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Which policies can help households improve their economic, social and political status? Building Social Mobility is an in-depth exploration of how policies to subsidize homeownership in low- and middle-income countries shape beneficiaries' decision-making in nearly every facet of their lives. Tanu Kumar develops a multidimensional and cross-disciplinary theory that argues that these initiatives affect how citizens invest in the future, climb out of poverty, develop agency in their social relationships, and exert power in local politics. Kumar supports the theory using a multi-method study of three policies in India. Evidence includes a natural experiment, original surveys, paired qualitative interviews, and an 18-year matched panel study. Building Social Mobility is a book about both housing and behavior. It goes beyond assessing the effects of an important policy to provide deep insights about how upwardly mobile citizens make decisions and the interactions between wealth, dignity, and voice in low- and middle-income countries.
In the mid-1960s, India's 'green revolution' saw the embrace of more productive agricultural practices and high yielding variety seeds, bringing the country out of food scarcity. Although lauded as a success of the Cold War fight against hunger, the green revolution has also faced criticisms for causing ecological degradation and socio-economic inequality. This book contextualizes the 'green revolution' to show the contingencies and pitfalls of agrarian transformation. Prakash Kumar unpacks its contested history, tracing agricultural modernization in India from colonial-era crop development, to land and tenure reforms, community development, and the expansion of arable lands. He also examines the involvement of the colonial state, post-colonial elites, and American modernizers. Over time, all of these efforts came under the spell of technocracy, an unyielding belief in the power of technology to solve social and economic underdevelopment which, Kumar argues, best explains what caused the green revolution.
The book investigates certain obscure but important aspects of the social history of disease and medicine in colonial eastern India, covering Assam, Bengal, and Bihar and Orissa-against the backdrop of the outbreak of a lethal disease called kala-azar, or black fever, scientifically known as visceral leishmaniasis, which spread its wings as an epidemic from the 1870s-and chisels out the interaction between the microbe behind the disease and medical interventionism on the one hand and health officials and the state on the other. The book does not narrate a simple account of disease and health. Instead, it analyses the social history of kala-azar in British east India in addition to revealing the hitherto undiscovered areas of research in the field of medical history.
The treatment of tremor is challenging, and therapeutic options are often limited and non-specific. Treatment always has to be individualized, and apart from the objective severity of tremor, significant importance should be given to subjective severity and impact of the tremor on the patient. Supportive non-pharmacologic and non-surgical methods should be incorporated into the treatment regimen. Finally, surgical therapy is proven and effective in several tremor syndromes and should be offered to eligible patients.
The genetic diversity of Cyclanthera pedata was assessed through agro-morphological, mineral composition and biochemical traits. Field surveys across India documented its wide ecological distribution (18.66°–31.02°N, 78.05°–83.27°E, 131–3665 m AMSL) in Andhra Pradesh and northwest Himalayan region. Field evaluations were conducted during Kharif 2021 and 2022 at ICAR-Vivekananda Parvatiya Krishi Anusandhan Sansthan, Almora (1250 m AMSL). Significant genotypic variation was observed in fruit yield (195–1505 g/plant), fruit numbers (36–364 per plant), chlorophyll content (0.49–2.61 μg/g) and antioxidant activities (16.02–39.04 mM Trolox equivalent/g DW). Notable genotypes included RK-40 (highest yield of 1505 g/plant), RK-01 (early flowering) and RK-33 (early fruiting). High coefficients of variation (>23%) were noted in total chlorophyll, carotenoids and FRAP values. Genotype RK-42 excelled in antioxidant activities and carotenoids. Hierarchical cluster analysis grouped the germplasm into four clusters based on critical traits independent of geographic origin. In contrast, principal component analysis identified traits like polyphenols, antioxidants, seed weight and fruit yield as significant contributors to phenotypic variation. The biplot revealed relationships between traits, such as positive correlations between fruit yield, fruit and pulp weight, and biochemical traits like DPPH and ABTS. Genotypes such as IC 430006, IC 356007, IC 393261, IC 393308, UKAl 1 and IC 361297 display distinct profiles. These findings highlight critical traits for breeding and conservation efforts, particularly for enhancing fruit yield and biochemical attributes in C. pedata germplasm.
Transcatheter closure of large and complex atrial septal defect can pose challenges and complications during device placement. To improve stability, several assistive techniques have been developed.
Methods:
This retrospective study evaluated the efficacy of the device-assisted device closure technique for large secundum atrial septal defects. Patients who underwent device-assisted device closure of atrial septal defect between December 2023 and August 2024 were analysed.
