The Rationality of Politics in Uttar Pradesh : Towards a Re-evaluation of the Concept of Factionalism

In this paper, competition between political actors in Uttar Pradesh (UP) is conceptualized as defying the commonly held assumptions on political behaviour in a democratic state. The party system in UP from 1993 onwards is characterized as a highly polarized and fragmented, but at the same time surprisingly stable tri-polar multi-party system, in which no party or alliance of parties is able to establish itself as a dominant political actor, primarily due to the parties’ reliance on informal political networks. The argument aims at making a case for a re-evaluation of Brass’ concept of factionalism (Brass 1965) with special reference to the changed and changing relationship between caste and state-level politics. It is argued that the behaviour of political actors at the state level is determined to a large extent by the process of alliance formation between communities at the constituency level aimed at establishing a favourable position for that community regarding access to state resources. In this process, community-based homogenous voting behaviour of several politically important social groups is linked to the formation and maintenance of political networks of support designed to maximize benefits for the political actors involved. Under these circumstances, and given the almost complete absence of ideological compulsions, political actors display a significant amount of flexibility in switching their loyalties between factions and parties. The use of caste in politics is conceptualized as primarily strategic and based on its relevant organizational properties

A Review of Developmentally Appropriate Evidence-Based Effective Parenting and Resources for Parents

Krisma Counseling, a counseling center located in rural southern Minnesota, offers high quality and affordable consumer-centered mental health services to individuals, families, couples, including in-home therapy. In order to provide adequate services and care that abides by the Nation Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, there needs to be standard ethical practice rooted in evidence based literature. The purpose of this project was to research developmentally appropriate evidence-based effective parenting and create a resource guide for clinicians to use in their work with parents of children ages two to 17

Czochralski growth of Yb3+ and Pr3+ doped Ca-fluoroapatite

Pure, Pr3+, and Yb3+ doped Ca-fluoroapatite (Ca-FAP) crystals were grown by the Czochralski method. The effective distribution coefficient keff for Yb3+ was 0.5. For Pr3+ a very high keff of 1.4 was obtained. Values for keff are discussed in terms of an elastic model accounting for the strain energy originating from the difference in the size of Ln3+ ions. The Ln3+ concentrations were measured by absorbance spectroscopy, by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, and by electron microprobe analyse

Identification of the protease cleavage sites in a reconstituted Gag polyprotein of an HERV-K(HML-2) element

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The human genome harbors several largely preserved HERV-K(HML-2) elements. Although this retroviral family comes closest of all known HERVs to producing replication competent virions, mutations acquired during their chromosomal residence have rendered them incapable of expressing infectious particles. This also holds true for the HERV-K113 element that has conserved open reading frames (ORFs) for all its proteins in addition to a functional LTR promoter. Uncertainty concerning the localization and impact of post-insertional mutations has greatly hampered the functional characterization of these ancient retroviruses and their proteins. However, analogous to other betaretroviruses, it is known that HERV-K(HML-2) virions undergo a maturation process during or shortly after release from the host cell. During this process, the subdomains of the Gag polyproteins are released by proteolytic cleavage, although the nature of the mature HERV-K(HML-2) Gag proteins and the exact position of the cleavage sites have until now remained unknown.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By aligning the amino acid sequences encoded by the <it>gag-pro-pol </it>ORFs of HERV-K113 with the corresponding segments from 10 other well-preserved human specific elements we identified non-synonymous post-insertional mutations that have occurred in this region of the provirus. Reversion of these mutations and a partial codon optimization facilitated the large-scale production of maturation-competent HERV-K113 virus-like particles (VLPs). The Gag subdomains of purified mature VLPs were separated by reversed-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography and initially characterized using specific antibodies. Cleavage sites were identified by mass spectrometry and N-terminal sequencing and confirmed by mutagenesis. Our results indicate that the <it>gag </it>gene product Pr74^Gagof HERV-K(HML-2) is processed to yield p15-MA (matrix), SP1 (spacer peptide of 14 amino acids), p15, p27-CA (capsid), p10-NC (nucleocapsid) and two C-terminally encoded glutamine- and proline-rich peptides, QP1 and QP2, spanning 23 and 19 amino acids, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Expression of reconstituted sequences of original HERV elements is an important tool for studying fundamental aspects of the biology of these ancient viruses. The analysis of HERV-K(HML-2) Gag processing and the nature of the mature Gag proteins presented here will facilitate further studies of the discrete functions of these proteins and of their potential impact on the human host.</p

Abetting the market: on property, propriety and actually existing capitalisms

Global Challenges (FGGA

Translating transactions: markets as epistemic and moral spheres

In this Modern Asian Studies book symposium, scholars of South Asia analyse the political, ethical, and epistemic aspects of market life. They build on the 2020 Cambridge volume, Rethinking Markets in Modern India: Embedded Exchange and Contested Jurisdiction, edited by Ajay Gandhi, Barbara Harriss-White, Douglas Haynes, and Sebastian Schwecke. This interdisciplinary conversation approaches transactional realms from the disciplines of history, anthropology, development studies, and political economy. The symposium’s contributors examine a range of pertinent issues that encompass customary forms of exchange and capitalist aspects of trade. Among the topics discussed are those of market fetishism, bazaar knowledge, social embeddedness, forms of transactional representation and translation, and institutional and regulatory contexts for commerce.Global Challenges (FGGA

Czochralski growth of Yb3+ and Pr3+ doped Ca-fluoroapatite

Pure, Pr3+, and Yb3+ doped Ca-fluoroapatite (Ca-FAP) crystals were grown by the Czochralski method. The effective distribution coefficient keff for Yb3+ was 0.5. For Pr3+ a very high keff of 1.4 was obtained. Values for keff are discussed in terms of an elastic model accounting for the strain energy originating from the difference in the size of Ln3+ ions. The Ln3+ concentrations were measured by absorbance spectroscopy, by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy, and by electron microprobe analyses