73 research outputs found
Tamil Jains: fluid histories in stone
No full textTamil Jains, a minority indigenous to Tamil Nadu, face an uphill battle of protecting their unique heritage. The task has been undertaken disparately by the State, the community and NGOs. Mahima A Jain writes on the challenges of protecting Jain heritage and attempts to reshape the historical narrative. This is the second of two South Asia @ LSE articles by Mahima A Jain on the Tamil Jain community. Read her first piece ‘The Tamil Jains: A minority within a minority’ here
Law, nationhood and the Constitution of India as a work of art
No full textAs India celebrates its 68th Republic Day, in this photo essay Mahima A. Jain showcases the highlights of LSE South Asia Centre's exhibition 'Law and Nationhood: India at 70' curated by Dr Nilanjan Sarkar and Dr Charlotte de Mille, and the story of the hand-written and illustrated Constitution of India
The Tamil Jains: a minority within a minority
No full textOnce a flourishing community in the first millennium AD, the Tamil Jains are a largely forgotten entity in the 21st century. Mahima Jain outlines the everyday battles faced by this minority group and explains why they continue to lack economic and political agency despite being granted minority status in 2014
"We have some critical national security interests, and you have to be respectful of those interests" - General Haq
No full textLSE South Asia Centre and LSE SU Pakistan Development Society recently hosted Ehsan Ul Haq, retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army, for the event titled "Can Intelligence Services Do Good?". General Haq briefly spoke to Mahima A. Jain after the event
"There is a need now for a systemic change for dealing with judicial accountability. This is a time for institutional articulation" - Dr Aditya Sondhi
No full textIn February 2018 LSE South Asia Centre, in collaboration with the Department of Law, hosted Dr Adiya Sondhi to deliver a lecture on "Democracy and Defiance in the Supreme Court of India". Edited excerpts from a Mahima A. Jain's interview with Dr Aditya Sondhi
From non-Brahmin priests of the goddess to ascetics of god Mahima Alekha
No full textThis article deals with Mahima Dharma a contemporary vernacular ascetic religion of Odisha/Eastern India displaying a rich diversity in its regional configurations. In this paper the author proposes to look at the main protagonists of the religion, the ascetics (babas), as non-Brahmin priests, who have incorporated shakti, the power of local goddesses into their disciplined bodies and in doing so have transformed the feminine element of the Hindu belief into the belief of the indescribable and abstract god Alekha. Mahima Dharma is seen in this contribution as a sort of micro structure on the one hand of popular asceticism in rural India and on the other hand as a recent religious reform movement integrating local non-Brahmin priesthood and the local belief in goddesses into the mainstream of the male Hindu pantheon. This article draws on the author's PhD fieldwork research (1999-2002), published in 2002 as a monograph (Guzy 2002)
Implications of nanoparticle-protein interactions on protein assembly and conformation
No full textSubmission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'Closed Access', the embargo will last until 2026-08-01The student, Mahima Unnikrishnan, accepted the attached license on 2024-07-08 at 09:30.The student, Mahima Unnikrishnan, submitted this Dissertation for approval on 2024-07-08 at 10:13.This Dissertation was approved for publication on 2024-07-10 at 15:54.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20977 on 2025-02-04 at 21:25:35The interaction between nanoparticles and proteins presents a promising avenue for designing nanoparticulate theranostic and diagnostic agents in the biomedical field. Upon entering the body, it is not the as-synthesized nanoparticles, but biomolecule-coated nanoparticles that dictate their function and therapeutic response. By regulating the composition of protein corona on the particles, it becomes possible to conceal the nanoparticle surface and facilitate specific biological functions. Although some fundamental principles guiding interactions between nanoparticles and proteins have been established and accepted by the scientific community, there is ongoing debate regarding the development of a universally applicable theoretical framework for understanding the protein corona due to missing pieces in the puzzle. The work presented in this thesis aims to expand the current understanding of how nanoparticles can alter protein self-assembly and conformation using colloidal inorganic nanoparticles as a platform for corona formation. Chapter 1 covers how nanomaterials came to be popular in the biomedical field and why studying the molecular mechanisms underlying