89 research outputs found
Food Security in South Asia : Issues and Opportunities
No full textFood security is defined as economic access to food along with food production and food availability. Agriculture in the SAR (South Asian Region) is caught in a low equilibrium trap with low productivity of staples, supply shortfalls, high prices, low returns to farmers and area diversification - all these factors can be a threat to food security. South Asia still has the highest number of people (423 millions) living on less than one dollar a day. The region has the highest concentration of undernourished (299 million) and poor people with about 40 per cent of the worlds hungry. Despite an annual 1.7 per cent reduction in the prevalence of undernourishment in the region in the past decade, the failure to reduce the absolute number of the undernourished remains a major cause for concern. Estimates by the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) indicate that by 2010, Asia will still account for about one-half of the worlds undernourished population, of which two-thirds will be from South Asia. Though SAARC countries have established a food bank to meet the needs of food security in the region, it has not been operational even during times of crisis. This is despite the felt need of member nations to evolve mechanisms to make the SAARC Food Security Reserve operational. It is against this background that this study has been undertaken. Conducted in collaboration with think-tanks from South Asian countries, it aims to identify issues relating to food security, the policy initiatives taken to tackle these issues, evaluate these policies and suggest measures to overcome identified constraints in order to improve the food security situation in the region.South Asia, food security, Safety Nets, Food Bank
SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies: Longevity, breadth, and evasion by emerging viral variants
No full textThe Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibody neutralization response and its evasion by emerging viral variants and variant of concern (VOC) are unknown, but critical to understand reinfection risk and breakthrough infection following vaccination. Antibody immunoreactivity against SARS-CoV-2 antigens and Spike variants, inhibition of Spike-driven virus–cell fusion, and infectious SARS-CoV-2 neutralization were characterized in 807 serial samples from 233 reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)–confirmed Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) individuals with detailed demographics and followed up to 7 months. A broad and sustained polyantigenic immunoreactivity against SARS-CoV-2 Spike, Membrane, and Nucleocapsid proteins, along with high viral neutralization, was associated with COVID-19 severity. A subgroup of “high responders” maintained high neutralizing responses over time, representing ideal convalescent plasma donors. Antibodies generated against SARS-CoV-2 during the first COVID-19 wave had reduced immunoreactivity and neutralization potency to emerging Spike variants and VOC. Accurate monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses would be essential for selection of optimal responders and vaccine monitoring and design
The Autoimmune T cell Response Against the Dopamine-2 Receptor in Movement and Psychiatric Disorders
No full textAutoimmunity and immune dysregulation are associated with a subset of movement and psychiatric disorders. This paradigm is largely supported by the discovery of autoantibodies against neuronal antigens, like the dopamine-2 receptor (D2R). T cells are a prominent cell subset in the immune system, however, their role in these diseases is unknown. Herein, we identified and characterised D2R-specific T cells in movement and psychiatric disorders in children and adults. In children with suspected autoimmune or neurodevelopmental movement and psychiatric disorders (n=24), activated D2R-specific T cells were detected in 8/24 (33%) patients when their peripheral blood was stimulated with a library of D2R peptides and assessed for CD25+CD134+CD4+ T cells via flow cytometry. The D2R-specific T cells recognised three immunodominant regions: aa121-131, aa171-181, and aa396-416. These regions were predicted with computational methods to bind with high affinity to the HLA of D2R-specific T cell positive patients and were associated with elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines that characterise Th1 and Th17 cells, as quantified by a cytometric bead array and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The eight D2R-specific T cell-positive patients were seronegative for D2R antibodies, as evaluated with the flow cytometry live cell-based assay. These findings on autoreactive T cells in children formed the basis for investigating D2R-specific T cells in adults with isolated dystonia, a movement disorder that is often idiopathic and has been associated with impaired dopamine signalling. In adults with dystonia (n=20), activated D2R-specific T cells were detected in 6/20 (30%) patients via flow cytometry after stimulation with seven immunogenic regions of D2R. A subset of the D2R-specific T cell-positive patients had activated CD39+ Treg cells (2/6) and 1/6 D2R-specific T cell-positive patient concomitantly harboured activated CXCR5+ Tfh cells and D2R antibodies. In summary, this thesis offers new insights into autoreactive T cells against D2R in the movement and psychiatric disorders. Our observations encourage studies to further understand explore T cell dysregulation to better identify novel subsets of movement and psychiatric disorders and have clinical implications in improving diagnosis and treatment
MKW 1
No full textThis version of TMCM works almost entirely in terms of food. The town visitor asks if his country host does not have other food to offer. When told No, he answers Then come with me. I will show you all the tasty food I eat everyday. Cake and juicy fruits are both mentioned and pictured. Pictured are also cheese and crackers. By contrast with most versions, here a pretty woman disturbs their feast, followed by a cat. I can't eat. I don't feel safe here! Upon arrival in the country, He was happy and safe in his home. Moral: No pleasure is greater than a safe life. Each page has two or three lines of text and a large, energetic picture. Perhaps the best illustration shows the country mouse still shaking and sweating on 13.Edited by Deept
MKW 4
No full textThis version of LM has the mouse entering the lion's cave during the lion's nap after lunch. This mouse pleads If you free me, then, one day, I will also help you. The lion's English seems a bit strange in his answer: How a small mouse like you can help me? The art establishes well from the beginning that all this takes place in a forest. Each page has two or three lines of text and a large, energetic picture. Perhaps the best illustration is the lion's wake-up look at the mouse on his paw (3). The editors were wise to choose it for the cover picture.Edited by Deept
