Home About us Contact
|
Home About us Contact | ||
|
|
||
Bengal
Kinds of Bengal Terms modified by Bengal Selected AbstractsStruggling to Save Cash: Seasonal Migration and Vulnerability in West Bengal, IndiaDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 4 2003Ben Rogaly This article concerns an important but overlooked means by which able-bodied poor people get hold of lump sums of cash in rural West Bengal: seasonal migration for agricultural wage work. Drawing on a regional study of four migration streams, our main focus here is on the struggle to secure this cash by landless households in just one of those streams, originating in Murshidabad District. Case studies are used to illustrate the importance for women in nuclear families of maintaining supportive networks of kin for periods when men are absent. A parallel analysis is made of the negotiations between male migrant workers and their employers, at labour markets, during the period of work, and afterwards. The article then briefly discusses some of the contrasting ways in which remittances are used by landless households and owners of very small plots of land, in the context of rapid ecological change, demographic pressure and growing inequality. [source] State Sciences and Development Histories: Encoding Local Forestry Knowledge in BengalDEVELOPMENT AND CHANGE, Issue 1 2000K. Sivaramakrishnan Informed by debates on development discourse, local knowledge, and the history of colonial conservation, this article argues for a careful historical investigation of the manner in which scientific managerial knowledge emerges in the field of forestry. It makes its case by focusing on the specific period in the history of Bengal (1893,1937) when scientific forestry was formalized and institutionalized. The processes and conflicts through which local knowledge gets encoded as scientific canon have to be understood to generate effective managerial devolution in participatory projects. This requires an engagement with public understandings of science as practice that arises from a dynamic critique of static, and undifferentiated, notions of development discourse or local knowledge. [source] Distributions of forest birds and butterflies in the Andaman islands, Bay of Bengal: nested patterns and processesECOGRAPHY, Issue 1 2002Priya Davidar The distributional patterns of forest birds and butterflies in the Andaman islands, an oceanic chain located off SE Asia, were tested for nestedness. Both taxa were highly nested. Nestedness could be due to colonization or extinction processes, area or distance effects or nestedness of habitats. Nestedness in forest bird distributions were strongly influenced by area and habitat related factors. Habitats were significantly nested in all three island groups, however most strongly for the North Andamans. However forest bird distributions in the North Andamans, as indicated by row order in the packed matrix, was not correlated with habitat diversity, suggesting that habitat related factors alone cannot account for these patterns. Other causal influences could be passive sampling, where common and abundant species and habitats are more likely to have a widespread distribution than rare species and habitats. The nested subset pattern seen in two unrelated taxa suggests that the Andamans are extinction dominated and that the protection of forests on large islands is critical for the conservation of its biodiversity. [source] Women as Policy Makers: Evidence from a Randomized Policy Experiment in IndiaECONOMETRICA, Issue 5 2004Raghabendra Chattopadhyay This paper uses political reservations for women in India to study the impact of women's leadership on policy decisions. Since the mid-1990's, one third of Village Council head positions in India have been randomly reserved for a woman: In these councils only women could be elected to the position of head. Village Councils are responsible for the provision of many local public goods in rural areas. Using a dataset we collected on 265 Village Councils in West Bengal and Rajasthan, we compare the type of public goods provided in reserved and unreserved Village Councils. We show that the reservation of a council seat affects the types of public goods provided. Specifically, leaders invest more in infrastructure that is directly relevant to the needs of their own genders. [source] Ensuring sustainable water supplies: A study of groundwater conditions in Salboni Block, West BengalENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT, Issue 2 2008Alivia Chowdhury First page of article [source] Induction of bilateral plasticity in sensory cortical maps by small unilateral cortical infarcts in ratsEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE, Issue 3 2003S. Reinecke Abstract Behavioural impairments caused by brain lesions show a considerable, though often incomplete, recovery. It is hypothesized that cortical and subcortical plasticity of sensory representations contribute to this recovery. In the hindpaw representation of somatosensory cortex of adult rats we investigated the effects of focal unilateral cortical lesions on remote areas. Cortical lesions with a diameter of ,,2 mm were induced in the parietal cortex by photothrombosis with the photosensitive dye Rose Bengal. Subsequently, animals were kept in standard cages for 7 days. On day seven, animals were anaesthetized and cutaneous receptive fields