nanoparticle-protein interactions can significantly contribute to successful translation of in vitro findings to in vivo settings. Dynamic nature of the protein corona and the many analytical techniques used for its characterization are discussed. An overview of changes in protein conformation and activity upon adsorption to a nanoparticle surface, its correlation to various biophysicochemical properties governing the nano-bio interface, and the current research challenges associated with the field are also discussed. Chapter 2 presents a systematic investigation of the effect of unfunctionalized silica nanoparticles on the self-assembly of a bacterial tubulin protein pair in buffer, in cell lysate, and in a living mammalian cell using Förster resonance energy transfer. The common assumption that nanoparticle-biomolecular interactions that are studied intensively in vitro are good predictors of in vivo activity are shown to be invalid in the case of protein assembly of bacterial tubulins. In buffer, silica nanoparticles promote the complex formation of tubulin proteins as a function of nanoparticle concentration. However, upon microinjection of these tubulins into live cells, nanoparticles at similar concentration have no effect on protein assembly, confirming the environment-dependence of corona formation. In chapter 3, conformational changes in soft corona proteins incubated with gold nanoparticles in buffer are explored; the overarching research problem addressed being ‘can transient interactions with nanoparticles induce permanent protein denaturation?’. In the first part of the chapter, interaction of cationic polymer-wrapped nanoparticles with superoxide dismutase is discussed, while the latter portion of the chapter describes studies performed with chymotrypsin and serum albumin proteins exposed to anionic nanoparticles. Interferences in data due to protein interaction with the free ligand as well as the solid-liquid or air-liquid interfaces during the incubation step, and not weak protein-nanoparticle interactions, were identified as the key factors contributing to results from these studies
A new, emerging Indian security doctrine in the Indian Ocean is set to challenge the narrative and impact of China's influence - Rahul Roy-Chaudhury
No full textLSE South Asia Centre and LSE SU Pakistan Development Society recently hosted Rahul Roy-Chaudhury, Senior Fellow for South Asia at the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), for the event titled “Can Intelligence Services Do Good?”. Roy-Chaudhury talks to Mahima A. Jain on India’s foreign policy, its involvement in Afghanistan, the difference in the operational styles of R&AW and ISI, and India’s approach in the Indian Ocean region
Enhanced SVD Based Image Compression Technique
No full textWith the growth of technology and entrance into the Digital World, it has found itself surrounded by a massive quantity of data. Dealing with such huge data/information will often creates difficulties while transmission of data or storage of data. One feasible solution to overcome such difficulties is to use a data compression technique. Image compression is a method in which the storage space or processing space of image is reduced without degrading the image standard or quality. It conjointly reduces the time needed for images to be uploaded over the Internet or downloaded from Internet. JPEG is a necessary technique used for image compression. So, in order to improve the quality of the image, compression is done using different techniques. In this research work, SVD algorithm is used for compression which is giving better result for image compression without any reduction in quality. The modeling of optimized Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) implemented for JPEG Image compression in MATLAB is implemented. SVD is the core part of the JPEG image compression. In JPEG Image Compression, a quantizer follows the SVD. Such structural channel is beneficial for reducing difficulty in the whole JPEG compression/encoding. To overcome the problem of lossy compression implemented algorithm is designed in order to enhance the performance of compression algorithm with respect to performance evaluation parameters such as, Compression ratio , Bits per pixel , Peak signal to noise ratio, Mean squared error and Signal to noise ratio
management of permanent teeth with open apex-MTA vs Regenerative methods
No full textThere are great challenges in the management of permanent teeth with incomplete root development having exposed vital compromised coronal pulp or a necrosed pulp. A review to analyse better treatment outcomes for teeth with open apex.Many methods have been employed in the past ,the current review focuses on the latest approaches with bio-inductive material such as MTA and Regenerative therapies
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