Biomass of Understorey Plants between 1.5 and 5.0m in a Logged-over Forest

The biomass of various comparzents of understorey plants ofa Lowland Dipterocarp Forest, between 1.5 and 5.0 m in height, was determined by harvesting 47 plants from a 0.01 ha plot. The total above ground biomass was equivalent to 2.78 tonnes/ha, and this was made up of 81 percent stem, 7.5 percent branch and 11.5 percent leaf The leaf area index (LAI) of the stratum was 0.36. Individual biomass of plant components and of the total plant was related to their collar girth. Using these regression equations, estimates based on measurements of collar girth in a 0.2 ha plot was found to be very close to that obtained by harvesting. This suggests that regression equations could be suitable for estimating biomass especially where no felling is allowe

Political Participation in Rural India: A Village Level Study

This paper uses village level data on individual voters to ask what are the factors which determine the probability of whether an individual votes? Is this probability greater for national compared to local elections? And is there evidence that people are more likely to vote today than they were in the past? Allied to these questions is another set of questions relating to the choice of candidates. What are the factors that make for women’s autonomy in voting, meaning that they cast their vote without reference to their spousal instructions? What are the factors which contribute to people voting for candidates who are of their own caste? And, lastly, what are the factors which contribute to people voting for candidates who have a reputation for honesty and fairness? Needless to say, voting in elections is just one facet of political participation. Another might be attending and participating in political meetings. This is particularly relevant in Indian villages since the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act of 1993. This made it mandatory for all villages to have a village council (hereafter, Gram Sabha) consisting of all registered voters on the electoral roll of a village. The Gram Sabha was to be entrusted with the power of supervising the functioning of the elected village panchayat and to approve the panchayat’s development plan for the village and the associated budget. Consequently, in addition to voting, electors in villages had another form of political participation: they could attend Gram Sabha meetings and also participate in its discussions. This paper also analyses the factors which determine attendance and participation in such meetings. A worrisome feature of the results was the high proportion of married women reporting that they cast their vote according to their husbands’ instructions and further that, this proportion was impervious to the education level of the women. Women’s education would not appear, from these results, to reduce the power of patriarchy. Another source of anxiety was the gender gap in the proportion of men and women who took part in Gram Sabha discussions. This would suggest that the reservation of village panchayat positions (including that of panchayat pradhan, or village president) for women was a step in the right direction for the empowerment of women. In contrast, there were no inter-social group differences in participation in Gram Sabha meetings

Conflict, Caste, and Resolution: A Quantitative Analysis for Indian Villages

Using data covering 18 states in India and encompassing 8,652 households in 242 villages in 18 Indian states, this paper answers three broad questions: What is probability that conflict within a village will be perceived as caste-based (as opposed to non-caste-based) and has this probability changed over time? Further, does the perception of a conflict being caste-based differ between caste groups? Does the effect of conflict on life and property depend upon whether it caste-based or non-caste-based? Further, does this effect on life and property differ between caste groups Are some conflict-resolving agencies more effective at dealing with caste-based conflicts and others more effective with non-caste-based conflicts? Our conclusion is that, compared to non-caste-based conflicts, caste-based conflicts entail greater loss of life and property and, furthermore, they require the services of different agencies for their resolution

The Effects of Husbands' Alcohol Consumption and Women's Empowerment on Intimate Partner Violence in India.

The influence of husband's alcohol consumption and that of women's empowerment has been largely studied separately in relation to the intimate partner violence (IPV) faced by women, which has hindered a nuanced understanding of gender-based violence in India. This study aimed to understand how husbands' alcohol consumption shapes the relationship between women's empowerment and violence among Indian couples. Data from the 2015-16 National Family Health Survey (NFHS) were used in this study. A composite women's empowerment index was constructed and its association with husbands' drunkenness and odds of facing emotional, physical, severe, and sexual violence was examined. This study found that compared to women whose husbands were never drunk, those whose husbands were sometimes or often drunk had significantly higher odds of experiencing physical, emotional, and sexual violence. For all the types of IPV, an increase in the empowerment index was associated with a significant reduction in the odds of experiencing violence. However, increasing frequency of husband's drunkenness in combination with increasing scores on the empowerment index was associated with a significant increase in the odds of IPV, except sexual violence. Our findings highlight the nuances of IPV, situating the experiences of women in the social, cultural, and economic realities of Indian society

Two HIV-1 Variants Resistant to Small Molecule CCR5 Inhibitors Differ in How They Use CCR5 for Entry

HIV-1 variants resistant to small molecule CCR5 inhibitors recognize the inhibitor-CCR5 complex, while also interacting with free CCR5. The most common genetic route to resistance involves sequence changes in the gp120 V3 region, a pathway followed when the primary isolate CC1/85 was cultured with the AD101 inhibitor in vitro, creating the CC101.19 resistant variant. However, the D1/86.16 escape mutant contains no V3 changes but has three substitutions in the gp41 fusion peptide. By using CCR5 point-mutants and gp120-targeting agents, we have investigated how infectious clonal viruses derived from the parental and both resistant isolates interact with CCR5. We conclude that the V3 sequence changes in CC101.19 cl.7 create a virus with an increased dependency on interactions with the CCR5 N-terminus. Elements of the CCR5 binding site associated with the V3 region and the CD4-induced (CD4i) epitope cluster in the gp120 bridging sheet are more exposed on the native Env complex of CC101.19 cl.7, which is sensitive to neutralization via these epitopes. However, D1/86.16 cl.23 does not have an increased dependency on the CCR5 N-terminus, and its CCR5 binding site has not become more exposed. How this virus interacts with the inhibitor-CCR5 complex remains to be understood