China's foreign policy towards Central Asia: expanding the concepts of national interest and national security

The present study provides an analysis of China’s foreign policy towards Central Asia to trace ‘culture of China’s foreign policy’. The culture of China’s foreign policy approach deals with China as an identity and process rather than being static or within boundaries. The present research highlights China’s multilateral and cooperative policies in Central Asia and with Russia as an outcome of evolutionary process of construction of China’s identity. The complex process of building relations with Central Asian region although within a short period of time (in post-Soviet context) are analysed to make a case for China’s innovative (partially) political processes of dealing with frontier security and embracing multilateralism. This is explained by studying the evolution of China’s identity and interests and the role of significant events that affect its perceptions of self and that are a prescription for its policy orientations as observed in case of foreign policy towards Central Asia. The theoretical foundation of Peter Katzenstein thesis is helpful premises upon which an argument in favour of the discourse of identity and security is developed to see how culture of national security of China and ‘complementarity’ of Central Asian states is at work in security cooperation seen among these states. By problematizing the notion of ‘national interest’, the present study argues that interests of the states can be contextualized in a broader environment referred as civilization to trace the relationship between interests and identities of China as at play in Central Asian region. By placing the political state of ‘China’ in the broader context of civilization and as evolving, helps understand how Chinese political spectrum seeks to construct and maintain a great power identity while locating ‘self’ against ‘others’. It further argues that the cooperative and multilateral policies of China in form of Shanghai Cooperation Organization can be understood best by studying how the configurations of identity of China has guided the policy formation process; that constructs and reconstructs interstate normative structure in form of SCO

Revitalizing the Eschewed Nexus: Pandemics, Public Health and National Security

The history of human race holds copious stories of outbreak of pandemics and infectious diseases. The impacts of diseases, strategies and responses and the way forward in post pandemic era grabbing the attention of scholarly community across different disciplines is not new too. Unsurprisingly, amid recent wave of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), public health and health security are the buzz words in leaders’ speeches, the media and scholarship. Despite the growing appreciation of plethora of threats posed by pandemics in a highly globalized andinterdependent world, the concept of national security, pertaining to its scope and meaning, is wanting in precision. The paper makes a case for the need to appreciate health-national security interactions in intellectual and policy-making world by drawing upon two major arguments; firstly, health is an essential stabilizing factor for state that overlaps and interacts with military, economicand traditional components of security and secondly, state stands out for being the most effective governance structure to prevent diseases and to carry out an effective response to health crisis. Generation of narratives and lexicons, therefore, need not to be completely outside the master’s house of traditional IR thinking to fully comprehend the nature and sources of insecurity. The paperconcludes that an intellectual pathway responsive and accommodative to these interconnected and overlapping sources of (in)securities is needed to guide policy makers to ensure the security of nations in a changing world

THE IMPACT OF UNIVERSITY INTERNAL FACTORS ON ACADEMIC ENTREPRENEURSHIP: EVIDENCE FROM UNIVERSITY RESEARCH

Academic entrepreneurship, as a practice and a field forscholarly investigation, provides an opportunity to challengequestions and rethink about the nature and scope of publication. This paper puts forward an aspect for the research universities of Pakistan that can result in new value generation and job creation. Academic entrepreneur is missing forms of entrepreneurship in the relatively higher priority given to promoting or capturing economic value. Current research aims to fill this gap by adapting the corporate entrepreneur as a construct for academic entrepreneurship and internalenvironment as a motivational factor in order to propose a model for this study. Findings support that university reward system; support, leadership, and organization structure are the key indicator of academic entrepreneur within these research universities. Results provide evidence that academic entrepreneurship has a positive influence on research commercialization and technology transfer for these higher education institutes

What are the most effective ways you can help patients stop smoking?