in the cortical hindpaw representations ipsi- and contralateral to the lesion were constructed from extracellular recordings of neurons in layer IV using glass microelectrodes. Receptive fields in the lesioned animals were compared to receptive fields measured in nonlesioned animals serving as controls. Quantitative analysis of receptive fields revealed a significant increase in size in the lesioned animals. This doubling in receptive field size was observed equally in the hemispheres ipsi- and contralateral to the lesion. The results indicate that the functional consequences of restricted cortical lesions are not limited to the area surrounding the lesion, but affect the cortical maps on the contralateral, nonlesioned hemisphere. [source] Aegyptin displays high-affinity for the von Willebrand factor binding site (RGQOGVMGF) in collagen and inhibits carotid thrombus formation in vivoFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 2 2010Eric Calvo Aegyptin is a 30 kDa mosquito salivary gland protein that binds to collagen and inhibits platelet aggregation. We have studied the biophysical properties of aegyptin and its mechanism of action. Light-scattering plot showed that aegyptin has an elongated monomeric form, which explains the apparent molecular mass of 110 kDa estimated by gel-filtration chromatography. Surface plasmon resonance identified the sequence RGQOGVMGF (where O is hydroxyproline) that mediates collagen interaction with von Willebrand factor (vWF) as a high-affinity binding site for aegyptin, with a KD of approximately 5 nm. Additionally, aegyptin interacts with the linear peptide RGQPGVMGF and heat-denatured collagen, indicating that the triple helix and hydroxyproline are not a prerequisite for binding. However, aegyptin does not interact with scrambled RGQPGVMGF peptide. Aegyptin also recognizes the peptides (GPO)10 and GFOGER with low affinity (,m range), which respectively represent glycoprotein VI and integrin ,2,1 binding sites in collagen. Truncated forms of aegyptin were engineered, and the C-terminus fragment was shown to interact with collagen and to attenuate platelet aggregation. In addition, aegyptin prevents laser-induced carotid thrombus formation in the presence of Rose Bengal in vivo, without significant bleeding in rats. In conclusion, aegyptin interacts with distinct binding sites in collagen, and is useful tool to inhibit platelet,collagen interaction in vitro and in vivo. Structured digital abstract ,,MINT-7299280, MINT-7299290: Collagen (uniprotkb:P02461) binds (MI:0407) to Aegyptin (uniprotkb:O01949) by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (MI:0411) ,,MINT-7298991, MINT-7299153, MINT-7299208: Collagen (uniprotkb:P02452) binds (MI:0407) to Aegyptin (uniprotkb:O01949) by surface plasmon resonance (MI:0107) ,,MINT-7299266: Collagen (uniprotkb:P02452) binds (MI:0407) to Aegyptin (uniprotkb:O01949) by fluorescence microscopy (MI:0416) ,,MINT-7299256: Collagen (uniprotkb:P02452) binds (MI:0407) to Aegyptin (uniprotkb:O01949) by solid phase assay (MI:0892) [source] The Burning of Sampati Kuer: Sati and the Politics of Imperialism, Nationalism and Revivalism in 1920s IndiaGENDER & HISTORY, Issue 2 2008Andrea Major Sati, the immolation of a Hindu widow on her husband's funeral pyre, is a rare, but highly controversial practice. It has inspired a surfeit of scholarly studies in the last twenty years, most of which concentrate on one of two main historical sati ,episodes': that of early-colonial Bengal, culminating with the British prohibition of 1829, and that of late twentieth-century Rajasthan, epitomised by the immolation of Roop Kanwar in 1987. Comparatively little detailed historical analysis exists on sati cases between these two events, however, a lacuna this paper seeks to address by exploring British and Indian discourses on sati as they existed in late-colonial India. The paper argues that sati remained a site of ideological and actual confrontation in the early twentieth century, with important implications for ongoing debates about Hindu religion, identity and nation. It focuses on the intersection between various colonial debates and contemporaneous Indian social and political concerns during the controversy surrounding the immolation of Sampati Kuer in Barh, Bihar, in 1927, emphasising resonances with postcolonial interpretations of sati and the dissonance of early nineteenth-century tropes when reproduced in the Patna High Court in 1928. Thus, while Kumkum Sangari and Sudesh Vaid have suggested that ,ad hoc' attempts to piece together a ,modern' narrative of widow immolation began in the 1950s, this paper will suggest that various contemporary discursive formations on sati can be observed in late-colonial India, when discussions of sati became entwined with Indian nationalism and Hindu identity politics and evoked the first organised female response to sati from an emergent women's movement that saw it as an ideological, as well as physical, violation of women. [source] Nonobese population in a developing country has a high prevalence of nonalcoholic fatty liver and significant liver disease,,HEPATOLOGY, Issue 5 2010Kausik Das There is a paucity of community-based epidemiological data on nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) among nonaffluent populations in developing countries. Available studies are radiological and/or biochemical and lack histological