In this paper, we employ what we term as ‘the ethical dimension in political market orientation ’ framework to underline how an integration of information from relevant stakeholder groups can inform the formulation of market-oriented, yet ethical policies. Against the backdrop of India’s Look East Policy, we undertake a critical analysis of historic economic data from 1980 to 2014 in the states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura, often termed as the Seven Sisters because of their (...) interdependence. Our analysis of the data, using time-series methods, reveals that policy changes ensuing from the economic reforms of 1990s and the initiation of the LEP in 1991 have resulted in regional income convergence in North-Eastern India. A key contribution of our work emanates from the fact that we determine two structural breaks endogenously from long time-series data, thereby identifying three distinct policy regimes, rather than specifying exogenous breaks based on historic and theoretical conjectures. Overall, our work offers both conceptual insights into processes that enable ethical and inclusive policy making, as well as empirical evidence emerging from stochastic convergence of incomes per capita for the Seven Sister states in the North-Eastern region in India, to illustrate how regional economic inequality can be reduced through targeted market-oriented policies. (shrink)

Increased amyloid beta (Aβ) production by sequential cleavage of the amyloid precursor protein (APP) by the β‐ and γ‐secretases contributes to the etiological basis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This process requires APP and the secretases to be in the same subcellular compartments, such as the endosomes. Since all membrane organelles in the endomembrane system are kinetically and functionally linked, any defects in the trafficking and sorting machinery would be expected to change the functional properties of the whole system. The Golgi (...) is a primary organelle for protein trafficking, sorting and modifications, and Golgi defects have been reported in AD. Here we hypothesize that Golgi fragmentation in AD accelerates APP trafficking and Aβ production. Furthermore, Golgi defects may perturb the proper trafficking and processing of many essential neuronal proteins, resulting in compromised neuronal function. Therefore, molecular tools that can restore Golgi structure and function could prove useful as potential drugs for AD treatment. (shrink)

Sitting on the fine line between pathogen ‘transmissibility’ and ‘severity’, the Behavioural Immune System (BIS) is responsible for activating behaviours that minimise infection risks and maximise fitness. To achieve self-preservation, the BIS also fuels social and political attitudes. We aim to explain societal changes that may be sparked by COVID-19 by highlighting links between human evolutionary history and our psychological faculties mediated by the BIS.

Minichromosome maintenance (Mcm) proteins are well‐known for their functions in DNA replication. However, their roles in chromosome segregation are yet to be reviewed in detail. Following the discovery in 1984, a group of Mcm proteins, known as the ARS‐nonspecific group consisting of Mcm13, Mcm16‐19, and Mcm21‐22, were characterized as bonafide kinetochore proteins and were shown to play significant roles in the kinetochore assembly and high‐fidelity chromosome segregation. This review focuses on the structure, function, and evolution of this group of Mcm (...) proteins. Our in silico analysis of the physical interactors of these proteins reveals that they share non‐overlapping functions despite being copurified in biochemically stable complexes. We have discussed the contrasting results reported in the literature and experimental strategies to address them. Taken together, this review focuses on the structure‐function of the ARS‐nonspecific Mcm proteins and their evolutionary flexibility to maintain genome stability in various organisms. (shrink)

When used in conjunction with the current floorplan and the optimization technique in circuit design engineering, this research allows for the evaluation of design parameters that can be used to reduce congestion during integrated circuit fabrication. Testing the multiple alternative consequences of IC design will be extremely beneficial in this situation, as will be demonstrated further below. If the importance of placement and routing congestion concerns is underappreciated, the IC implementation may experience significant nonlinear problems throughout the process as a (...) result of the underappreciation of placement and routing congestion concerns. The use of standard optimization techniques in integrated circuit design is not the most effective strategy when it comes to precisely estimating nonlinear aspects in the design of integrated circuits. To this end, advanced tools such as Xilinx VIVADO and the ICC2 have been developed, in addition to the ICC1 and VIRTUOSO, to explore for computations and recover the actual parameters that are required to design optimal placement and routing for well-organized and ordered physical design. Furthermore, this work employs the perimeter degree technique to measure routing congestion in both horizontal and vertical directions for a silicon chip region and then applies the technique to lower the density of superfluous routing. Recently, a metaheuristic approach to computation has increased in favor, particularly in the last two decades. It is a classic graph theory problem, and it is also a common topic in the field of optimization. However, it does not provide correct information about where and how nodes should be put, despite its popularity. Consequently, in conjunction with the optimized floorplan data, the optimized model created by the Improved Harmonic Search Optimization algorithm undergoes testing and investigation in order to estimate the amount of congestion that occurs during the routing process in VLSI circuit design and to minimize the amount of congestion that occurs. (shrink)