The traveler as author: examining self-presentation and discourse in the (self) published travel blog
No full text© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016. From the perspective of Goffman’s theories of self-presentation, travel blogs can be described as narratives that indicate the different roles occupied by an individual’s online self. A blogger may discursively position the self as a traveler, rather than a tourist, a dichotomy that underpins much critical debate in the area of travel and tourism studies, thus creating tensions within the blog. These tensions are heightened when blogs presented as accounts of travel are published as guidebooks or books that promote tourism. It can be argued that in such cases the act of publishing commercializes these narratives and introduces an element of touristic discourse. Moreover, the choice of either a legacy publisher or a self-publishing service can have implications for how a travel blogger may be presented and perceived as a reputable published author. Against this background, this article explores how travel blogs negotiate the discursive tensions produced as a result of the presentation of various aspects of self, particularly as a published author and as a traveler as opposed to a tourist
Designing a congestion control plane datapath with QUIC
No full textThis electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Thesis: M. Eng., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2018Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-67).This work explores developing datapaths for the recently proposed Congestion Control Plane (CCP) architecture and uses QUIC as a case study to build and evaluate an example datapath. The CCP moves congestion control logic off of the datapath into a separate agent running in user-space. Now, algorithm developers can write their algorithm using this API and automatically run their algorithm on any CCP enabled datapath, such as QUIC or the Linux kernel. We discuss the necessary features for datapaths to support the user-space CCP agent and develop a library, libccp, for software datapaths. We use QUIC as a case study to design a CCP datapath and evaluate various congestion control algorithms running on top of QUIC. The evaluation focuses on four aspects: (1) Do algorithms written on CCP have the same performance as QUIC algorithms? (2) Do CCP congestion control algorithms behave similarly to their native QUIC counterparts, when run on top of QUIC? (3) How expressive is the CCP API? (4) Does the same algorithm, written through CCP, behave similarly across multiple datapaths? This work reveals that while CCP QUIC algorithms have similar performance for a single flow, their behavior does not exactly match the native QUIC implementations of the same algorithms without modifications. We show that CCP can provide "write once, run anywhere" semantics for congestion control, as multiple algorithms run across QUIC and the Linux kernel exhibit similar behavior. Finally, we evaluate the expressiveness of the CCP API by implementing two algorithms: Hybrid Slow Start and Remy.by Deepti Raghavan.M. Eng.M.Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Scienc
Whose Blog Is It Anyway? Seeking the Author in the Formal Features of Travel Blogs
No full textAmateur travel blogs hosted on advertising-sponsored websites are generally viewed as credible sources of information about tourist behaviour and destination image, particularly as the content is user-generated. Little is said, however, about the webhost-created content. It is generally assumed that the content and features of a blog reveal a good deal about its author. In the case of travel blogs, however, this can be problematic as both webhosts and authors create content. This paper examines formal and paratextual features of amateur travel blogs to analyse the extent of the contribution made by the webhost and its influence on authorial voice. In particular, it considers titles, links, and advertising in travel blogs hosted on Travelpod, Travelblog, and Bootsnall. It finds that the webhost plays a significant part in positioning the text as a narrative about a particular destination. Furthermore, not all the features of these blogs transfer a sense of who has authored them
From Blogger to Book Author: Examining Self-Publishing, Self-Presentation and Discourse in Travel Blogs
No full textFor publishers, blogs that enjoy a wide readership are new sources of talent that may be developed into potentially bestselling books (Nelson, 2006: 6; Pedersen, 2009: 98; Williams, 2010: 6). This blog-to-book or ‘blook’ phenomenon is best exemplified in publications such as The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl and Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously, blog-based books that went on to be cinematised (Pedersen, 2009: 95). Given the success of such publications, and the view that publishing a book is one way to monetise a blog, it is not surprising that for a number of individuals blogging is a logical first step to attracting a publisher’s attention and signing a book deal (Pedersen, 2009: 95; Williams, 2010: 7). Against this background, this paper examines how some travel bloggers who aspire to be traditionally published authors develop their blogs into books. The studies and the successful book deals mentioned earlier suggest that for their authors these travel blogs could possibly be a point of entry into the field of book publishing and facilitate access to recognised publishers of print books. Yet, for those unable to land a lucrative contract, self-publishing services such as Lulu offer a viable alternative to getting one’s name in print (Martin and Tian, 2012: 87). Taking a Goffmanian approach, this study considers the role of self-publishing in the evolution of a travel blog into a print book or e-book and its implications for a travel blogger’s presentation of self as a published author. It also examines travel blogs as narratives of self-presentation, which constantly negotiate discourses of travel and tourism, and finds that publishing a travel blog as a book commercialises these narratives and introduces an element of touristic discourse. Turning a blog into a book therefore has several implications for these bloggers’ presentation of the self as travellers and as published authors
Low frequency dielectric dispersion study of PVC-PPy blends in dilute solution of different solvents
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