India’s new Asia-Pacific strategy: Modi acts East

In this Lowy Institute Analysis, Danielle Rajendram examines India’s Look East Policy, and argues that the Modi Government will prioritise even closer engagement with the Asia-Pacific. Key findings India’s Look East Policy has shaped its engagement with the Asia-Pacific for over two decades, and, in recent years, has been driven by an external balancing strategy against China’s influence in the Indian Ocean, as well as India’s desire for a greater global role. The BJP’s overwhelming electoral mandate will provide Prime Minister Modi with the opportunity to transform India into a serious strategic player in East and Southeast Asia. The Modi Government will pursue a greater role in the Asia-Pacific in line with India’s growing economic and strategic interests, based on practical partnerships with Japan, Vietnam, Australia, and ASEAN

A Prospective Open Labelled Non Randomized Phase-II Clinical Trial of “Kadukkai Chooranam for Akkini Selathumam (Diabetic Neuropathy)

Diabetes Mellitus is one of the most prevalent and serious metabolic diseases in the world which is predicted to increase dramatically. Diabetes is frequently associated with long term complications with macrovascular and microvascular origin. Diabetic neuropathy AKKINI SELATHUMAM) is one of the most common complications of diabetes mellitus. It is the most common neuropathy; it is estimated that about 50 percent of patients with diabetes mellitus will eventually develop some form of neuropathy. The study was aimed at evaluating clinical efficacy of the herbal formulation of KADUKKAI CHOORANAM (KC) on AKKINI SELATHUMAM in patients with type-II diabetes. This study is an open labelled non randomized Phase-II clinical trial spanning 90 days. About 40 subjects of age range between 40-70 years. In all 40 diabetic patients who were under treatment were randomly sampled for the study. Socio- demographic data were collected using predesigned questionnaires. Glycated haemoglobin levels, lipid profile, HBA1-C, fasting blood sugar and other haematological investigations were estimated using standard procedures before and after treatment. Diabetic Neuropathy was defined as per Use of the leeds assessment of neuropathic symptoms and signs pain scale. The Statistical analysis was done by SPSS statistical package version 20.0. Paired 2 tailed test revealed that the fasting (P<0.0001) and postprandial blood glucose (0.0001) and HbA1c (P<0.0001), in lipid profile TC (p<0.0001), LDL (p<0.0001), HDL (<0.0001) and TGL (p<0.0001) showed significant reduction after Kadukkai chooranam intervention. The liver, renal functions along with the haematological parameters were well within the normal range. The trial drug subjected to biochemical and pharmacological studies and gave significant results also. The results KC to be beneficial for the treatment of Akkini selathumam (Diabetic Neuropathy) in type-II diabetes; further follow-up studies are warranted to confirm the safety aspects of kadukkai Chooranam use

BEHAVIOURAL ANALYSIS OF PIGS WHEN PRESENTED WITH PEA-DIETS

The high dietary energy and acceptable digestible lysine content of field peas in comparison to soybean meal should allow for their incorporation into a wide range of diets. However, in part because of concerns over palatability, usage is limited in diets for swine. The objectives of this study were 1) to determine if peas reduce feed intake and if the pattern of consumption is indicative of a taste effect or post-ingestive feedback 2) to determine whether post-ingestive feedback plays a role in pigs’ aversion to peas and 3) to determine the effect of peas on the feeding behavior of pigs. Experiment 1 examined the effect of level of pea inclusion on feed consumption. Fifty mixed gender pigs (9 weeks old) were fed 5 treatment diets (basal soy diet, 20, 40, 60% peas, canola control) in a completely randomized design for 10 days. The peas were added at the expense of wheat and soy to the basal soy diet. The canola diet was required to evaluate the response to a novel diet. No dietary effects were seen as consumption levels were not different for either 20, 40 or 60% pea diets, compared to the soy basal or canola control diets (P = 0.16). Experiment 2 was designed to examine post-ingestive feedback effects of peas. Twenty mixed gender pigs (8 weeks old) were fed either a 60% pea or a 10% canola diet on alternate days for 10 days. The diets were flavored with 6 gm/kg of either orange or grape Kool-AidTM, with 10 pigs receiving peas/grape and canola/orange, and 10 receiving peas/orange and canola/grape on alternate days. Pigs were then presented with both an orange flavored and grape flavored basal diet to assess flavor preferences. The assumption is that if a diet produced negative post-ingestive feedback it would reduce feed consumption of the associated flavor during preference testing. Pigs did not exhibit a preference for either grape over orange flavor (P = 0.46). This was irrespective of which diet had previously been associated with grape flavoring, as evidenced by the similarity in feed intake between the two diets (0.88 ± 0.3 and 0.89 ± 0.2 kg for pea and canola-based diets, respectively; mean ± SD, P = 0.94). Experiment 3 was conducted to study the short term feeding behavior of grower pigs when presented with novel pea diets. Five dietary treatments which included peas from two sources and two grinds and a control soy meal diet were used. The results of the analysis of the eating behavior showed differences in the number of meals, average meal duration and average eating time per meal (P < 0.01) between pea diets and soybean meal diet. The pigs fed pea diets had shorter meals than the ones on control (12.2 vs 14.7 ± 1.04 minutes) but the meals were more frequent (12.6 vs 9.3 ± 1.25). The presence of peas affected feeding behavior but it was transitory. Moreover, the change in behavior did not affect the feed intake of the pigs. The above experiments indicate that it is possible to include high levels of peas in pig diets without affecting feed intake. In conclusion, peas used in this study did not have any palatability issues suggesting that pea inclusion in diets does not affect feed intake