In the past few decades, increased awareness of environmental pollution has led to the exploitation of microbial metabolic potential in the construction of several genetically engineered microorganisms (GEMs) for bioremediation purposes. At the same time, environmental concerns and regulatory constraints have limited the in situ application of GEMs, the ultimate objective behind their development. In order to address the anticipated risks due to the uncontrolled survival/dispersal of GEMs or recombinant plasmids into the environment, some attempts have been made to construct (...) systems that would contain the released organisms. This article discusses the designing of safer genetically engineered organisms for environmental release with specific emphasis on the use of bacterial plasmid addiction systems to limit their survival thus minimizing the anticipated risk. We also conceptualize a novel strategy to construct “Suicidal Genetically Engineered Microorganisms (SGEMs)” by exploring/combining the knowledge of different plasmid addiction systems (such as antisense RNA‐regulated plasmid addiction, proteic plasmid addiction etc.) and inducible degradative operons of bacteria. BioEssays 27:563–573, 2005. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (shrink)

Researchers advocate that workplace spirituality has the potential to increase “constructive deviant behavior” among employees across different types of organizations and professions by engaging individuals in meaningful ways. This research examines the link between workplace spirituality and constructive deviant behavior. Literature on the issue of workplace spirituality suggests that meaningful work has the potential to increase positive organizational outcomes. This study was carried out on a purposively selected sample of 152 managers from the oil and gas industry in India. The (...) paper investigates the relationship between workplace spirituality and constructive deviance with the help of a wide range of statistical tools including mean, factor analysis, correlation, and regression. Six Indian constructs of workplace spirituality were examined to assess the relationship between workplace spirituality and constructive deviance. (shrink)

Ensuring that countries have adequate research capacities is essential for an effective and efficient response to infectious disease outbreaks. The need for ethical principles and values embodied in international research ethics guidelines to be upheld during public health emergencies is widely recognized. Public health officials, researchers and other concerned stakeholders also have to carefully balance time and resources allocated to immediate treatment and control activities, with an approach that integrates research as part of the outbreak response. Under such circumstances, research (...) “ethics preparedness” constitutes an important foundation for an effective response to infectious disease outbreaks and other health emergencies. A two-day workshop was convened in March 2018 by the World Health Organisation Global Health Ethics Team and the African coaLition for Epidemic Research, Response and Training, with representatives of National Ethics Committees, to identify practical processes and procedures related to ethics review preparedness. The workshop considered five areas where work might be undertaken to facilitate rapid and sound ethics review: preparing national ethics committees for outbreak response; pre-review of protocols; multi-country review; coordination between national ethics committees and other key stakeholders; data and benefit sharing; and export of samples to third countries. In this paper, we present the recommendations that resulted from the workshop. In particular, the participants recommended that Ethics Committees would develop a formal national standard operating procedure for emergency response ethical review; that there is a need to clarify the terminology and expectations of pre-review of generic protocols and agree upon specific terminology; that there is a need to explore mechanisms for multi-country emergency ethical consultation, and to establish procedures for communication between national ethics committees and other oversight bodies and public health authorities. In addition, it was suggested that ethics committees should request from researchers, at a minimum, a preliminary data sharing and sample sharing plan that outlines the benefit to the population from which data and samples are to be drawn. This should be followed in due time by a full plan. It is hoped that the national ethics committees, supported by the WHO, relevant collaborative research consortia and external funding agencies, will work towards bringing these recommendations into practice, for supporting the conduct of effective research during outbreaks. (shrink)

In 2016, following pandemic influenza threats and the 2014–2016 Ebola virus disease outbreaks, the WHO developed a guidance document for managing ethical issues in infectious disease outbreaks. In this article, we analyse some ethical issues that have had a predominant role in decision making in response to the current COVID-19 pandemic but were absent or not addressed in the same ways in the 2016 guidance document. A pandemic results in a health crisis and social and political crises both nationally and (...) globally. The ethical implications of these global effects should be properly identified so that appropriate actions can be taken globally and not just in national isolation. Our analysis, which is a starting point to test the broader relevance of the 2016 WHO document that remains the only available guidance document applicable globally, concludes that the WHO guidance should be updated to provide reasoned and thoughtful comprehensive ethics advice for the sound management of the current and future pandemics. (shrink)

