Towards conceptualizing child wellbeing in India: The need for a paradigm shift

Globally, there is a vast array of social indicators, many of these specifically oriented to the lives, experience and needs of children. This approach is much more advanced in developed economies and rich countries, where the focus has widened and shifted progressively towards a full recognition of the nonmonetary dimensions of child wellbeing. At present, there would appear to be a propitious academic, activist and policy conjuncture for the widening of the discourse on child deprivation in India. This environment is created partly by the emerging reporting requirements and exhortations of the international development regime. But it is also fuelled by dissatisfaction over the inability of the existing methodologies, dominated by the reductionist monetary poverty line approach, to provide a meaningful intellectual or operational frame for contending with issues of child wellbeing in a holistic manner. The basic argument of this paper is that a double paradigm shift is urgently necessary: from mainstream approaches which tend to focus overwhelmingly on the material poverty and deprivation experienced by some children, deemed by definition to be those in households-in-poverty, to one that widens the field of vision to include both material and non-material dimensions of wellbeing of all children. Clearly, fresh epistemological and methodological challenges will have to be met with innovative and creative responses. It is time for India to catch up with best practices in rich countries, and given the impressive dimensions of India's academic and professional infrastructure, this should not be an unrealistic goal

From Poverty to Wellbeing: Alternative Approaches to the Recognition of Child Deprivation in India

Ways of seeing influence ways of doing; so there is much to be gained potentially by a thorough stock-taking and interrogation of the habitual methods and techniques employed in the field of child poverty measurement in India. The basic argument of this paper is that a paradigm shift is urgently necessary: from the mainstream approach which tends to focus overwhelmingly on the material poverty and deprivation experienced by some children, deemed by definition to be those in households-in-poverty, to one that widens the field of vision to include both material and non-material dimensions of wellbeing of all children. Such a shift carries significant implications for modes of conceptualization and recognition; for the focus and substantive content of analysis, for the choice of methods and tools, for the framing and design of policies and interventions, and more generally for the scope of debates and discourse pertaining to the development rights of children

Search for a Signal on QCD Critical Point in Central Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions

We discuss that the QCD critical point could appear in central collisions in percolation cluster. We suggest using the nuclear transparency effect and the one of the light nuclear production to identify the critical point.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Ultra-Relativistic Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (QM2008), Jaipur, India, February 4-10, 200

Prognostic and therapeutic implications of mTORC1 and Rictor expression in human breast cancer

The mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a key role in the regulation of cellular metabolism, growth and proliferation. It forms two multi-protein complexes known as complex 1 (mTORC1) and 2 (mTORC2). Raptor and Rictor are the core proteins for mTORC1 and mTORC2, respectively. This study examines the relationship between mTORC1, Rictor and Raptor mRNA expression and human breast cancer. Furthermore, the correlation between mTORC1 and hTERT was investigated. Breast cancer tissues (n=150) and normal tissues (n=31) were analysed using reverse transcription and quantitative PCR. Transcript levels were correlated with clinicopathological data. Higher mTOR expression was noted in breast cancer tissue (P=0.0018), higher grade tumours (grade 2 vs. 3, P=0.047), in ductal tumours (P=0.0014), and was associated with worse overall survival (P=0.01). Rictor expression was significantly higher in background breast tissues compared with tumours and was inversely related to the Nottingham Prognostic Index (NPI1 vs. 2, P=0.03) and tumour grade (grade 1 vs. 3, P=0.01) and was associated with better overall (P=0.037) and disease-free survival (P=0.048). The mRNA expression of Raptor was higher in tumours compared with normal tissues. Furthermore, the expression of Raptor was associated with a higher tumour grade (grade 1 vs. 3, P=0.027). A highly significant positive correlation between mTOR and hTERT (P<0.00001) was observed. These observations are consistent with the role of mTORC1 in the anti-apoptosis pathway and suggest that selective inhibitors of mTORC1 may be more efficacious in human breast cancer. Our findings support the hypothesis that mTORC1 is an important upregulator of telomerase in breast cancer