Supporting Young Learners Through a Multimodal Digital Storytelling Activity

This paper presents the results of a small-scale qualitative case study that explored a tutor’s role in supporting young learners through a digital storytelling (DS) activity through Microsoft PowerPoint. The two children who participated in this study were in grade one and attended private schools in Canada. Participatory observations, field notes, interviews, the children’s narratives, and observational narratives were the primary sources of data. The children carried out a DS activity during three separate sessions for each child that involved planning the story, enacting the story, creating and editing a storyboard with cameras and computers, and lastly, celebrating the stories they produced with their family members. We found that the tutor played an important role in making the activity purposeful, authentic, and passion-led (Anderson, 2016). We also found that the tutor helped the children represent and understand meaning through an integration of modes, supported their use of technology, engaged their interest throughout the activity, and encouraged self-reflection on their narrative writing skills. Our findings point to the need for future research on how digital storytelling activities can be carried out in mainstream classroom settings, where teachers can schedule one-on-one conference sessions to support children as they become multimodal composers

Solid Waste Disposal and Management Practices at Kinniya Urban Council, Trincomalee

Solid waste disposal is not only a serious problem in the capital city of Colombo but also in other urban areas like Kinniya. Study area is facing enormous environmental problems such as a musty smell in the air and spreading of dengue diseases etc. The prime objectives of the study are to find the sources of solid waste generation, to measure the quantity, categorize the types of waste composition. To achieve these goals primary and secondary data were used. For household survey 212 families were selected from 17 Grama Niladhari divisions using stratified random sampling method and daily wastes were measured from all selected households for a period of one month. Further, 79 samples were randomly selected from commercial centers and institutions. Collected data were analyzed using mixed method. The linear regression model was applied to study the relationship between population and waste generation. The spatial maps were prepared by using Arc GIS 10.4 software. The average quantity of daily waste of study area is 27396Kg, Out of these, 67% of waste was generated by the households, 30% by commercial centers, industries and remaining others. A high positive relationship is observed between population growth and waste generation (r2=0.9769). The results of the types of waste show that about 60% of the waste is biodegradable. Plastic (9%), polythene (7%) and papers (6%), cloths (1%), glass (0.7%) and metal (0.6%) are comparatively less. Perhaps importantly about 52% of waste not collected due to inability. Neither the availability of suitable dumping sites nor proper treatment process are the causes for waste accumulation and environmental degradation.DOI: http://doi.org/10.31357/fhss/vjhss.v05i02.0

Temporal Changes of Land Use Pattern in Batticaloa Municipal Council, Sri Lanka

Batticaloa, one of the fastest-growing cities in Sri Lanka, is the most vital urban agglomeration that should concentrate on the temporal changes in land use. Seven (7) land use categories, namely commercial, residential, agricultural, scrubland, mangroves, water bodies, and barren land in Batticaloa, have changed by the different purposes of utilization. This study aims to identify the land-use changes of the Batticaloa Municipal Council from 1980 to 2018. Primary and secondary data collection methods were used to gather the data for analysis. Maximum likelihood classification method was used to interpret the maps. The comparison was made to the various land use categories in 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2018. The temporal pattern of land-use change was presented via a comparison of those periods of land use maps. ArcGIS 10.4.1 and MS Excel 2013 were used to interpret the maps and analyze data. The study revealed that there were major land-use changes identified in the study area between 1980 and 2018. Commercial and residential areas increased by 20.17 ha and 1148.57 ha, respectively. Barren land and agricultural land lost 769.54 ha and 301.99 ha, respectively. The certain extent of rest land use categories was converted into some other land use category during these periods. The effects of human activities are immediate and often radical, while the natural effects are relatively long. However, the recommendations are to the future land use planning, protecting mangrove resources through land-use strategies by the government, community participation, and encouraging the approval of urban planners to make decisions about urban development.KEYWORDS: Land use changes, Temporal pattern, Barren land, Plannin