The two theories of verbal cognition, namely abhihitānvaya and anvitābhidhāna, first put forth by the Bhāṭṭa and Prābhākara Mīmāṃsakas respectively in the second half of the first millennium C.E., can be considered as being foundational as all subsequent thinkers of the Sanskritic intellectual tradition engaged with and elaborated upon these while debating the nature of language and meaning. In this paper, I focus on the first chapter of Śālikanātha’s Vākyārthamātṛkā and outline the process of anvitābhidhāna described therein. Śālikanātha explains this (...) as comprising three steps, and thereafter discusses each of these three to elaborate upon and philosophically defend this conception of how one cognizes sentential meaning. The aim of this paper is to present Śālikanātha’s three-step model, and thus demonstrate especially the distinct conception of abhidhāna for the Prābhākara Mīmāṃsakas as complex and chronologically extended as contrasted with the Bhāṭṭa conception of abhidhāna as non-complex and instantaneous. Such an understanding of the disparate semantic contents with which the Bhāṭṭas and Prābhākaras use the identical term abhidhāna is crucial for any correct study of their respective doctrines. (shrink)

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) has been employed to investigate the glass transition activation energy E g, thermal stability and glass-forming ability (GFA) of Se90In10− x Sb x (x = 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10) chalcogenide glasses. DSC runs were performed at six different heating rates. Well-defined endothermic and exothermic peaks were obtained at glass transition and crystallization temperature. The dependence of glass transition temperature T g on heating rate (α), as well as composition of Sb, has been studied. From (...) the dependence of glass transition temperature on heating rate, the E g has been calculated on the basis of the Kissinger [Anal. Chem. 29 (1957) p.1702] and Moynihan [J. Phys. Chem. 78 (1974) p.267] models. Thermal stability has been monitored through the calculation of temperature differences T c–T g, the stability parameter S, and the enthalpy released during crystallization H c. The GFA has been investigated on the basis of the Hruby parameter H r, which is strong indicator of GFA. Results for GFA are in good agreement with fragility index F i calculations, indicating that Se90In6Sb4 is an excellent glass-former. (shrink)

Hegel's treatment of the Sublime is both self-consistent and distinctive. He not only defines sublimity, but discovers and ranks its types or stages from one select point of view—the viewpoint of God-world relation; and the way he does this, on the one hand, distinguishes him from many others who have contributed to an understanding of the concept, and, on the other hand, enables him to suggest, if but implicitly, a criterion for distinguishing the sublime from allied concepts. Besides, he discusses (...) the matter in the wide context of diverse cultures, making quite a few insightful references to Eastern literature; and, consistently with his own conception of philosophy, also from the viewpoint of historical necessity, so that the sublime appears, in his Aesthetik, as a specific stage which the evolving story of art must in fact traverse. (shrink)

This essay seeks to clarify Gandhi's logic of self-suffering. Its inner accents have not received the attention they deserve. So I propose to emphasize them, though the context of such suffering and its impact on men too must be given due regard.

In controlled human infection studies (CHIs), participants are deliberately exposed to infectious agents in order to better understand the mechanism of infection or disease and test therapies or vaccines. While most CHIs have been conducted in high‐income countries, CHIs have recently been expanding into low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). One potential ethical concern about this expansion is the challenge of obtaining the voluntary informed consent of participants, especially those who may not be literate or have limited education. In some CHIs (...) in LMICs, researchers have attempted to address this potential concern by limiting access to literate or educated populations. In this paper, we argue that this practice is unjustified, as it does not increase the chances of obtaining valid informed consent and therefore unfairly excludes illiterate populations and populations with lower education. Instead, we recommend that investigators improve the informed consent process by drawing on existing data on obtaining informed consent in these populations and interventions aimed at improving their understanding. Based on a literature review, we provide concrete suggestions for how to follow this recommendation and ensure that populations with lower literacy or education are given a fair opportunity to protect their rights and interests in the informed consent process. (shrink)