assessment, limiting their strength. We conducted a prospective epidemiological study comprising a 1:3 subsample of all adult (>18 years) inhabitants of a rural administrative unit of West Bengal, India. Subjects positive for hepatitis B virus and/or hepatitis C virus infection and consuming any amount of alcohol were excluded. Diagnosis of NAFL was by dual radiological screening protocol consisting of ultrasonographic and computed tomographic examination of the liver. Transient elastographic examination and liver biopsy were performed in a subset to identify significant liver disease. The risk factors of having NAFL were analyzed. A total of 1,911 individuals were analyzed, 7% of whom were overweight and 11% of whom had abdominal obesity. The prevalence of NAFL, NAFL with elevated alanine aminotransferase, and cryptogenic cirrhosis was 8.7%, 2.3%, and 0.2%, respectively. Seventy-five percent of NAFL subjects had a body mass index (BMI) <25 kg/m2, and 54% were neither overweight nor had abdominal obesity. The subjects with the highest risk of having NAFL were those with a BMI >25 kg/m2 (odds ratio 4.3, 95% confidence interval 1.6-11.5). Abdominal obesity, dysglycemia (fasting plasma glucose >100 mg/dL or elevated homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance), and higher income were the other risk factors. Even having a normal BMI (18.5-24.9 kg/m2) was associated with a 2-fold increased risk of NAFL versus those with a BMI <18.5 kg/m2. Conclusion: There is a significant prevalence of NAFL and potentially significant liver disease, including cryptogenic cirrhosis, in this predominantly nonobese, nonaffluent population in a developing country. NAFL will be a major determinant of future liver disease burden in countries of the developing world. (HEPATOLOGY 2010) [source] Remote sensing and GIS-based flood vulnerability assessment of human settlements: a case study of Gangetic West Bengal, IndiaHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 18 2005Joy Sanyal Abstract Flooding due to excessive rainfall in a short period of time is a frequent hazard in the flood plains of monsoon Asia. In late September 2000, a devastating flood stuck Gangetic West Bengal, India. This particular event has been selected for this study. Instead of following the conventional approach of flooded area delineation and overall damage estimation, this paper seeks to identify the rural settlements that are vulnerable to floods of a given magnitude. Vulnerability of a rural settlement is perceived as a function of two factors: the presence of deep flood water in and around the settlement and its proximity to an elevated area for temporary shelter during an extreme hydrological event. Landsat ETM+ images acquired on 30 September 2000 have been used to identify the non-flooded areas within the flooded zone. Particular effort has been made to differentiate land from water under cloud shadow. ASTER digital elevation data have been used to assess accuracy and rectify the classified image. The presence of large numbers of trees around rural settlements made it particularly difficult to extract the flooded areas from their spectral signatures in the visible and infrared bands. ERS-1 synthetic aperture radar data are found particularly useful for extracting the settlement areas surrounded by trees. Finally, all information extracted from satellite imageries are imported into ArcGIS, and spatial analysis is carried out to identify the settlements vulnerable to river inundation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Ten-year climatology of summer monsoon over South China and its surroundings simulated from a regional climate modelINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2006Yiming Liu Abstract In a previous study by the authors, a regional climate model (hereafter the RCM) developed to study the summer monsoon over South China (SC) and the South China Sea (SCS) has been tested and found to be able to simulate to a large extent the precipitation over this region for the months of May and June. To examine the interannual variability of the summer monsoon here, it is necessary to establish a model climatology to serve as a comparison and to reduce or even remove any systematic model biases. This paper presents the analyses of such a 10-year climatology (1991,2000). The model was initialized on 1 April and integrated up to the end of June for the ten years. The initial atmospheric conditions and lateral boundary data used in this study are from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts ,40-year' reanalyses. The RCM can reproduce well the main features of the monsoon circulation and vertical structure of the atmosphere. The RCM can simulate the intensification and northwestward displacement of the south Asian upper anticyclones from May to June, as well as the low-level moisture transport from the Bay of Bengal to SC. In the simulation, the average SCS summer monsoon onset occurs in the fourth pentad of May, which is consistent with the results from previous observational research. In addition, the RCM can reproduce the main characteristics of the onset such as the change of the low-level zonal flow from easterly to westerly as well as the rapid increase in daily precipitation. The SC and SCS precipitation anomalies have the correct sign in almost all the years. The shortcomings of the model simulation include an under-prediction of the strength of the subtropical high over the Northwest Pacific and the moisture transport from the Bay of Bengal to the Indochina Peninsula (IC) and SCS. A cold bias in surface air temperature is also observed, with the 10-year mean biases of the simulated surface air temperature over SC, SCS and IC in May and June being about ,2.1 °C, ,2.4 °C and ,1.4 °C respectively. The 10-year mean biases of the simulated daily precipitation rate over SC, SCS and IC are about 2.0, ,3.8 and 3.5 mm d,1 respectively. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society. [source] Intraseasonal oscillations and the South China Sea summer monsoon onsetINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2005Wen Zhou Abstract This paper investigates the role of intraseasonal oscillations (ISOs) in the onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon (SCSSM). Two major components of ISO (10,20-day and 30,60-day modes) are identified. The coupling of these two intraseasonal modes during the pre-monsoon period of the SCSSM are investigated by examining the filtered outgoing longwave radiation (OLR), low-level circulation, apparent heat source and apparent moisture sink from October of a previous calendar year to September of a calendar year. The zonal and meridional propagations of the 10,20-day and 30,60-day modes are found to be different, which reflects their different roles in the establishment and development of the SCSSM. The northwestward propagation of the 10,20-day mode is associated with the weakening of the subtropical high over the western Pacific, while the northeastward propagation of the 30,60-day mode originates from convection over the equatorial Indian Ocean. A hypothesis is then proposed to explain the observed variabilities in the SCSSM onset. When the equatorial Indian Ocean exhibits a 30,60-day mode oscillation, an initially weak convection develops into a large convection band (or monsoon trough). Meanwhile, a convective disturbance of the 10,20-day mode is induced when this monsoon trough extends to the western Pacific. These two processes then collaborate to cause a weakening of the subtropical anticyclone over the South China Sea. Because the monsoon trough associated with the 30,60-day mode subsequently propagates northward into the Bay of Bengal (BOB), the induced vortex together with the 10,20-day westward-migrating convection from the equatorial western Pacific will substantially increase the effect of horizontal advection of moisture and heat, thus destabilizing the atmosphere and weakening the subtropical ridge there. Westerlies can then penetrate and prevail over the SCS region, and the SCSSM onset occurs. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society. [source] Onset characteristics of the southwest monsoon over IndiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 2 2005P. V. S. Raju Abstract Dynamic and thermodynamic characteristics of the Asian summer monsoon during the onset phase over the Indian Peninsula (Kerala coast) and its variability are examined with reanalysis data sets. For this study, daily averaged (0000 and 1200 UTC) reanalysis data sets of National Centre for Environmental Prediction,National Centre for Atmospheric Research for the period 1948,99 are used. Based on 52 years of onset dates of the Indian summer monsoon, we categorized pre-onset, onset and post-onset periods (each averaged 5 days) to investigate the mean circulation characteristics and the large-scale energetics of the Asian summer monsoon. It is found that the strength of the low-level Somali jet and upper tropospheric tropical easterly jet increase rapidly during the time of evolution of the summer monsoon over India. Over the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, predominant changes are noticed in the large-scale balances of kinetic energy, heat and moisture from the pre-onset to the post-onset periods. Prior to the onset of the summer monsoon over India, a zone of flux convergence of heat and moisture is noticed over the eastern sector of the Bay of Bengal and this intensifies in the onset and post-onset periods. During onset of the monsoon over India, the horizontal flux convergence of heat and moisture, as well as diabatic heating, are enhanced over the Arabian Sea. These subsequently increase with the evolution and advancement of the monsoon over India. Further, the dynamics of the evolution processes (15 days before and 30 days after the onset date of the monsoon over Kerala for each annual cycle) are studied over various sectors, such as the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal and Indian Peninsula region. The study reveals that the low-level kinetic energy, vertically integrated generation of kinetic energy and net tropospheric moisture over Arabian Sea can be used as potential predictors for the prediction of the possible onset date of the summer monsoon over the Indian Peninsula. Copyright © 2005 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Characteristics, evolution and mechanisms of the summer monsoon onset over Southeast AsiaINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2004Zuqiang Zhang Abstract Based on the 1979,95 mean pentad reanalysis data from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction, the climatological characteristics and physical mechanism of the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) onset are investigated. Special