Public Discourse and India’s Green Revolution: Defining Approaches to Relief Efforts and Policymaking During the Bihar Famine

The Bihar Famine of 1966-1967 was a dire crisis in postcolonial Indian history, resulting in widespread crop failures, food shortages, and mass starvation across Northern India. However, the Bihar Famine is generally credited for being a successful response to famine due to its role in spurring India’s Green Revolution, culminating in the industrialization of India’s agricultural sector and India’s self-sufficiency in food production. Overlooked in existing research and studies of the Bihar Famine, however, are the reactions and responses of the larger public and ordinary Indian citizens in defining approaches to famine relief. This thesis, in turn, examines land surveys, journalistic documentation, and government reports to analyze political movements and campaigns organized by members of the Indian public that garnered attention from local, national, and international agencies. Consequently, this thesis demonstrates that the grassroots action and mobilization of India’s rural and working-class sectors during the Bihar Famine is responsible for cultivating the crisis atmosphere that incited drastic political action and established the precedents of the Green Revolution

Optimal Fire Detection Using Image Processing

Flame detection and classification of flames is challenging work in the field of image processing. Use of image processing instead of sensors helps detection of fire in more accurate and quick manner. Thus this paper introduces a optimal approach for detection of fire using image processing technology which enables fire detection at the earliest in order to reduce life and property loss. The proposed system uses color segmentation model for detecting fire with reference to HSV and YCbCr color models. Also, density of fire growth is detected by the frame difference technique

Timing Analysis of the Intermediate Polar V709 Cas

We have carried detailed time-resolved timing analysis of an intermediate polar V709 Cas using the long-baseline, short-cadence optical photometric data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite. We found an orbital period of 5.3341 $\pm$ 0.0004 hr, a spin period of 312.75 $\pm$ 0.02 sec, and a beat period of 317.93 $\pm$ 0.03 sec, which is similar to the earlier published results. From the continuous high cadence data, we found that V709 Cas is a disc overflow system with disc-fed dominance.Comment: 6 Pages, 2 figures, 1 Table, Proceeding paper of the 3rd Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA) workshop, Accepted for publication in the Bulletin of Li\`ege Royal Society of Science

A preliminary timing analysis of two intermediate polars: UU Col and Swift J0939.7-3224

We present the preliminary timing analysis of confirmed intermediate polar UU Col and possible intermediate polar Swift J0939.7-3224 in the optical band with the help of long-term, high-cadence continuous photometry from Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). For UU Col, we revise previously reported orbital and spin periods as 3.464 $\pm$ 0.005 h and 863.74 $\pm$ 0.08 s, respectively. Using the second harmonic of the beat frequency, the beat period is estimated as $\sim$928 s. These findings indicate that UU Col is a disc-fed dominated disc-overflow accretor. For J0939, we establish the spin period as 2671.8 $\pm$ 0.8 s and refine the provisionally suggested orbital period as 8.49 $\pm$ 0.03 h. The absence of beat frequency in J0939 signifies that it might be a pure disc-fed accretor; however, an X-ray study of this source will help to understand its true nature.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Proceeding paper of the 3$^{rd}$ Belgo-Indian Network for Astronomy and Astrophysics (BINA) workshop, Accepted for publication in the Bulletin of Li\`{e}ge Royal Society of Science

CMFRI Marine Fisheries Policy Series No-4; Indian Marine Fisheries Code: Guidance on a Marine Fisheries Management Model for India

India’s marine fisheries are at a turning point; the rapid increase in yields witnessed during the first 60 years of independence has slowed down and the scope for increase in yields from new unexploited and underexploited fish stocks and grounds seems limited. The situation calls for urgent measures to sustain the production close to the target potential yield of 4.41 million tonnes. These measures would mean implementation of science based fisheries management and regulations. Although much has been accomplished by way of research and development in marine fisheries in India, the transformation and implementation of the outcome of these studies into effective management of marine fisheries resources of the country has been a shortcoming so far. The FAO brought out the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (FAO-CCRF) in 1995 to serve as a guidance for countries for a sound and effective management of fisheries resources. This FAO-CCRF has not been put into practice in India, althrough there are some compliances. Scientists of the CMFRI and CIFT, two of India’s major fisheries research institutes, have come together to develop a guidance on how the code can be put into practice in the country. Aptly named as Indian Marine Fisheries Code (IMFC), it is expected to give an impetus to bring about a sea change in the manner in which marine fisheries is managed in the country. The IMFC explains in detail each sub-article of the FAOCCRF and provides information on how the article can be implemented and by whom. The IMFC further proposes several new bodies which are necessary to place fisheries management in the country on an unassailable footing. It is expected that all fisheries management bodies in the country, both at central and state levels would find the IMFC as a useful guidance for the future

Social Media Responses to the Annals of Emergency Medicine Residents' Perspective Article on Multiple Mini-Interviews

In May 2014, Annals of Emergency Medicine continued a successful collaboration with an academic Web site, Academic Life in Emergency Medicine (ALiEM) to host an online discussion session featuring the 2014 Annals Residents' Perspective article "Does the Multiple Mini-Interview Address Stakeholder Needs? An Applicant's Perspective" by Phillips and Garmel. This dialogue included Twitter conversations, a live videocast with the authors and other experts, and detailed discussions on the ALiEM Web site's comment section. This summary article serves the dual purpose of reporting the qualitative thematic analysis from a global online discussion and the Web analytics for our novel multimodal approach. Social media technologies provide a unique opportunity to engage with a diverse audience to detect existing and new emerging themes. Such technologies allow rapid hypothesis generation for future research and enable more accelerated knowledge translation