Using different quantum states (e.g., two mode squeezed-state, multipartite GHZ-like-states) as quantum resources, two protocols for "continuous variable (CV) controlled quantum conference" are proposed. These CV protocols for controlled quantum conferences (CQCs) are the first of their kind and can be reduced to CV protocols for various other cryptographic tasks. In the proposed protocols, Charlie is considered the controller, having the power to terminate the protocol at any time and to control the flow of information among the other users by (...) using a parameterised control switch. Based on the information shared by Charlie with the participants of the conference, the control power of Charlie is evaluated and compared to the proposed protocols. The comparison of the efficiency of the proposed protocols has revealed that, under certain constraints, the 4-mode GHZ state-based protocol is more efficient than the two-mode squeezed state-based protocol. The control power Charlie is evaluated for the proposed protocols under certain constraints. A security analysis is also performed, and it is observed that the proposed protocols are secure against a variety of attacks, including but not limited to disturbance attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks, Trojan horse attacks, laser seeding attacks, cloning attacks, beam splitter attacks, and malicious user(s) attacks. (shrink)

Workplace incivility has been touted as a form of modern discrimination with serious negative consequences for the target. The increasingly unequal gender distribution in STEM workforce has also been attributed to workplace incivility. This study examines the _lived experience_ of this covert mistreatment for women employees in STEM workplaces. Data from STEM women employees revealed a typology of STEM incivility, mapping onto ostracism, hostility, undermining, and sexual incivility. Further, the gendered nature and STEM-specific phenomenology of incivility against women employees, based (...) on instigator characteristics, incivility frequency, and the general climate of STEM which aided or fostered interpersonal mistreatment was found. Drawing on affective events theory from organizational sciences and grounded in the STEM industry, this research examined the person-centric, emotional consequences of being a target of STEM incivility. Three broad themes that describe the first-person, felt-experience impact of mistreatment were as follows: discrete emotions, emotion regulation, duration of emotion experience. Upon encountering uncivil interpersonal experiences, participant reactions fell among one of four discrete emotional states: anger, fear, sadness, and surprise. Emotion regulation emerged as a key feature of the affective response. Specifically, STEM demands were tied to participant utilization of the regulation strategy of _suppression_ to hide the felt emotion initially and reappraisal and response modulation over time. Importantly, although understood as a mild event, the emotional consequences of incivility were long-lasting such that they continued beyond the episode, lasting anywhere from two hours to a week. The STEM context was central to the emotion trajectories. Results are discussed with respect to work performance, attitudinal, and health-related consequences for women employees in STEM jobs. Practical implications are discussed with a special grounding in STEM context with an eye toward best practices for managing incivility for women in STEM. (shrink)

The present study aimed at understanding the subjective perception of happiness in a sample of Indian participants from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. Using convenience sampling, individual interviews were conducted with 60 participants aged between 19 to 73 years. This study employed reflexive thematic analysis to analyse the written transcripts. Nine themes were generated which captured the essence of happiness for Indians—Feelings and Expressions of Happiness; Human Ties and Happiness which encompassed four sub-themes—family bond, the company one keeps, the pandemic and social (...) disengagement, and the nation, society and happiness; Satisfaction with Material Needs and Resources; Lifestyle and Health; Work and Play; Accomplishment and Appreciation; Nature Connectedness; Religious and Spiritual beliefs; and Happiness as a Personal responsibility—Role of Positive Personality Traits. These findings revealed our respondent's multidimensional conceptualization of happiness, and adds to the growing body of happiness literature from the South Asian context. (shrink)

Purpose Whereas integration of big data in “e-Oman” – the e-government face of Oman – is a significant prospect, this paper aims to underscore the challenges of privacy concerns in effecting such integration. Design/methodology/approach Providing a brief description about the concepts of e-government and big data, the paper follows a discussion on “e-Oman”. While drawing a framework for integration of big data in “e-Oman”, the paper throws light on the privacy concerns in effecting such an integration following a qualitative approach. (...) Findings Integration of big data in “e-Oman” is fraught with ethical challenges in terms of privacy issues which have social implications. Practical implications While the pros of integration of big data in “e-Oman” are noteworthy, technical and administrative constraints vis-à-vis the cons of such integration need to be taken care of. It may be underlined that there is a trade-off between the norms of transparency and privacy of individuals versus the deployment of big data in “e-Oman” for effective real-time problem-solving. Social implications Technical and administrative infrastructure needs to be robust for countering challenges of cybercrimes. Furthermore, confidentiality and privacy of individuals may be at stake; the government needs to tackle these issues. Originality/value Integration of big data in “e-Oman” needs to be probed, and this paper seeks to fill this gap. Second, the paper underscores that it is important that ethical norms are being accounted for while effecting this integration. (shrink)