focus is given to whether the ASM onset starts earlier over the Indochina Peninsula than over the South China Sea (SCS) and why the ASM is established the earliest over Southeast Asia. An examination of the composite thermodynamic and dynamic quantities confirms that the ASM onset commences earliest over the Indochina Peninsula, as highlighted by active convection and rainfall resulting from the convergence of southwesterly flow from the Bay of Bengal (BOB) vortex and easterly winds associated with the subtropical anticyclone over the SCS. Two other important characteristics not previously noted are also identified: the earliest reversal of meridional temperature gradient throughout the entire troposphere and the corresponding establishment of an easterly vertical wind shear, which are due to upper level warming caused by eddy (convective) transport of latent heat. These changes in the large-scale circulation suggest that, in addition to rainfall, a reversal in the planetary-scale circulation should be included in determining the timing of the ASM onset. With such a consideration, the climatological ASM onset occurs first over southeastern BOB and southwestern Indochina Peninsula in early May, and then advances northeastward to reach the SCS by the fourth pentad of May (16,20 May). The monsoon then covers the entire Southeast Asia region by the end of May. Subsequently, a similar onset process begins over the eastern Arabian Sea, India and western BOB, and the complete establishment of the ASM over India is accomplished in mid June. In the process of the onset of each ASM component, the reversal of the upper level planetary-scale circulation depends strongly on that of the meridional temperature gradient. Over the Indochina Peninsula, the seasonal transition of upper level temperature results from convection-induced diabatic heating, whereas over western Asia it is attributed to subsidence warming induced by the active ascending motion over the former region. The steady increase in surface sensible heating over the Indian subcontinent and the latent heating over the tropical Indian Ocean in April to early May appear to be the major impetus for the development of the cyclonic vortex over the BOB. A similar enhancement over the Arabian Peninsula and the surrounding regions is also identified to be crucial to the development of the so-called onset vortex over the Arabian Sea, and then ultimately to the ASM onset over India. Copyright © 2004 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Evaluation of broad scale vertical circulation and thermal indices in relation to the onset of Indian summer monsoonINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 6 2002S. K. Roy Bhowmik Abstract The onset of the Indian summer monsoon over Kerala for an individual year of delayed (1997), early (1999) and normal onset (2000) was examined in relation to the intensity of vertical circulation and thermal indices during the pre-monsoon months (April and May). The study showed that in the delayed monsoon onset year (1997) negative anomalies of vertical zonal index dominated over the north Indian Ocean during pre-monsoon months, particularly in April. In contrast, in the early onset year (1999) the positive anomalies of this index over the north Indian Ocean during the pre-monsoon months were considerably stronger (April and May). However, the meridional vertical index did not show any appreciable difference. The gradient of the vertical thermal index anomalies over the Tibetan Plateau in the month of April was prominently stronger during the years of early and normal onset (1999 and 2000). The anomalies of geopotential height at 200 hPa over the Tibetan Plateau in the pre-monsoon months were significantly lower in the year of delayed onset (1997). The precipitable water content was found to be another major feature, which grew rapidly over the equatorial belt of the Indian Ocean extending up to the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal during the two weeks prior to onset. Most of these features were observed very distinctly in the month of April, well before the monsoon onset, and promise to provide important predictive signals for the onset over Kerala. Copyright © 2002 Royal Meteorological Society. [source] Class and the Politics of Participatory Rural Transformation in West Bengal: An Alternative to World Bank OrthodoxyJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 3 2007SUDIPTA BHATTACHARYYAArticle first published online: 3 JUN 200 Based on a primary field survey and secondary sources of information, this study analyzes the West Bengal experience of participatory rural transformation in relation to the changing class structure in a differentiated rural economy, the rise in class-consciousness among the rural poor and the participation of different classes in the political process of decision-making. Utsa Patnaik's (1987) labour exploitation criterion is used in order to rank rural households in class terms, alongside the standard acreage groupings. This study strongly refutes the neo-liberal (World Bank) idea of social capital and civil society as sources of ,people's participation'. It is argued that ,people's participation' is a meaningless concept, since the ,people' as a category includes different classes with conflicting interests. Though subordinate classes in West Bengal have achieved a higher level of class consciousness than in the past, and have resisted extra economic coercion, and while their political participation has risen, their involvement at the grass roots level of administrative decision-making is very weak. Panchayat Raj has so far failed to initiate a second phase of institutional reform in West Bengal, encompassing education, gender justice and above all the co-operative movement. This partial failure is the outcome of short-term electoral benefit being given priority over and so undermining class struggle. [source] Agriculture and ,Improvement' in Early Colonial India: A Pre-History of DevelopmentJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 4 2005DAVID ARNOLD The doctrine of ,improvement' has often been identified with the introduction , and presumed failure , of the Permanent Settlement in Bengal in 1793. Although recognized as central to British agrarian policies in India, its wider impact and significance have been insufficiently explored. Aesthetic taste, moral judgement and botanical enthusiasm combined with more strictly economic criteria to give an authority to the idea of improvement that endured into the middle decades of the nineteenth century. Concern for improvement also reflected dissatisfaction with India's apparent poverty and deficient material environment; it helped stimulate data-collection and ambitious schemes of agrarian transformation. A precursor of later concepts of development, not least in its negative presumptions about India and the search for external agencies of change, improvement yet shows many of the false starts and intrinsic limitations early attempts to transform rural India entailed. This article reassesses the significance of improvement in the first half of the nineteenth century in India, especially as illustrated through contemporary travel literature and through the aims and activities of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society of India. [source] Non,Market Interventions in Water,Sharing:Case Studies from West Bengal, IndiaJOURNAL OF AGRARIAN CHANGE, Issue 4 2002Vikas Rawal This paper deals with two issues that are important areas of concern in the recent literature on water management in less,developed countries: forms of ownership of groundwater resources and alternatives to anarchy in the exploitation and use of groundwater. The emergence of a market for irrigation water has been argued to have the potential to provide irrigation water to large numbers of small cultivators in developing countries. The development of free markets for water, however, has also been shown to be associated with the emergence of ,water,lords' and with contracts for the purchase and sale of water that are biased against the poor. By contrast, this paper presents two examples of viable non,market interventions in water,sharing , regulation of water markets by village councils and cooperative tubewell groups , from villages in West Bengal, India. These interventions both improved the efficiency of water,use and represented relatively equitable arrangements for water,sharing. [source] Haplotype Diversity at 20 Y-Chromosome Microsatellites in an Indo-Caucasian Population of Bengal, IndiaJOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 6 2006Anamika Singh M.Sc. POPULATION: Sixty-one Indo-Caucasian individuals from eastern India. [source] Crisis, Identity, and Social Distinction: Cultural Politics of Food, Taste, and Consumption in Late Colonial BengalJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 3 2006SRIRUPA PRASAD It analyzes how the Bengali middle class, the bhadralok, attempted to construct a "doxa" of gastronomy in order to subsume a dominant position for itself and to classify hierarchically other classes and social groups. The aspirations of this class as the future guardians of an incipient nation were in reality a politics of self-identity, which was based on ideas of a cultural exclusivity. This politics of self-identity for the Bengali middle class were inextricably inter-woven with issues of modernity, nationalism, and colonialism. Through my analysis, I stress the importance of the "historical" or the "collective", particularly in the context of formation of the bhadralok, as a dominant class. [source] Emancipation as Heteronomy: The Crisis of Liberalism in Later Nineteenth-Century BengalJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2004Andrew Sartori [source] Muslim Women and the Politics of (In)visibility in Late Colonial BengalJOURNAL OF HISTORICAL SOCIOLOGY, Issue 2 2001Mahua Sarkar The paper attempts to understand ways in which gender and racially defined communal ideologies worked simultaneously to produce Muslim women in colonial Bengal as invisible within nationalist historiography. It argues that the negative representations of Muslim women underpinned the construction of other identity categories in colonial Bengal, and highlights the participation of Hindu/Brahmo women writers in this process. [source] Surveys for Beet Necrotic Yellow Vein Virus (the Cause of Rhizomania), other Viruses, and Soil-borne Fungi Infecting Sugar Beet in SyriaJOURNAL OF PHYTOPATHOLOGY, Issue 11-12 2002A. M. Mouhanna Abstract Production of sugar beet, the most important source of sugar in Syria, has suffered from many problems in the past, especially from diseases. No previous surveys have been made in Syria for viral diseases and soil-borne fungi of sugar beet. In 1998, samples were collected from plants showing symptoms of virus infection (yellowing, wilting, necrosis and mosaic). Root samples (341) were collected from crops of autumn-sown seed from 115 localities in seven provinces, 173 root samples from spring-sown crops and 39 leaf samples were collected during both seasons. The root samples were tested for the presence of viruses by double antibody sandwich-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and triple antibody sandwich-ELISA, and for soil-borne fungi by red plate (Rose Bengal) dishes. We have shown for the first time the presence of Beet necrotic yellow vein virus, Beet soil-borne virus, Beet yellows virus and Beet mild yellowing virus in Syrian sugar beet fields in which Rhizoctonia sp. and Fusarium sp. were also widely distributed. [source] Optical probing and imaging of live cells using SERS labelsJOURNAL OF RAMAN SPECTROSCOPY, Issue 1 2009Janina Kneipp Abstract During surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS), molecules exhibit a significant increase in their Raman signals when attached, or in very close vicinity, to gold or silver nanostructures. This effect is exploited as the basis of a new class of optical labels. Here we demonstrate robust and sensitive SERS labels as probes for imaging live cells. These hybrid labels consist of gold nanoparticles with Rose Bengal or Crystal Violet attached as reporter molecules. These new labels are stable and nontoxic, do not suffer from photobleaching, and can be excited at any excitation wavelength, even in the near infrared. SERS labels can be detected and imaged through the specific Raman signatures of the reporters. In addition, surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy in the local optical fields of the gold nanoparticles also provides sensitive information on the immediate molecular environment of the label in the cell and allows imaging of the native constituents of the cell. This is demonstrated by images based on a characteristic Raman line of the reporter as well as by displaying lipids based on the SERS signal of the CH deformation/bending modes at ,1470 cm,1. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Sibling death clustering in India: state dependence versus unobserved heterogeneityJOURNAL OF THE ROYAL STATISTICAL SOCIETY: SERIES A (STATISTICS IN SOCIETY), Issue 4 2006Wiji Arulampalam Summary., Data from a range of environments indicate that the incidence of death is not randomly distributed across families but, rather, that there is a clustering of death among siblings. A natural explanation of this would be that there are (observed or unobserved) differences across families, e.g. in genetic frailty, education or living standards. Another hypothesis that is of considerable interest for both theory and policy is that there is a causal process whereby the death of a child influences the risk of death of the succeeding child in the family. Drawing language from the literature on the economics of unemployment, the causal effect is referred to here as state dependence (or scarring). The paper investigates the extent of state dependence in India, distinguishing this from family level risk factors that are common to siblings. It offers some methodological innovations on previous research. Estimates are obtained for each of three Indian states, which exhibit dramatic differences in socio-economic and demographic variables. The results suggest a significant degree of state dependence in each of the three regions. Eliminating scarring, it is estimated, would reduce the incidence of infant mortality (among children who are born after the first child) by 9.8% in the state of Uttar Pradesh, 6.0% in West Bengal and 5.9% in Kerala. [source] Habitat heterogeneity and its influence on benthic biodiversity in oxygen minimum zonesMARINE ECOLOGY, Issue 1 2010Andrew J. Gooday Abstract Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs; midwater regions with O2 concentrations <0.5 ml l,1) are mid-water features that intercept continental margins at bathyal depths (100,1000 m). They are particularly well developed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Based on analyses of data from these regions, we consider (i) how benthic habitat heterogeneity is manifested within OMZs, (ii) which aspects of this heterogeneity exert the greatest influence on alpha and beta diversity within particular OMZs and (iii) how heterogeneity associated with OMZs influences regional (gamma) diversity on continental margins. Sources of sea-floor habitat heterogeneity within OMZs include bottom-water oxygen and sulphide gradients, substratum characteristics, bacterial mats, and variations in the organic matter content of the sediment and pH. On some margins, hard grounds, formed of phosphorites, carbonates or biotic substrata, represent distinct subhabitats colonized by encrusting faunas. Most of the heterogeneity associated with OMZs, however, is created by strong sea-floor oxygen gradients, reinforced by changes in sediment characteristics and organic matter content. For the Pakistan margin, combining these parameters revealed clear environmental and faunal differences between the OMZ core and the upper and lower boundary regions. In all Pacific and Arabian Sea OMZs examined, oxygen appears to be the master driver of alpha and beta diversity in all benthic faunal groups for which data exist, as well