Changing Voting Patterns in Rural West Bengal Role of Clientelism and Local Public Goods

This paper uses two successive rounds of voter surveys in rural West Bengal in a household panel to find reasons for the recent decline in the Left Front's political popularity. It does not find evidence of any significant role of changes in voter age distribution, media exposure, private benefits received from development and welfare programmes administered by local governments, or the vote-generating effectiveness of such programmes. A more important role was played by voter dissatisfaction with local leaders on corruption and lack of involvement in the provision of education services, and with non-local leaders on attitudes towards women, the poor, and local communities

Immediate induction of labor in premature rupture of membranes at term (PROMT)-vaginal Misoprostol tablet versus PGE2 gel: a randomized comparative study

Background: The aim of the study is to compare immediate induction with vaginal misoprostol tablet and immediate induction with vaginal PGE2 gel in women with premature rupture of membranes at term (PROMT).Methods: Nine hundred thirty-two women with PROM at term were assigned randomly to receive intravaginal 25μg misoprostol tablet, 4 hourly with a maximum of 5 doses or 0.5 mg vaginal PGE2 gel 6 hourly with a maximum of 2 doses. The primary outcome measures were cesarean section rate, admission to delivery interval and induction to delivery interval. Secondary outcomes included, mode of delivery, and maternal and neonatal safety outcome. Results were calculated applying Fisher Exact Test, Chi square test, t test and calculating the P-value using an alpha level of 0.05 for Type I error.Results: The mean time from admission to delivery was 13.16 hours in the misoprostol group and 13.56 hours in the PGE2 group (P= 0.3014). Induction to delivery interval was also comparable between the groups (10.23 h versus 10.18 h).Caesarean section rate did not differ significantly between groups (12.13% versus 15.74% ,P=0.135 RR 0.783 95% CI 0.568-1.079).More women in misoprostol group had instrumental delivery (7.57% versus 4.25%, P=0.031, RR 1.089 95% CI 1.04-3.03).The  neonatal outcomes were comparable between the groups . Maternal outcomes were not significantly different except incidence of analgesic use (P=0.009 RR 1.62 95% CI 1.03-1.30), meconium stained liquor (P=.0096 RR 2.03 CI 1.17-3.53) and   number of digital vaginal examinations (P<.0001) in misoprostol group.Conclusions: Vaginal misoprostol is equally efficacious in labor induction and demonstrates a similar fetal and maternal safety profile to PGE2 gel

A Combination Theorem for Metric Bundles

We define metric bundles/metric graph bundles which provide a purely topological/coarse-geometric generalization of the notion of trees of metric spaces a la Bestvina-Feighn in the special case that the inclusions of the edge spaces into the vertex spaces are uniform coarsely surjective quasi-isometries. We prove the existence of quasi-isometric sections in this generality. Then we prove a combination theorem for metric (graph) bundles (including exact sequences of groups) that establishes sufficient conditions, particularly flaring, under which the metric bundles are hyperbolic. We use this to give examples of surface bundles over hyperbolic disks, whose universal cover is Gromov-hyperbolic. We also show that in typical situations, flaring is also a necessary condition.Comment: v3: Major revision: 56 pages 5 figures. Many details added. Characterization of convex cocompact subgroups of mapping class groups of surfaces with punctures in terms of relative hyperbolicity given v4: Final version incorporating referee comments: 63 pages 5 figures. To appear in Geom. Funct. Ana

A multi-channel multiple access scheme using frequency offsets — Modelling and analysis

A system using frequency offset based transmit- reference (TR) modulation allows multiple nodes to transmit simultaneously and asynchronously without any mutual timing coordination. Thus, such a system provides inherent capabilities for a multiple access in the medium access control (MAC) layer to coordinate the shared use of the common wireless medium among the nodes of the wireless sensor network (WSN). However, certain characteristics of a frequency offset based system limits its performance, for example, the number of available frequency offsets is limited as it depends on several system parameters, and the number of simultaneous communications using different frequency offsets is limited due to inter-user interference. In this paper, we introduce an extended version of the performance model of a basic slotted- Aloha system, that captures the basic phenomena of a multi- channel system with a limited set of channels and a limit to the number of simultaneously used channels. An analysis of this model reveals the potential of a MAC protocol for TR modulation with frequency offsets

Quantification and visualization of the variability of phytoplankton assemblage in a semi-lotic seasonal Canal in Sundarbans, India

Canals of Sundarbans in India are highly vulnerable to anthropogenic pressures which directly or indirectly impact the biological components of such ecosystems. Being at the base of the trophic pyramid, phytoplankton is exposed to environmental stressors and the impact will be reflected in the upper strata of the aquatic food chain. Hence, phytoplankton communities along with their interrelationship with environmental parameters were assessed in Bhetkimari canal, a semi-lotic system in Indian Sundarbans during June 2017 to September 2018. Seventy-seven species under 66 genera were recorded with Cyanophyceae (34%) as a major contributor, followed by Bacillariophyceae (31%) and Chlorophyceae (22%). Diatoms dominated round the year in terms of diversity (25 species) with maximum contribution from Pennales. ANOVA (post-hoc test) showed significant temporal heterogeneity (p≤0.05) in phytoplankton distribution in the canal. The Margalef richness index (d) and Shannon-Weiner diversity index (H′) were 2.59±0.43 and 2.26±0.59, respectively indicating that the environment is good and phytoplankton diversity in the system is moderate. Water temperature, dissolved oxygen, total alkalinity and nutrients (nitrate, silicate and phosphate) were the explanatory variables in shaping the phytoplankton assemblages in the canal, which was evident from Canonical correspondence analysis. The salient findings of this study can add to the existing knowledge on the abundance and d

Grey zone lesions of breast: Potential areas of error in cytology

Fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) of the breast is a rapid, cost-effective, and sensitive procedure to diagnose breast lesions, and was widely employed to diagnose breast lesions in the past. However, in recent times, core needle biopsy of the breast is gaining popularity and acceptability, although FNAC still looms large. There are some intrinsic disadvantages to FNAC, of which the most important is probably difficulty in classification of a significant percentage of breast lesions. Such lesions are usually denoted by the rubric "grey zone lesions of the breast." This article attempts to review these grey zone lesions and highlight the difficulties in diagnosing them

Retinal detachment associated with thalassemia major and Marfan′s syndrome-A case report

The thalassaemias, unlike a few other disorders of the haemopoietic system, are very rarely accompanied by ophthalmological changed. Marfan′s Syndrome, on the other hand, exhibits a number of ocular manifestations². This article describes a case of uniocular retinal detachment associated with both these condition