Unilateral congenital non-syndromic retinal vessel dilation and tortuosity

Purpose: To present a case of atypical unilateral developmental retinal vascular anomaly. Observations: A 10-year-old girl presented to her paediatrician after an absent red reflex was noted in a photograph. She had right anisometropic amblyopia and right iris heterochromia, but was otherwise healthy, with no visual complaints. Fundus examination revealed abnormal right retinal vasculature in keeping with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM). OCTA performed at age 16, showed large aberrant veins in the right eye, whereas OCTA B-Scans showed that the same eye had significantly higher retinal blood perfusion than the unaffected eye. Conclusions and Importance: OCTA is a valuable, non-invasive emerging method of evaluating patients with AVMs, with this patient having a unique unilateral presentation of a developmental anomaly, without evidence of progression or other vessel malformation. OCTA allowed assessment of flow between the affected and non-affected eye, quantifying the greater blood perfusion in the affected eye due to the AVM

Examining Teacher Candidates’ Pedagogical Practices and Stances Towards Translanguaging and Multimodality in Writing

This study examines pre-service teacher candidates’ (TCs) stances and use of translanguaging and multimodality to support K-12 multilingual learners’ writing. Data were drawn from a course on supporting multilingual learners in a teacher education program in Ontario. Data sources were responses to the Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Language- Inclusive Teaching (PeCK–LIT) Test, and TCs’ unit plans and lesson plans. Analytical codes were derived from the literature on translanguaging: monolingual and translanguaging stance, translanguaging as a scaffold and resource, teacher-directed and student-directed, intentional and spontaneous translanguaging, and supporting monomodality and multimodality. Findings demonstrate the use of translanguaging strategies such as multilingual word walls and online translation tools. However, there were constraints to TCs’ stances, such as allowing translanguaging as a temporary scaffold towards English-only instruction and approaching writing as a discrete rather than multimodal skill. The paper recommends ways TCs can be supported in developing a holistic understanding of translanguaging and multimodality.Cette étude explore les postures des personnes enseignantes en formation initiale et leur utilisation du translanguaging et de la multimodalité pour soutenir l'écriture des apprenants multilingues de la maternelle à la 12e année. Les données, recueillies dans le cadre d'un cours portant sur les apprenants multilingues dans un programme de formation des enseignants en Ontario, proviennent de réponses au test Pedagogical Content Knowledge for Language-Inclusive Teaching (PeCK-LIT) et des plans de cours de ces personnes enseignantes en formation initiale. Les codes analytiques qui ont guidé l’analyses sont : posture monolingue et translanguaging, translanguaging comme soutien et ressource, translanguaging dirigé par l'enseignant et par l'élève, translanguaging intentionnel et spontané, et soutien à la mono- et à la multimodalité. Les résultats indiquent le recours à des stratégies de translanguaging. Cependant, ces stratégies sont parfois misent en œuvre de façon restrictive, notamment, permettre le translanguaging comme soutien temporaire vers un enseignement exclusivement en anglais ou encore aborder la didactique de l'écriture comme une compétence isolée plutôt que multimodale. Les auteurs proposent des moyens afin de soutenir les personnes enseignantes en formation à développer une compréhension holistique du translanguaging et de la multimodalité

Site Response of Organic Soils

A primary source of uncertainty in any evaluation of the seismic stability of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta levee system is the site response characteristics of the shallow organic soils that commonly underlay the levees. This paper provides an overview of recent research on the site response characteristics of organic soils using centrifuge and numerical modeling. The centrifuge modeling effort included the development of techniques to measure the shear wave velocity profile for a centrifuge model while in-flight. One-dimensional site response analyses using an equivalent linear procedure were performed with the measured shear wave velocity profiles and the modulus reduction and damping relationships determined from prior laboratory studies. Good agreement was obtained between the numerical simulations and the centrifuge model recordings