Using a theoretical framework derived from my ongoing engagement with what I have called a ‘Gynocentric matrix’ of Indic sensibility, along with James Hillman’s polytheistic psychology and Wallace Stevens’ notion of a Supreme Fiction, this paper offers a reading of Jhumpa Lahiri’s (b. 1967) short stories beyond postcolonial criticism. Stemming from a depth consciousness where life, living and death, joy, indifference and sorrow, generation, de/re-generation, and transformation are intricately intertwined, Lahiri’s fictional multiverse, opposed to universe, is peopled by a new (...) generation of characters who speak to the soul of the reader, while in the process, she sculpts a reality that does not tolerate any homogenizing impulse in the name of an abstract unity. (shrink)

Objective To evaluate the questions asked during the informed consent process by adult and adolescent participants as well as their parents in five interventional regulatory studies conducted at our center from 2018 to 2019. Methods The study protocol was approved by Institutional Ethics Committee [EC/OA-116/2019]. Consent narratives in the source documents for the studies were evaluated. Questions asked were classified as per Indian Council of Medical Research’s guidelines. We evaluated total number of questions, nature of questions and whether there was (...) an association between education, gender, phase of trials, physician taking consent and number questions being asked. Results A total of five studies that had N = 297 consent narratives were evaluated. Narratives of n = 284 adult participants/Guardians and of n = 13 children were analysed. A total of 374 questions were asked of which children asked only 10 questions. A total of 131/284 of the participants did not ask any question. Among the participants who asked questions, the majority132/171 participants asked about risks related to investigational products followed by questions related to study procedures 83/171. Participants/guardians with higher education and those who consented for Phase III studies asked significantly more questions. Conclusion A majority of the queries were related to the risks associated with the investigational products. Educational status and the Phase of the trial were found to be significantly associated with the number of questions being asked. (shrink)

The Ideal of perpetual peace can be called ‘Summum Bonum’ of Kant’s political philosophy. Kant’s essay entitled ‘perpetual peace’ was written in 1795, but its substantial values practically unimpaired. Anyone who is familiar with the mindset of Kant will definitely expect to find in him sound common sense, clear vision and a remarkable power of analytically exhibiting the conditions on which the facts necessarily depend. These characteristics are manifest in his essay on ‘Perpetual peace’. From the beginning of the history (...) of humanity, poets and prophets had cherished the sweet dream of a peaceful civilization. It is in the form of a practical project that this idea of perpetual peace is a noble one. Kant’s essay on perpetual peace has been divided into two sections. The first section contains ‘Six preliminary articles’ on perpetual peace between states, while the second section includes ‘Three definitive articles’ of a perpetual peace between states. Kant’s essay on perpetual peace at first sight seems as a pure political thought, but if we go through the content of it, we find its roots in ethics. If we say that the whole of Kant’s political thought has a sound ethical foundation, then it will not be wrong. If we make a deep analysis and a serious observation of all the preliminary and definitive articles of perpetual peace, we will find that there are fundamental ethical values and moral maxims rooted in the philosophy of perpetual peace. Ethics is the foundation of perpetual peace. Kant is not pessimist enough to believe that perpetual peace is an unrealisable dream or a consummation devoutly to be feared, nor is he optimist enough to fancy that it is an ideal which could be easily realised. For Kant, perpetual peace is an ideal not merely as a speculative Utopian idea, with which in fancy we may play, but as a moral principle, which ought to be, and therefore can be, realised. The present paper is an attempt to discover these hidden principles of morality in the description of perpetual peace. The author has tried to trace out and analyse the ethical foundation of perpetual peace with the help of preliminary and definitive articles of perpetual peace stated by Kant. (shrink)

This study investigates the value of sharing. The primary data are the parent–child discourses regarding the value of sharing. The discourses are subsequently subjected to discourse analyses. The study also involves a semi-structured interview with the same parents who were a part of the discursive study as well. The data of the interview were subjected to thematic analyses. The aim of conducting the interview was to validate the discursive findings. The study provides exemplary discourses highlighting the issues of sacrifice and (...) reciprocity in sharing. (shrink)