Results:
Twenty patients (mean age 38.69 years) underwent device closure of large secundum atrial septal defect with device-assisted device closure technique. The mean atrial septal defect diameter was 31.9 mm. The average thick-to-thick measurement was 38.3 mm, which determined the device size. The majority (18 cases) had thin, floppy margins and two had deficient inferior rim. Successful closure was achieved in 18 patients (90%), while two patients (10%) required other methods of assistance. Based on fluoroscopic guidance, patients were divided into two groups: Group A (8 patients) used anteroposterior projection, and Group B (12 patients) used left anterior oblique-cranial view. After initial two failures with anteroposterior view, all cases were successfully closed using left anterior oblique-cranial projection. Device sizes ranged from 36 to 50 mm (median 40 mm). Cocoon devices were used for sizes up to 42 mm, and Occlunix for larger devices. No significant procedural complications occurred, although two patients had minor post-procedural events.
Conclusions:
Device-assisted device closure technique offers a promising and safe dynamic assistance approach for transcatheter closure of large and challenging atrial septal defects. The left anterior oblique-cranial view showed promising results, though without statistical significance. While results are encouraging, larger prospective studies are needed to validate its effectiveness.
This article presents an ultrawide bandpass filter structure developed along a notch band using a small rectangular impedance resonator. The proposed filter structure consists of a coupled rectangular resonator (CRR), open stub, and composited split ring resonator (CSRR) at the bottom of the structure. In-band and out-of-band properties are improved by the CRR and open stub. The notch band is obtained by placing CSRR below the rectangular resonator. A filter with a compact size of 0.15 × 0.10 λg is obtained at a lowered cutoff frequency of 3.0 GHz, where λg is the corresponding guided wavelength. The proposed structure has been constructed on 5880 Rogers substrate with a thickness of 0.787 mm and a dielectric constant of 2.2. Additionally, equivalent lumped parameters were obtained, and a lumped equivalent circuit was created to explain how the suggested filter operated. The Electromagnetic (EM)-simulated results are in good agreement with the circuit-simulated and measured result. The various machine learning approaches such as artificial neural network, K-nearest neighbour, decision tree, random forest (RF), and extreme gradient boosting algorithms are applied to optimize the design, in which RF algorithms achieve more than 90% accuracy for predicting the S parameters of the ultrawideband filter.
Paleoproterozoic granitoids of the lesser Himalayan belt are keys to understanding the evolution of the northern Indian continental margin and its position in the Columbia supercontinent assembly. We present whole-rock chemistry and zircon U-Pb geochronological data for Gwaldam Biotite Granite (GBGr) from the Baijnath Klippe (BK) in Kumaun Himalaya to elucidate their petrogenesis and geodynamic implications. Granites are characterized by ferroan, weakly peraluminous nature with high SiO2 and K2O contents, enrichment in LILE (Rb, Th, K and Pb), and depletion in Ba, Nb, P, Hf and Ti. Granites show enrichment in light rare earth element relative to heavy rare earth elements and pronounced negative Eu anomalies. Such chemistry suggests typical A-type granite with high Y/Nb >2 values that characterize it as A2-type granite. Zircon U-Pb ages for the granite yield upper intercept at 1900 ± 3 Ma (core) and 1854 ± 2 Ma (rim). Integrating the chemical and geochronological data, we propose a two-stage evolution model for the area. In the GBGr, the ∼1900 Ma date of zircon core is likely the date of crystallization of the melts presumably formed during the first extensional stage at uppermost mantle – lower crust levels caused by slab break-off/rollback, which followed a post-collisional setting. The second incipient rifting stage produced melt that entrained the zircon cores (∼1900 Ma) during its ascendance and crystallized as the GBGr at ∼1854 Ma when the zircon rims crystallized. It is further proposed that the Paleoproterozoic Northern Indian continental margin later underwent at least two crustal extensions during the Columbia supercontinent agglomeration.
With wide-field phased array feed technology, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is ideally suited to search for seemingly rare radio transient sources that are difficult to discover previous-generation narrow-field telescopes. The Commensal Real-time ASKAP Fast Transient (CRAFT) Survey Science Project has developed instrumentation to continuously search for fast radio transients (duration ≲ 1 second) with ASKAP, with a particular focus on finding and localising Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs). Since 2018, the CRAFT survey has been searching for FRBs and other fast transients by incoherently adding the intensities received by individual ASKAP antennas, and then correcting for the impact of frequency dispersion on these short-duration signals in the resultant incoherent sum (ICS) in real-time. This low-latency detection enables the triggering of voltage buffers, which facilitates the localisation of the transient source and the study of spectro-polarimetric properties at high time resolution. Here we report the sample of 43 FRBs discovered in this CRAFT/ICS survey to date. This includes 22 FRBs that had not previously been reported: 16 FRBs localised by ASKAP to. ≲ 1 arcsec and 6 FRBs localised to ∼ 10 arcmin. Of the new arcsecond-localised FRBs, we have identified and characterised host galaxies (and measured redshifts) for 11. The median of all 30 measured host redshifts from the survey to date is z = 0.23. We summarise results from the searches, in particular those contributing to our understanding of the burst progenitors and emission mechanisms, and on the use of bursts as probes of intervening media. We conclude by foreshadowing future FRB surveys with ASKAP using a coherent detection system that is currently being commissioned. This will increase the burst detection rate by a factor of approximately ten and also the distance to which ASKAP can localise FRBs.