as macrofaunal assemblage composition, particularly in the OMZ core. However, other factors, notably organic matter quantity and quality and sediment characteristics, come into play as oxygen concentrations begin to rise. The influence of OMZs on meiofaunal, macrofaunal and megafaunal regional (gamma) diversity is difficult to assess. Hypoxia is associated with a reduction in species richness in all benthic faunal groups, but there is also evidence for endemism in OMZ settings. We conclude that, on balance, OMZs probably enhance regional diversity, particularly in taxa such as Foraminifera, which are more tolerant of hypoxia than others. Over evolutionary timescales, they may promote speciation by creating strong gradients in selective pressures and barriers to gene flow. [source] Microbial status in seawater and coastal sediments during pre- and post-tsunami periods in the Bay of Bengal, IndiaMARINE ECOLOGY, Issue 3 2006Subramani Ramesh Abstract Tsunami, the natural disaster, which occurred on December 26, 2004 in the Indian Ocean, caused severe damage to mankind in the coastal areas. Total loss of life and economic loss because of this disaster have been estimated by various agencies but its effect on microbial density has not been probed. With our previous results on microbial populations in four locations of the Chennai coast of the Bay of Bengal, India in the pre-tsunami period, the change in microbial populations was studied after the tsunami at regular intervals in the same locations. Coastal sediment and seawater samples were collected from four different locations after 5,10 h and thereafter at intervals of every 7 days up to 28 days post-tsunami. Bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes were isolated from the marine samples by serial dilution on respective media. Before the tsunami, the bacterial population was higher in seawater samples than the sediments, whereas fungi and actinomycetes were recorded only in the sediments. The microbial population remarkably increased 5,10 h post-tsunami in all the marine samples irrespective of the location. However, it slowly declined in the subsequent days and became similar to that of the population recorded before the tsunami. The population of gram-positive bacteria increased whereas the gram-negative bacterial population decreased after the tsunami. Further, populations of pathogenic bacteria such as coliform and vibrios did not increase after the tsunami. It has been observed that the increase in populations of bacteria and actinomycetes even after 28 days of tsunami may be due to the introduction of foreign microorganisms that developed the ability to survive in the extreme environment by exhibiting special characteristics such as pigmentation and production of exopolysaccharides. [source] Book Reviews: Bengal in Global Concept History: Culturalism in the Age of Capital by Andrew SartoriAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 3 2010Rachel Sturman No abstract is available for this article. [source] Persistence and metabolism of imidacloprid in different soils of West BengalPEST MANAGEMENT SCIENCE (FORMERLY: PESTICIDE SCIENCE), Issue 7 2001A Sarkar Abstract A laboratory experiment was performed to study the persistence of imidacloprid from two formulations (Confidor 200,g,litre,1 SL and Gaucho 700,g,kg,1 WS), and its metabolism in three different soils (Gangetic alluvial soil of Kalyani, lateritic soil of Jhargram and coastal alkaline soil of Canning) of West Bengal following application at 0.5,kg and 1.0,kg AI,ha,1. Dissipation of imidacloprid in soil followed first-order kinetics and DT50 values ranged from 28.7 to 47.8 days. The shortest half-lives (28.7 and 35.8 days) were observed in the lateritic soil of Jhargram for both liquid and powder formulations. The formation of two metabolites of imidacloprid, imidacloprid-urea and imidacloprid-olefin, was first detected on day 30 of degradation at 28,(±1),°C in all three soils. © 2001 Society of Chemical Industry [source] Reactive oxygen species stimulate homologous recombination in plantsPLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 9 2003I. KOVALCHUK ABSTRACT Coping with the continuous production of free radicals is a daily routine of the cell. Despite their toxicity, the reactive oxygen species (ROS) are involved in dual physiological action , signal transduction and immune response. We analysed the influence of oxidative stress-generating compounds, rose Bengal (RB), paraquat (PQ) and amino-triazole (ATZ) on the genome stability of Arabidopsis using transgenic recombination-monitoring plants. Homologous recombination frequencies in plants were increased upon the treatment with RB and PQ but not ATZ. Application of the N -acetyl- L -cysteine (NAC), radicals scavenging compound, decreased the DNA damage caused by RB. Interestingly, the incubation of plants with very low concentration of RB (less than 0.2 µM) led to the subsequent increase in plant tolerance to methyl methane sulfonate (MMS): stronger plants with a lower increase of homologous recombination frequency. In contrast, the incubation of plants with 0.5 µM of RB resulted in the potentiation of the MMS effect: the weaker plants with higher frequency of recombination. The data of the present study suggest the existence of a dual concentration-dependent role of ROS in plants. [source] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||