving an object in mind to predict how it looks in a new orientation, is coupled to intelligence, learning, and educational achievement. On average, adolescent and adult males solve mental rotation tasks slightly better (i.e., faster and/or more accurate) than females. When such behavioral differences emerge during development, however, remains poorly understood. Here we analyzed effect sizes derived from 62 experiments conducted in 1705 infants aged 3–16 months. We found that male infants recognized rotated objects slightly more reliably than female infants. This difference survives correction for small degrees of publication bias. These findings indicate that gender differences in mental rotation are small and not robustly detectable in the first months of postnatal life.German Research Foundation http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659European Research Council http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100010663Jacobs Foundation Research ScholarshipStudienstiftung des deutschen VolkesPeer Reviewe

A training program on the International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT)

The CCAFS project team at IFPRI in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) team organized a 5-day capacity building workshop at the ICAR - National Institute of Agricultural Economics and Policy Research (NIAP). The workshop was conducted on IFPRI’s IMPACT model and was attended by scientists and senior scientists working in various ICAR institutes, particularly in NIAP. The training course introduced the IMPACT methodology, theory and scenario design to the participants. The course helped them gain an understanding on scenarios and scenario analysis. Participants learned how to use the network of models that make up IMPACT, how each module work and how they interact. They further learned to use IMPACT simulations, to design and run scenarios in IMPACT, and access and use IMPACT results correctly

A Critical Analysis of The Code On Wages 2019: Need For Right To Minimum Wage

In the recent past, the lawmakers have made efforts in order to simplify the numerous existing legislations pertaining to Labor Law in India. One such legislation that has been assented by the Parliament is the Code on Wages, 2019 (“Code”)[1]. This Code replaces four laws, namely, Payment of Wages Act, 1936; Minimum Wages Act, 1948; Payment of Bonus Act 1965; and Equal Remuneration Act, 1976. However, as per the lawmakers, efforts have been made to include the “unorganized sector” of the labor, which earlier were out of the ambit of minimum wages, yet again, it failed to do so. The paper gives a critical analysis of the Code focusing on minimum wages and its fixation for the unorganized segment of the labor. It tries to argue that not having to explicitly mention or define the unorganized sector will lead to a certain ambiguity and vagueness in the interpretation by the courts. Hence, this altogether defeats the purpose of having a simplified legislation. The paper is divided majorly into three parts. The first part deals with the importance of minimum wage in a worker’s life and that it is rather a basic right of the worker than just a law that is to be followed. Hence, workers from all spheres should be entitled to the “Right to Minimum Wage”. The second part of the paper lays down the efforts made by the government in terms of minimum wage and the kind of labor that is included along with the criteria laid down for fixing the minimum wages. It continues to deal with the critical analysis of the Code with respect to the kind of labor included, focusing on the explicit inclusion of the unorganized sector. Finally, the paper concludes with certain suggestions that is felt as a need for the government to consider, in order to make the Code even more efficient and not hamper with the basic right of Right to Minimum Wage

Effectiveness of non-farm diversification on rural household income: Evidence and policy implications from India

PRIFPRI3; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesSA

Processing of scene intrinsics in the ventral visual stream for object recognition

A hallmark of human vision is the ability to rapidly recognize objects in a complex naturalistic scene. However, the exact mechanisms behind the computational invariance of object recognition remain unknown. In this study, we investigate object constancy by estimating how the ventral visual stream processes shading, shadows, textures, and specularities. To accomplish this, we use object meshes from the Objaverse dataset to create distinct multiclass classification tasks. For every task, we render a dataset by excluding exactly one of the previously stated features at a time. Subsequently, we train a ResNet50 model on each dataset. The trained model is evaluated on Brain-Score; deviations in these metrics indicate the importance of a brain region in achieving invariance to a specific feature. A reduced score for a removed feature in a particular region implies its crucial role in processing that feature since the model classifies objects based on remaining scene intrinsics

Rural non-farm employment in Uttar Pradesh, India: Drivers and impact

PRIFPRI3; CRP2; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; Capacity StrengtheningSAR; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM