Marriage murders and anti-caste feminist politics in India

This paper investigates the complex nexus between inter-caste marriages and escalating caste politics in India. While much literature justifiably focuses on rising Islamophobia in the country, this paper considers the ‘love jihad’ phenomenon and extreme forms of violence against individuals in inter-caste or inter-religious marriages, particularly since 2014. The politics and practice of inter-caste choice marriages in India raise fundamental questions about the institution of marriage itself. The paper reviews relevant literature and draws on cases reported in the media to propose a deeper interpretation of the role of caste in marriage murders. It further explores several powerful critiques from the past of the institution and practice of arranged marriage in India. It concludes by highlighting the need for an anti-caste, feminist perspective in these debates, as increasing numbers of marriage murders have coincided with an exoticization of India's culture of arranged marriages and caste hierarchies globally.</p

Captive Breeding and Nursery Rearing of the Indian Seahorse, Hippocampus kuda (Teleostei: Syngnathidae)

Breeding of laboratory-reared 21 pairs of broodstock Hippocampus kuda (Bleeker 1852) and rearing of their young ones indicated that 262.00 ± 59.00 offsprings were released during each spawning. A newly born seahorse was (mean ± SE) 7.83 ± 0.11 mm in length with a weight of 1.17 ± 0.009 mg. It could attain a mean length of 31.14 ± 0.66 mm with a mean weight of 16.13 ± 0.60 mg in 30 days when fed ad libitum with Artemia nauplii. The mean survival per brood cycle was enhanced to 65.22 ± 1.87% from almost less than 1.0% by improving the rearing conditions

Observing CMB polarisation through ice

Ice crystal clouds in the upper troposphere can generate polarisation signals at the uK level. This signal can seriously affect very sensitive ground based searches for E- and B-mode of Cosmic Microwave Background polarisation. In this paper we estimate this effect within the ClOVER experiment observing bands (97, 150 and 220 GHz) for the selected observing site (Llano de Chajnantor, Atacama desert, Chile). The results show that the polarisation signal from the clouds can be of the order of or even bigger than the CMB expected polarisation. Climatological data suggest that this signal is fairly constant over the whole year in Antarctica. On the other hand the stronger seasonal variability in Atacama allows for a 50% of clean observations during the dry season.Comment: 7 Pages, 4 figure

Professional development of academic library professionals in Kerala / Susan Mathew K, Baby, M.D, and Sreerekha Pillai S

The paper aims to bring out the problems and prospects of the professional development opportunities of academic library professionals in the Universities in Kerala. The study is a part of research undertaken to survey the professional development activities and educational needs of library professionals in the major Universities of Kerala because of the developments in Information communication technology. The study recommends methods for improving the knowledge/skills of library professionals. The aim of the study is to evaluate the professional development activities of Library professionals and their attitude towards continuing education programmes. In order to achieve the objectives of the study a survey was conducted with the help of structured questionnaires distributed to 203 library professionals in seven major universities in Kerala, (South India) of which 185 questionnaires were returned. Results of the analysis show that majority of the professionals have pursued higher degrees in library science or IT allied courses after entering the profession, and that they have a positive attitude towards participation in training programmes and workshops. The results show that developments in ICT have a positive influence on majority of library professionals‘ attitude towards continuing education programmes

Breeding of endemic catfish, Horabagrus brachysoma in captive conditions

Asian seabass or barramundi (Lates calcarifer) is an important food fish with commercial value and a wide geographic distribution. Though some reports based on molecular and/or morphological data exist, a comprehensive effort to establish species identity across its range is lacking. In order to address this issue and especially to ascertain whether the wide-spread distribution has resulted in bifurcation of the species, we collected Asian seabass samples from various locations representing the Western and Eastern Coastline of India, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bangladesh and Australia. Samples from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Singapore were collected as part of a previous study. DNA sequence variations, including cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (COI), 16S rDNA and the highly variable D-loop (or control region), were examined to establish species delineation. Data from all the sequences analyzed concordantly point to the existence of at least two distinct species—one representing the Indian subcontinent plus Myanmar, and a second, representing Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia) plus Northern Australia. These data are useful for conservation ecology, aquaculture management, for establishing the extent of genetic diversity in the Asian seabass and implementing selective breeding programs for members of this species complex

Fabrication and characterization of multiscale electrospun scaffolds for cartilage regeneration

Recently, scaffolds for tissue regeneration purposes have been observed to utilize nanoscale features in an effort to reap the cellular benefits of scaffold features resembling extracellular matrix (ECM) components. However, one complication surrounding electrospun nanofibers is limited cellular infiltration. One method to ameliorate this negative effect is by incorporating nanofibers into microfibrous scaffolds. This study shows that it is feasible to fabricate electrospun scaffolds containing two differently scaled fibers interspersed evenly throughout the entire construct as well as scaffolds containing fibers composed of two discrete materials, specifically fibrin and poly(?-caprolactone). In order to accomplish this, multiscale fibrous scaffolds of different compositions were generated using a dual extrusion electrospinning setup with a rotating mandrel. These scaffolds were then characterized for fiber diameter, porosity and pore size and seeded with human mesenchymal stem cells to assess the influence of scaffold architecture and composition on cellular responses as determined by cellularity, histology and glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content. Analysis revealed that nanofibers within a microfiber mesh function to maintain scaffold cellularity under serum-free conditions as well as aid the deposition of GAGs. This supports the hypothesis that scaffolds with constituents more closely resembling native ECM components may be beneficial for cartilage regeneration

Quality of Life determinants in women with breast cancer undergoing treatment with curative intent

BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of breast cancer and its subsequent treatment has significant impact on the woman's physical functioning, mental health and her well-being, and thereby causes substantial disruption to quality of life (QOL). Factors like patient education, spousal support and employment status, financial stability etc., have been found to influence QOL in the breast cancer patient. The present study attempts to identify the determinants of QOL in a cohort of Indian breast cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast (FACT-B) Version 4 Malayalam was used to assess quality of life in 502 breast cancer patients undergoing treatment with curative intent. The data on social, demographic, disease, treatment, and follow-up were collected from case records. Data was analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and multinomial logistic regression. RESULTS: The mean age of the patients was 47.7 years with 44.6% of the women being pre-menopausal. The FACT-B mean score was 90.6 (Standard Deviation [SD] = 18.4). The mean scores of the subscales were – Physical well-being 19.6 (SD = 4.7), Social well-being 19.9 (SD = 5.3), Emotional well-being 14 (SD = 4.9), Functional well-being 13.0 (SD = 5.7), and the Breast subscale 23.8 (SD = 4.4). Younger women (<45 years), women having unmarried children, nodal and/or metastatic disease, and those currently undergoing active treatment showed significantly poorer QOL scores in the univariate analysis. However multivariate analysis indicated that the religion, stage, pain, spouse education, nodal status, and distance travelled to reach the treatment centre as indicative of patient QOL. CONCLUSION: QOL derangements are common in breast cancer patients necessitating the provisions for patient access to psychosocial services. However, because of the huge patient load, a screening process to identify those meriting intervention over the general population would be a viable solution