REKAYASA TANGKI MINI BERARUS (MINI FLUME TANK) UNTUK PENELITIAN TINGKAH LAKU RENANG IKAN

This research was carried out to construct mini flume tank that is reliable and ideal used for fish swimming behavior research through a series testing the flume tank technical performance. The mini flume tank has a maximum water velocity 85 cm/s (1.7 knots), with dimensions of 250 x 135 x 55 cm, and water capacity 155 litres. Based on observation, the field observation is clearly visible due to minimal air bubbles in the water velocity. Observations can be conducted from the two view fields (top and side) that allow observation of swimming endurance and fish tail flick easily. The water velocity is in laminar category at each level of the tested speeds.The rpm of engines is relatively stable for more than 200 minutes. Engine temperature is below 60 oC at frequency of 10 to 40 Hz. At frequency of 50 Hz the temperature reached 60 °C in 25 minutes and stable at 73oC after an hour. Water temperature changes during the test for more than 200 minutes at different speeds which have differences of 0.2 to 1.8 oC. The test result showed that the mini flume tank performance was reliable and ideal used for fish swimming behavior research

Interactions between learner’s beliefs, behaviour and environment in online learning: Path analysis

Introduction: Although, several factors have been identified as significant determinants in online learning, the human interactions with those factors and their effect on academic achievement are not fully elucidated. This study aims to determine the effect of self-regulated learning (SRL) on achievement in online learning through exploring the relations and interaction of the conception of learning, online discussion, and the e-learning experience. Methods: A non-probability convenience sample of 128 learners in the Health Professions Education program through online learning filled-out three self-reported questionnaires to assess SRL strategies, the conception of learning, the quality of e-Learning experience and online discussion. A scoring rubric was used to assess the online discussion contributions. A path analysis model was developed to examine the effect of self-regulated learning on achievement in online learning through exploring the relations and interaction among the other factors. Results: Path analysis showed that SRL has a statistically significant relationship with the quality of e-learning experience, and the conception of learning. On the other hand, there was no correlation with academic achievement and online discussion. However, academic achievement did show a correlation with online discussion. Conclusion: The study showed a dynamic interaction between the students’ beliefs and the surrounding environment that can significantly and directly affect their behaviour in online learning. Moreover, online discussion is an essential activity in online learning

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF Mg-Al ALLOYS FOR HYDROGEN STORAGE APPLICATIONS

Mg-Al system and 2mol% Ni additive nano catalyst in the particle size range of 30-45 nm were synthesized at relatively low temperature by thermal decomposition of co- 4 and [Ni(Bipy

F-theory on Genus-One Fibrations

We argue that M-theory compactified on an arbitrary genus-one fibration, that is, an elliptic fibration which need not have a section, always has an F-theory limit when the area of the genus-one fiber approaches zero. Such genus-one fibrations can be easily constructed as toric hypersurfaces, and various $SU(5)\times U(1)^n$ and $E_6$ models are presented as examples. To each genus-one fibration one can associate a $\tau$-function on the base as well as an $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ representation which together define the IIB axio-dilaton and 7-brane content of the theory. The set of genus-one fibrations with the same $\tau$-function and $SL(2,\mathbb{Z})$ representation, known as the Tate-Shafarevich group, supplies an important degree of freedom in the corresponding F-theory model which has not been studied carefully until now. Six-dimensional anomaly cancellation as well as Witten's zero-mode count on wrapped branes both imply corrections to the usual F-theory dictionary for some of these models. In particular, neutral hypermultiplets which are localized at codimension-two fibers can arise. (All previous known examples of localized hypermultiplets were charged under the gauge group of the theory.) Finally, in the absence of a section some novel monodromies of Kodaira fibers are allowed which lead to new breaking patterns of non-Abelian gauge groups.Comment: 53 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables. v2: references adde