Prediction of dynamic environmental variables in unmonitored sites remains a long-standing challenge for water resources science. The majority of the world’s freshwater resources have inadequate monitoring of critical environmental variables needed for management. Yet, the need to have widespread predictions of hydrological variables such as river flow and water quality has become increasingly urgent due to climate and land use change over the past decades, and their associated impacts on water resources. Modern machine learning methods increasingly outperform their process-based and empirical model counterparts for hydrologic time series prediction with their ability to extract information from large, diverse data sets. We review relevant state-of-the art applications of machine learning for streamflow, water quality, and other water resources prediction and discuss opportunities to improve the use of machine learning with emerging methods for incorporating watershed characteristics and process knowledge into classical, deep learning, and transfer learning methodologies. The analysis here suggests most prior efforts have been focused on deep learning frameworks built on many sites for predictions at daily time scales in the United States, but that comparisons between different classes of machine learning methods are few and inadequate. We identify several open questions for time series predictions in unmonitored sites that include incorporating dynamic inputs and site characteristics, mechanistic understanding and spatial context, and explainable AI techniques in modern machine learning frameworks.
Let $\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^d$ with $d\geq 2$ be a bounded domain of class ${\mathcal C}^{1,\beta }$ for some $\beta \in (0,1)$. For $p\in (1, \infty )$ and $s\in (0,1)$, let $\Lambda ^s_{p}(\Omega )$ be the first eigenvalue of the mixed local–nonlocal operator $-\Delta _p+(-\Delta _p)^s$ in Ω with the homogeneous nonlocal Dirichlet boundary condition. We establish a strict Faber–Krahn-type inequality for $\Lambda _{p}^s(\cdot )$ under polarization. As an application of this strict inequality, we obtain the strict monotonicity of $\Lambda _{p}^s(\cdot )$ over the annular domains and characterize the rigidity property of the balls in the classical Faber–Krahn inequality for $-\Delta _p+(-\Delta _p)^s$.
For an integer $k \geq 2$, let $P_{n}^{(k)}$ be the k-generalised Pell sequence, which starts with $0, \ldots ,0,1$ (k terms), and each term thereafter is given by the recurrence $P_{n}^{(k)} = 2 P_{n-1}^{(k)} +P_{n-2}^{(k)} +\cdots +P_{n-k}^{(k)}$. We search for perfect powers, which are sums or differences of two k-generalised Pell numbers.
Advance care planning (ACP) supports communication and medical decision-making and is best conceptualized as part of the care planning continuum. Black older adults have lower ACP engagement and poorer quality of care in serious illness. Surrogates are essential to effective ACP but are rarely integrated in care planning. Our objective was to describe readiness, barriers, and facilitators of ACP among seriously ill Black older adults and their surrogates.
Methods
We used an explanatory sequential mixed methods study design. The setting was 2 ambulatory specialty clinics of an academic medical center and 1 community church in Northern California, USA. Participants included older adults and surrogates. Older adults were aged 60+, self-identified as Black, and had received care at 1 of the 2 clinics or were a member of the church congregation. Surrogates were aged 18+ and could potentially make medical decisions for the older adult. The validated ACP engagement survey was used to assess confidence and readiness for ACP. What “matters most” and barriers and facilitators to ACP employed questions from established ACP materials and trials. Semi-structured interviews were conducted after surveys to further explain survey results.
Results
Older adults (N = 30) and surrogates (N = 12) were confident that they could engage in ACP (4.1 and 4.7 out of 5), but many were not ready for these conversations (3.1 and 3.9 out of 5). A framework with 4 themes – illness experience, social connections, interaction with health providers, burden – supports identification of barriers and facilitators to ACP engagement.
Significance of results
We identified barriers and facilitators and present a framework to support ACP engagement. Future research can assess the impact of this framework on communication and decision-making.
