The Sino-Indian border dispute and Asian security

Executive summaryThe border dispute between India and China is long and unique with disputes over length, control and third parties such as Tibet. From 1999 until 2008 India and China made fresh efforts to resolve the dispute, however these have faltered and stalled. The relationship between India and the US is affecting the relationship, both speeding up and slowing down resolution depending who India is focused on, Washington or Beijing. A middle power coalition, free of the US and China is the only way for countries such as India, Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Japan to ensure their security.Policy recommendationsAsian nations must recognize that distancing themselves from the United States will not necessarily win political rewards in Beijing. Deepening ties with the United States must remain a high priority for all of China’s neighbours.Asia’s regional powers, including Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan and Vietnam need to find ways to strengthen security cooperation amongst themselves in a variety of ways and through flexible political arrangements.Although each has a different set of compulsions in relation to China, they share an overriding objective in constructing a middle power coalition that can shape the Asian security order.The coalition must neither be seen as an extension of the American alliance system, nor a counter to it. It is the first step towards constructing an in-situ balance of power in Asia

Effect of laser on the bound magnetic polaron in a semimagnetic quantum wire

In the present investigation binding energy of the laser dressed hydrogenic donor in a Semi magnetic Quantum Wire like Cd1 – xMnx2Te/Cd1 – x1Mnx1Te/Cd1 – x2Mnx2Te and spin polaronic shift has been computed for various magnetic and laser fields within the effective mass approximation in the finite barrier model using variational method. The results are presented and discussed. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/2790

Responding to Indo-Pacific rivalry: Australia, India and middle power coalitions

In this Analysis, Lowy Institute International Security Program Director Rory Medcalf and Nonresident Fellow C. Raja Mohan argue that Chinese assertiveness and uncertainties about America’s role in Indo-Pacific Asia are causing middle powers to look for alternative approaches to regional security. The Analysis argues that enhanced security cooperation between Indo-Pacific middle powers should be extended to the creation of “middle-power coalitions” in the region. Key findings China’s assertiveness and uncertainties about America’s response are causing middle powers in Indo-Pacific Asia to looking beyond traditional approaches to security Cooperation between Indo-Pacific middle power coalitions would build regional resilience against the vagaries of US-China relations India and Australia are well placed to form the core of middle power coalition buildin

The Sino-Indian Border Dispute and Asian Security

In this Centre of Gravity paper, C. Raja Mohan examines the recent Sino-Indian border dispute and the implications for regional security. C. Raja Mohan explores the April-May 2013 dispute, the historical context and past efforts to address the problem by both Delhi and Beijing. Mohan also describes how the dispute illustrates key features of China's strategy and behaviour, with significant implications for all countries in the region, including Australia. This leads the author to argue for a middle power coalition to help provide regional stability

Regulatory Challenges in Clinical Trials: Strategies to Overcome Commonly Observed Deficiencies

140-148Apart from the regular clinical trials, bioavailability/bioequivalence studies are conducted to assess the safety and efficacy of generic drugs, comparing it with a reference listed drug. Clinical trial data is mandatory for further approval of the drug, for it to enter the market. These investigations are strictly regulated by various global and national regulatory authorities. The global clinical trials market is expected to register a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of nearly 4.5% during the forecast period, 2018 to 2023. A major challenge for them to achieve the forecasted growth is meeting the increased level of compliance to the regulations. In recent times the research Organizations have been issued an increased number of warning letters with stringent procedures and even subsequent closure of the organizations. This case study conducted by the review of warning letters and other observations pointed out by two major global regulatory authorities, the FDA and EMA and the critical areas were identified. Recommendations were made for the major areas which were critical and repetitive. It was concluded that consistent methods are required to improve the quality of studies to effectively eliminate the challenges in mere future and contribute for the betterment of the drugs’ market

Two Sides of the Same Story: Alcohol Use and HIV Risk Taking in South India

This qualitative study examines the role of alcohol in sexual risk among male migrant workers and female sex workers in two South Indian states. Most men reported using alcohol for increased energy and courage prior to their sexual experiences and to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation. Sex workers, on the other hand, often stated that they avoided alcohol prior to sex in order to stay alert and reduce the risk of violence. Both groups reported that drinking often increased male aggression and reduced condom use. Research is needed to examine the prevalence of these patterns as well as factors associated with sexual risk and violence, in order to develop targeted interventions for these groups. Future risk reduction programs may benefit from addressing safer ways of meeting the needs expressed by the participants. This may include strategies to defuse volatile situations, safe ways of improving the sexual experience, and interventions aimed at alleviating loneliness and isolation for migrants

Modulation of the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis during malaria/M. tuberculosis co-infection