Brief counseling, nicotine replacement therapy, antidepressants, and varenicline all work well. Physician intervention should begin with routine assessment of smoking status for all patients. Brief (3 minutes or less) smoking cessation counseling improves quit rates (strength of recommendation [SOR]: A, Cochrane systematic review). Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT), antidepressants (bupropion and nortriptyline), and the nicotine receptor partial agonist varenicline are effective and should be offered to help smokers quit (SOR: A, Cochrane systematic reviews and randomized controlled trials [RCTs])

Predictors of Prenatal Depression: A Cross-Sectional Study in Rural Pakistan

Objective: To determine the prevalence and association of prenatal depression with socioeconomic, demographic and personal factors among pregnant women living in Kallar Syedan, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Methods: Five hundred women in the second and third trimester of pregnancy, living in Kallar Syedan, a rural area of district Rawalpindi Pakistan, were included in the study. Depression was assessed using “Patient health questionnaire” (PHQ9) in Urdu, with a cut-off score of 10. Multi-dimensional scale of perceived social support (MSPSS) was used to assess perceived social support. Life Events and Difficulties Schedule (LEDS) were used to measure stressful life events in past 1 year. Tool to assess intimate partner violence (IPV) was based on WHO Multi Country Study on “Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women.” Results: Prevalence of prenatal depression was found to be 27%. Number of pregnancies was significantly associated with prenatal depression (p < 0.01). Women living in a joint family and those who perceived themselves as moderately satisfied or not satisfied with their life in the next 4 years were found to be depressed (p < 0.01, OR 6.9, CI 1.77–26.73). Depressive symptomatology in women who experienced more than five stressful life events in last 1 year was three times higher (p < 0.001, OR 3.2, CI 1.68–5.98) than in women with 1–2 stressful events. Women who were supported by their significant others or their family members had 0.9 times (p < 0.01, OR 0.9, CI 0.85–0.96) less chance of getting depressed. Pregnant women who were psychologically abused by their partners were 1.5 times more depressed (p < 0.05 CI 1.12–2.51). Odds of having depression was also high in women who had less mean score of MSSI (p < 0.05, OR 1.1, CI 1.01–1.09). Women who had suitable accommodation had 0.5 times less chance of having depression than others (p < 0.05, OR 0.5, CI 0.27–0.92). Conclusion: Over a quarter of the women in the study population reported prenatal depression, which were predicted predominantly by psychosocial variables

Effective Leadership in Managing Diversity : A Cross-Cultural Study between India and Sweden.

In today's globalized and highly technological world, diversity has emerged as a key element of the modern corporate world. Because of globalization and the integration of cultures, diversity offers organizations and leaders both benefits and problems. This study explores the dynamics of effective leadership in managing cultural diversity, with an emphasis on employees' expectations and perceptions in the two culturally distinct nations of Sweden and India. For an organization to succeed in the globalized world of today, where diversified teams are the norm, leaders need to be able to navigate cultural differences. The study uses a comprehensive analysis of existing literature in addition to empirical data obtained from culturally diverse environments of Sweden and India. By using a mixed methods approach, 4 qualitative interviews with the managers and 96 quantitative surveys from both nations were analyzed. The qualitative study indicated that managers emphasize equality, inclusion, and the need for effective interpersonal and communication skills, demonstrating an extensive awareness of the value of diversity. The findings of a quantitative study showed that while power distance, individualism, and gender equality differ significantly between Swedish and Indian leaders, task-oriented behaviors are similar. Despite cultural differences, both cultures place a high priority on resolving conflicts and maintaining harmony in the workplace, suggesting that these are qualities that all cultures value equally. The study contributes to the development of strategies and practices that support leaders in effectively managing cultural diversity, by fostering cultural collaboration and organizational effectiveness across different teams.

Classification Using Efficient LU Decomposition in Sensornets

We consider the popular application of detection, classification and tracking and their feasibility in resource constrained sensornets. We concentrate on the classification aspect, by decomposing the complex, computationally intensive signal processing Maximum-A-Posterior (MAP) classifier into simpler computationally and communicationally load balanced procedures, using a clustering approach. LU decomposition is an efficient approach for computing the inverse of covariance matrices required in the MAP classifier. We thus explore feasibility of LU decomposition in sensornets. We present power-aware and load balanced techniques for LU decomposition of the covariance matrices in sensornets alongwith their analytical and power consumption analyses. KEY WORD