India and the World: Understanding new modes of engagement

This working paper looks at India's fast growing and emerging economy and its rise in global power by considering how valid this external perception is when, in reality, India's many States experience widespread conflict, poverty and under-nutrition. This paper reviews some of the future challenges, especially around working in the G20, and in handling issues around Climate Change and conflict over resources, and argues that focused and sustained civil society action is needed to encourage the development of more equitable policies

In the Balance: Press Freedom in South Asia 2007-2008

The challenges for journalists and the media community in South Asia encompass a range of factors that indicate the level of press freedom in any country: Physical attacks, threats and questionable legal actions directed against journalists, media workers and media institutions with the intention of keeping critics quiet; the risks of reporting on events and issues in locations made dangerous by war and violent dissent; official and unofficial censorship; concentration of media ownership and the prevention of access to diverse sources of information; and the extent of transparency and accountability permitted by the local regulatory environment, including freedom of information and labour laws. All these factors are in play, to a lesser or greater extent, in the six countries reviewed. Press freedom cannot, generally speaking, be achieved in isolation. It requires the combined and collaborative efforts of multiple actors: Journalists and their organisations, media owners, political power-holders, community leaders and ordinary people. In this sense, the South Asia Media Solidarity Network (SAMSN), an alliance of journalists’ organisations and press freedom defenders supported by the IFJ, has an important role to play in encouraging South Asia as a whole to embrace press freedom. [Sixth Annual IJF Press Freeedom Report for South Asia]press freedom, labour laws, transparency in the media, accountability of the media, regulatory environment, media ownership, Media Studies, India, South Asia

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Not AvailableThe present study intended to develop improved biopolymer film from seaweed polysaccharides. The quantity optimization of polysaccharides for the composite film was sought by empirical response surface methodology. To achieve the goal, Box – Behnken model was applied to the concentration of three independent variables, viz. agar (1.0 – 2.0 % w / v ), alginate (1.0 – 2.0 % w / v ) and carrageenan (1.0 – 2.0 % w / v ). The glycerol was used as a plasticizer and kept constant (25 % w / w ) for total solid mass. The overall desirability function fits with the quadratic model at 99.78 % level of significance for the optimization of agar (1.99 % w / v), alginate (1.45 w / v) and carrageenan (2.0 % w / v) to reach minimum water vapor permeability and maximum tensile strength, elongation at break and puncture resistance. The absolute residual error (1.04 – 3.37 % ) of experimental and predicted response was also validated. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the interactions such as stretching at 2900 per cm region corresponded to C – H stretching vibration and an intensity peak observed at 1200 cm−1 of AAC film corresponded to sulfate ester groups. The shift in crystalline nature of composite film was confirmed by XRD. The 3D image of atomic force microscopy showed layer-by-layer assembly of intermolecules at 310-nm resolution, and the characterized smooth surface has more functional application. The carrageenan and agar are found to be more responsible for the film properties such as moisture content, thickness, whiteness index, transparency, swelling and erosion than alginate.Not Availabl

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Not AvailableThe aim of the study has been to develop a biodegradable film from marine polysaccharides. The optimization of polysaccharides quantity for the composite film was sought by empirical response surface methodology. The Box–Behnken Model Design was applied to optimize the concentration of chitosan (1.0-2.0% (w/v)), agar (1.0- 2.0% (w/v)) and glycerol (0.1-0.5% (w/v)) as independent variables to achieve the goal. The overall desirability function fits with the quadratic model (0.862043) at a significant level (p < 0.05) for the optimum concentration of chitosan (1.5% (w/v)), agar (2.0% (w/v)) and glycerol (0.41% (w/v)) to obtain the minimum water vapor permeability (7.25 10-10g m m-2 Pa-1 s-1) and maximum tensile strength (12.21 Ma P), elongation at break (7.32%) and puncture resistance (16.18 N) in the optimized composite film. The absolute residual errors of experimental and predicted responses were between 1.24 and 3.56% acceptable levels. Attenuated total reflection–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the intermolecular non-covalent hydrogen bond between the hydroxyl groups of agar and glycerol with the amino group of chitosan. 3D atomic force microscopy images revealed that the chitosan, agar and glycerol film has layer-by-layer smooth surface properties due to homogenous interaction among the polysaccharides; this provides the film with good mechanical properties and with functional application. Chitosan was found to be responsible for the lower level of water vapor permeability and higher puncture resistance of the film. Tensile strength and elongation at break were influenced by agar and glycerol. The whiteness of the film was negatively affected with the concentration of chitosan.Not Availabl