Tuberculosis (TB) causes significant morbidity and mortality on a global scale. The African region has 24% of the world's TB cases. TB overlaps with other infectious diseases such as malaria and HIV, which are also highly prevalent in the African region. TB is a leading cause of death among HIV-positive patients and co-infection with HIV and TB has been described as a syndemic. In view of the overlapping epidemiology of these diseases, it is important to understand the dynamics of the immune response to TB in the context of co-infection. We investigated the cytokine response to purified protein derivative (PPD) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from TB patients co-infected with HIV or malaria and compared it to that of malaria- and HIV-free TB patients. A total of 231 subjects were recruited for this study and classified into six groups; untreated TB-positive, TB positive subjects on TB drugs, TB- and HIV-positive, TB- and malaria-positive, latent TB and apparently healthy control subjects. Our results demonstrate maintenance of interferon (IFN)-γ production in HIV and malaria co-infected TB patients in spite of lower CD4 counts in the HIV-infected cohort. Malaria co-infection caused an increase in the production of the T helper type 2 (Th2)-associated cytokine interleukin (IL)-4 and the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in PPD-stimulated cultures. These results suggest that malaria co-infection diverts immune response against M. tuberculosis towards a Th-2/anti-inflammatory response which might have important consequences for disease progression

Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) among Tuberculosis Patients: A Study from Chennai, South India

BACKGROUND: Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs) among tuberculosis (TB) patients are associated with nonadherence and poor treatment outcomes. Studies from Tuberculosis Research Centre (TRC), Chennai have reported that alcoholism has been one of the major reasons for default and mortality in under the DOTS programme in South India. Hence, it is planned to conduct a study to estimate prevalence of alcohol use and AUDs among TB patients attending the corporation health centres in Chennai, India. METHODOLOGY: This is a cross-sectional cohort study covering 10 corporation zones at Chennai and it included situational assessment followed by screening of TB patients by a WHO developed Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test AUDIT scale. Four zones were randomly selected and all TB patients treated during July to September 2009 were screened with AUDIT scale for alcohol consumption. RESULTS: Out of 490 patients, 66% were males, 66% were 35 years and above, 57% were married, 58% were from the low monthly income group of <Rs 5000 per month. No females reported alcohol use. Overall, out of 490 TB pts, 29% (141) were found to consume alcohol. Among 141 current drinkers 52% (73) had an AUDIT score of >8. Age (>35 years), education (less educated), income (<Rs 5000 per month), marital status (separated/divorced) and treatment category (Category 2) were statistically significant for TB patients with alcohol use than those TB patients without alcohol use. CONCLUSIONS: AUD among TB patients needs to be addressed urgently and the findings suggest the importance of integrating alcohol treatment into TB care

Gravitational Waves From Known Pulsars: Results From The Initial Detector Era

We present the results of searches for gravitational waves from a large selection of pulsars using data from the most recent science runs (S6, VSR2 and VSR4) of the initial generation of interferometric gravitational wave detectors LIGO (Laser Interferometric Gravitational-wave Observatory) and Virgo. We do not see evidence for gravitational wave emission from any of the targeted sources but produce upper limits on the emission amplitude. We highlight the results from seven young pulsars with large spin-down luminosities. We reach within a factor of five of the canonical spin-down limit for all seven of these, whilst for the Crab and Vela pulsars we further surpass their spin-down limits. We present new or updated limits for 172 other pulsars (including both young and millisecond pulsars). Now that the detectors are undergoing major upgrades, and, for completeness, we bring together all of the most up-to-date results from all pulsars searched for during the operations of the first-generation LIGO, Virgo and GEO600 detectors. This gives a total of 195 pulsars including the most recent results described in this paper.United States National Science FoundationScience and Technology Facilities Council of the United KingdomMax-Planck-SocietyState of Niedersachsen/GermanyAustralian Research CouncilInternational Science Linkages program of the Commonwealth of AustraliaCouncil of Scientific and Industrial Research of IndiaIstituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare of ItalySpanish Ministerio de Economia y CompetitividadConselleria d'Economia Hisenda i Innovacio of the Govern de les Illes BalearsNetherlands Organisation for Scientific ResearchPolish Ministry of Science and Higher EducationFOCUS Programme of Foundation for Polish ScienceRoyal SocietyScottish Funding CouncilScottish Universities Physics AllianceNational Aeronautics and Space AdministrationOTKA of HungaryLyon Institute of Origins (LIO)National Research Foundation of KoreaIndustry CanadaProvince of Ontario through the Ministry of Economic Development and InnovationNational Science and Engineering Research Council CanadaCarnegie TrustLeverhulme TrustDavid and Lucile Packard FoundationResearch CorporationAlfred P. Sloan FoundationAstronom

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far