Gravito–capillary waves at free surfaces are ubiquitous in several natural and industrial processes involving quiescent liquid pools bounded by cylindrical walls. These waves emanate from the relaxation of initial interface distortions, which often take the form of a cavity (depression) centred on the symmetry axis of the container. The surface waves reflect from the container walls leading to a radially inward propagating wavetrain converging (focussing) onto the symmetry axis. Under the inviscid approximation and for sufficiently shallow cavities, the relaxation is well-described by the linearised potential-flow equations. Naturally, adding viscosity to such a system introduces viscous dissipation that enervates energy and dampens the oscillations at the symmetry axis. However, for viscous liquids and deeper cavities, these equations are qualitatively inaccurate. In this study, we decompose the initial localised interface distortion into several Bessel functions and study their time evolution governing the propagation of concentric gravito–capillary waves on a free surface. This is carried out for inviscid as well as viscous liquids. For a sufficiently deep cavity, the inward focussing of waves results in large interfacial oscillations at the axis, necessitating a second-order nonlinear theory. We demonstrate that this theory effectively models the interfacial behaviour and highlights the crucial role of nonlinearity near the symmetry axis. This is rationalised via demonstration of the contribution of bound wave components to the interface displacement at the symmetry axis Contrary to expectations, the addition of slight viscosity further intensifies the oscillations at the symmetry axis although the mechanism of wavetrain generation here is quite different compared with bubble bursting where such behaviour is well known (Duchemin et al., Phys. Fluids, vol. 14, issue 9, 2002, pp. 3000–3008). This finding underscores the limitations of the potential flow model and suggests avenues for more accurate modelling of such complex free-surface flows.
Weak-line T Tauri stars (WTTS) exhibit X-ray flares, likely resulting from magnetic reconnection that heats the stellar plasma to very high temperatures. These flares are difficult to identify through targeted observations. Here, we report the serendipitous detection of the brightest X-ray flaring state of the WTTS KM Ori in the eROSITA DR1 survey. Observations from SRG/eROSITA, Chandra X-ray Observatory, and XMM-Newton are analysed to assess the X-ray properties of KM Ori, thereby establishing its flaring state at the eROSITA epoch. The long-term (1999–2020) X-ray light curve generated for the Chandra observations confirmed that eROSITA captured the source at its highest X-ray flaring state recorded to date. Multi-instrument observations support the X-ray flaring state of the source, with time-averaged X-ray luminosity ($L_\mathrm{0.2-5\ keV}$) reaching $\sim 1.9\times10^{32}\mathrm{{erg\ s^{-1}}}$ at the eROSITA epoch, marking it the brightest and possibly the longest flare observed so far. Such intense X-ray flares have been detected only in a few WTTS. The X-ray spectral analysis unveils the presence of multiple thermal plasma components at all epochs. The notably high luminosity ($L_\mathrm{0.5-8\ keV}\sim10^{32}\ \mathrm{erg\ s}^{-1}$), energy ($E_\mathrm{ 0.5-8\ keV}\sim10^{37}$ erg), and the elevated emission measures of the thermal components in the eROSITA epoch indicate a superflare/megaflare state of KM Ori. Additionally, the H$\alpha$ line equivalent width of $\sim$$-5$ Å from our optical spectral analysis, combined with the lack of infrared excess in the spectral energy distribution, were used to re-confirm the WTTS (thin disc/disc-less) classification of the source. The long-duration flare of KM Ori observed by eROSITA indicates the possibility of a slow-rise top-flat flare. The detection demonstrates the potential of eROSITA to uncover such rare, transient events, thereby providing new insights into the X-ray activity of WTTS.
Waterhemp has become a serious management challenge for New York (NY) field crop growers. Two putative glyphosate-resistant (GR) waterhemp populations (NY1 and NY2) were collected in 2023 from two soybean fields in Seneca County, NY. The objectives of this research were to (1) confirm and characterize the level of glyphosate resistance in waterhemp populations from NY relative to a known glyphosate-susceptible Nebraska (NE_SUS) population and (2) evaluate the efficacy of various postemergence (POST) herbicides for GR waterhemp control. Based on the shoot dry weight reductions (GR50 values) in a dose-response study, the NY1 and NY2 populations exhibited 5.6- to 8.3-fold resistance to glyphosate compared with the NE_SUS population. In a separate study, POST herbicides such as dicamba, glufosinate, lactofen, and 2,4-D applied alone or in a mixture with glyphosate or glufosinate had provided 89% to 99% control and ≥ 97% shoot dry weight reduction of NY1 and NY2 populations 21 days after treatment (DAT). Greater than 98% control of the NE_SUS population was achieved with tested POST herbicides, except mesotrione (62% control). Furthermore, atrazine, chlorimuron + thifensulfuron, and mesotrione were the least effective in controlling NY1 and NY2 populations (42% to 59% control and 50% to 67% shoot dry weight reductions, respectively). These results confirm the first report of GR waterhemp in NY. Growers should adopt effective alternative POST herbicides tested in this study to manage GR waterhemp.