India as an arms exporter: Changing trends

Although India has been involved in defence exports for a long time, the volume of its exports remains insignificant. Recently, however, the figures have been rising, thus signifying a new trend.publishedVersio

India in the Indo-Pacific

In view of the fast-changing world order, emerging countries are increasingly influencing the dynamics of regional securities. This timely and in-depth book examines India’s reorienting strategic posture and describes how New Delhi’s security policy in the Indo-Pacific region has evolved and expanded over the past two decades. The author argues that India’s quest to leverage its geostrategic location to emerge as an Indo-Pacific actor faces multiple challenges, which create a clear divide between the country’s political rhetoric and action on the ground. The author critically examines these contradictions to better situate India's security role in an increasingly fluid Indo-Pacific region.Angesichts der sich verändernden Weltordnung nehmen Schwellenländer zunehmend Einfluss auf die gegenwärtige Dynamik regionaler Sicherheiten. Die Autorin beschreibt, wie sich die sicherheitspolitische Rolle Indiens im indo-pazifischen Raum in den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten weiterentwickelt und ausgeweitet hat. Es zeigt sich, dass zwischen der politischen Rhetorik Neu-Delhis und dem politischen Handeln vor Ort eine deutliche Kluft besteht. Die Gründe für diese Ineffektivität werden in dem Buch weiter untersucht

Assessment of risk factors for surgical site infection following caesarean section

Background: Assessment of surgical site infection is an important factor to determine the functioning of the health care system. Objectives of this study was to estimate the incidence of surgical site infection among caesarean section cases and to determine the risk factors associated with surgical site infection and comparison with patients having healthy wounds.Methods: One thousand pregnant women who underwent caesarean section were divided into two groups: Group 1 (cases): Those who had SSI within 30 days of caesarean section and Group 2 (controls): Those who didn’t have SSI.Results: Mean age of group I was 25.35±4.40 and 21.12±3.60 years in group II (p >0.05). Mean gestational age of group I cases was 38.07±1.88 weeks and in group II, it was 38.17±2.06 weeks (p >0.05). A total of 37 (82.5%) women in group I and 931 (96.98%) women in group II underwent emergency caesarean section (p <0.05). In group I, mean duration of surgery was 1.0±0.13 hours and 1.02±0.21 hours in group II (p <0.05). Maximum number of patients i.e. 22 (55%) had wound discharge between 4-7 days followed by 11 (27.5%) between 8-10 days. Mean wound discharge was 7.32±3.45 days in group I. Majority of women, i.e. 27 (67%) found to be sterile in the present study followed by 7 (17.5%) women were found to have staphylococcus aureus.      Mean duration of resuturing was 17.42±6.98 days.  Mean baby weight in group I was 2.72±0.53 kg and in group II it was 2.95±0.53 kg (p <0.001).Conclusions: Risk of developing SSI after caesarean section is multi-factorial and found to be influenced by emergency surgery, PROM, pre-operative anaemia, multiple vaginal examinations, interrupted skin suturing, raised BMI, nulliparity, emergency caesarean, duration of surgery

HATF-IX/ NASR - Pakistan's tactical nuclear weapon: implications for Indo-Pak deterrence (NIAS Report No.R17-2013)

On April 19, 2011 Pakistan conducted the first test flight of Hatf-IX (NASR) missile. The Pakistani Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) described the missile as a ‘Short Range Surface to Surface Ballistic Missile’. Till date there have been three tests of the missile system on April 19, 2011, May 29, 2012 and February 11, 2013. After each of the flight tests, the ISPR put out a largely identical press statement which stressed on the point that the “missile has been developed to add deterrence value to Pakistan’s Strategic Weapons Development programme at shorter ranges

Efficient RF-to-DC Converters for Biomedical Implantable Devices

The power management section associated with the biomedical circuit is very crucial and should be optimally designed for optimal utilization of power. This work discusses the different power shaping or conversion circuits that had been taken for their performance analysis. The two-performance metrics power conversion efficiency and susceptibility against the wireless power transfer have been taken to investigate the operational performance of the biomedical circuits against the input signal strength and operating frequencies. Simulated results confirm the CNFET-based circuit performance is very good at a small value of input voltage 0.6V and a broad range of operating frequency (953 MHz). Therefore, a CNFET-based circuit can be used suitably in implantable devices with optimum power utilization and a remote powering mechanism over the RF link

Analysis of human collagen sequences

The extracellular matrix is fast emerging as important component mediating cell-cell interactions, along with its established role as a scaffold for cell support. Collagen, being the principal component of extracellular matrix, has been implicated in a number of pathological conditions. However, collagens are complex protein structures belonging to a large family consisting of 28 members in humans; hence, there exists a lack of in depth information about their structural features. Annotating and appreciating the functions of these proteins is possible with the help of the numerous biocomputational tools that are currently available. This study reports a comparative analysis and characterization of the alpha-1 chain of human collagen sequences. Physico-chemical, secondary structural, functional and phylogenetic classification was carried out, based on which, collagens 12, 14 and 20, which belong to the FACIT collagen family, have been identified as potential players in diseased conditions, owing to certain atypical properties such as very high aliphatic index, low percentage of glycine and proline residues and their proximity in evolutionary history. These collagen molecules might be important candidates to be investigated further for their role in skeletal disorders