Fas-Induced Apoptosis Increases Hepatocyte Tissue Factor Procoagulant Activity In Vitro and In Vivo

Hepatocyte (HPC) apoptosis occurs in association with hepatotoxic responses and chronic liver disease, and is coupled to activation of the blood coagulation cascade. HPCs have been shown to express tissue factor (TF), the primary activator of blood coagulation, in a form that lacks procoagulant activity. In this study, we determined the effect of inducing HPC apoptosis on the procoagulant activity of TF. Treatment of primary mouse HPCs with the Fas death receptor agonist (anti-CD95 antibody, Jo2) triggered apoptosis as shown by cleavage of caspase-3, increased caspase-3 proteolytic activity, and cell surface exposure of phosphatidylserine (PS). Jo2-induced apoptosis significantly increased TF-dependent factor Xa generation by HPCs. Moreover, Jo2 treatment was associated with increased levels of microparticle-associated TF procoagulant activity in the culture medium. Pretreatment with a caspase-3 inhibitor significantly reduced Jo2-induced HPC TF activity and prevented the increase in microparticle-associated TF procoagulant activity. Application of the high-affinity PS-binding protein lactadherin inhibited TF-dependent factor Xa generation by Jo2-treated HPCs and dramatically reduced microparticle-associated TF procoagulant activity. Treatment of wild-type mice with a sublethal dose of Jo2 was associated with a robust increase in the activation of coagulation as measured by plasma thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) levels; whereas mice with liver-specific TF deficiency had significantly lower TAT levels. Overall, the results indicate that Fas-initiated, caspase-3-dependent HPC apoptosis increases TF procoagulant activity through a mechanism involving PS externalization. This suggests that activation of liver TF likely contributes to the procoagulant state associated with HPC apoptosis in liver toxicity and disease

Measuring the availability of human resources for health and its relationship to universal health coverage for 204 countries and territories from 1990 to 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Human resources for health (HRH) include a range of occupations that aim to promote or improve human health. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the WHO Health Workforce 2030 strategy have drawn attention to the importance of HRH for achieving policy priorities such as universal health coverage (UHC). Although previous research has found substantial global disparities in HRH, the absence of comparable cross-national estimates of existing workforces has hindered efforts to quantify workforce requirements to meet health system goals. We aimed to use comparable and standardised data sources to estimate HRH densities globally, and to examine the relationship between a subset of HRH cadres and UHC effective coverage performance. Methods: Through the International Labour Organization and Global Health Data Exchange databases, we identified 1404 country-years of data from labour force surveys and 69 country-years of census data, with detailed microdata on health-related employment. From the WHO National Health Workforce Accounts, we identified 2950 country-years of data. We mapped data from all occupational coding systems to the International Standard Classification of Occupations 1988 (ISCO-88), allowing for standardised estimation of densities for 16 categories of health workers across the full time series. Using data from 1990 to 2019 for 196 of 204 countries and territories, covering seven Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) super-regions and 21 regions, we applied spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) to model HRH densities from 1990 to 2019 for all countries and territories. We used stochastic frontier meta-regression to model the relationship between the UHC effective coverage index and densities for the four categories of health workers enumerated in SDG indicator 3.c.1 pertaining to HRH: physicians, nurses and midwives, dentistry personnel, and pharmaceutical personnel. We identified minimum workforce density thresholds required to meet a specified target of 80 out of 100 on the UHC effective coverage index, and quantified national shortages with respect to those minimum thresholds. Findings: We estimated that, in 2019, the world had 104·0 million (95% uncertainty interval 83·5–128·0) health workers, including 12·8 million (9·7–16·6) physicians, 29·8 million (23·3–37·7) nurses and midwives, 4·6 million (3·6–6·0) dentistry personnel, and 5·2 million (4·0–6·7) pharmaceutical personnel. We calculated a global physician density of 16·7 (12·6–21·6) per 10 000 population, and a nurse and midwife density of 38·6 (30·1–48·8) per 10 000 population. We found the GBD super-regions of sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and north Africa and the Middle East had the lowest HRH densities. To reach 80 out of 100 on the UHC effective coverage index, we estimated that, per 10 000 population, at least 20·7 physicians, 70·6 nurses and midwives, 8·2 dentistry personnel, and 9·4 pharmaceutical personnel would be needed. In total, the 2019 national health workforces fell short of these minimum thresholds by 6·4 million physicians, 30·6 million nurses and midwives, 3·3 million dentistry personnel, and 2·9 million pharmaceutical personnel. Interpretation: Considerable expansion of the world's health workforce is needed to achieve high levels of UHC effective coverage. The largest shortages are in low-income settings, highlighting the need for increased financing and coordination to train, employ, and retain human resources in the health sector. Actual HRH shortages might be larger than estimated because minimum thresholds for each cadre of health workers are benchmarked on health systems that most efficiently translate human resources into UHC attainment