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\"This book explores issues of rights, issues and challenges faced by Indian migrant workers in GCC countries. It focuses on the struggle of migrants in the state of origin and destination states and how the process of migration shapes the identity and existence of migrant workers. The essays in the volume focus on policy, rights, issues, and challenges faced by the migrants as well as the long-term challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. With contributions from academics and policymakers, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of migration and diaspora studies, public policy, and South Asian Studies\"-- Provided by publisher.

The study examines the impact of corporate governance on CSR disclosure practices of Indian companies. The corporate governance variables such as board age, audit committee size, board meetings, CEO duality, board independence, employee CSR training, independent directors board meetings, sustainability committee and women on board were used. The sample consists of 386 companies listed in the BSE 500 index for a period of 10 years from 2007–2016 and panel data regression is used for analysis. The study finds that the corporate governance variables such as board independence, CEO duality and sustainability committee improve CSR disclosure. In contrast, board age, employee CSR training and women on board weakens CSR disclosure. This study is important due to following reasons, firstly, Indian policymakers issued a wide set of voluntary and non-voluntary rules and guidelines on corporate governance and CSR disclosure. It is interesting to see its impact on Indian companies. Secondly, this study uses a more advanced Bloomberg ESG scores as well as individual environment, social and governance scores to measure the CSR disclosure. Finally, the study aims to fill the literature gap concerning corporate governance and CSR disclosure in India covering a larger study period and sample size.

Five sediment cores from the fresh water region of the Vembanad wetland system were studied for the trace element contents The average concentration of iron, manganese, nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium, lead, mercury and chromium were determined. The core samples were collected using gravity type corer, digested with a mixture of nitric acid and perchloric acid and analyzed by atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Heavy metals such as iron, copper, nickel and zinc reported enrichment towards the surface of the core sediment sample collected from the centre of the lake. Lead, cadmium and mercury showed uniform distribution through out the core. Quality of the sediments were evaluated based on sediment quality guidelines, pollution load index, sum of toxic units and with effect range low/effect range median and threshold effect level/probable effect level values of Environmental Protection Agency guidelines. The degree of contamination for each station was determined. The concentration of different heavy metals has been compared with the world average concentration of shale values. Results of the analysis showed that Vembanad lake is facing serious metal pollution with increased rate of deposition.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are pivotal to India's manufacturing sector, significantly contributing to the national economy and job creation. This study distinctly explores the influence of innovation on manufacturing efficiency within SMEs, employing a stochastic frontier model (SFM) and Tobit regression analysis to scrutinize the effects of innovation inputs. Unlike prior studies, this work uniquely dissects the impact of various types of innovations-product, process, marketing, and organizational-on SME efficiency. Analyzing data from 380 SMEs, selected through stratified random sampling, this research uncovers that the average efficiency level of these enterprises exceeds 75%. This finding suggests the potential for a 25% increase in production using existing resources. The theoretical underpinnings of this study align more closely with the Resource-Based View (RBV), emphasizing the role of internal capabilities and resources in driving competitive advantage and sustainability. Practically, the findings advocate for nuanced policy initiatives that enhance innovation capabilities, thereby boosting the competitive stance of Indian manufacturing SMEs in less capital-intensive areas, crucial for job creation and rural industrialization. This deeper exploration of innovation types tailored to the SME sector offers significant implications for long-term strategic development.

BackgroundPsoriatic disease (psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis) is a common inflammatory disease associated with obesity. However, recent studies suggest that lipid changes, rather than obesity, may independently drive psoriatic disease [1]. Mendelian randomization (MR) can assess the causal effect of modifiable exposure by measuring the variation of genes of known function.ObjectivesIn this study, we perform a two-sample mendelian randomization to investigate the possible causal relationship between polygenic hyperlipidemia and psoriatic disease (psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis).MethodsThe study cohorts (psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, hyperlipidemia, and controls of European ancestry) were identified from the FinnGen biobank, an academia/industry collaboration aiming to identify genotype-phenotype correlations in the Finnish founder population. Hyperlipidemia was identified by code E4_HYPERLIPNAS, which represents disorders of lipoprotein metabolism and other lipidaemias [2]. The L12_psoriasis code and psoriatic arthritis by M13_PSORIARTH code identified psoriatic arthritis. The control population was selected after excluding E4_MEABOLIA, psoriasis, and psoriatic arthritis when appropriate. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and summarized data were extracted from public IEU datasets. The single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) were used as instrumental variables (IV) to identify the potential causal effect. The SNP selection was performed by considering the genome-wide significance, clumping, linkage disequilibrium, and minor allele frequency. The effect alleles were harmonized for exposures and outcomes. An inverse variance weighted (IVW) model was used to estimate causality for each IV in this two-sample MR study. Odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for causal estimations. The MR was performed in both directions to explore the possibility of reverse causality.Results4535 patients with hyperlipidemia, 4510 with psoriasis, and 1553 patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) were identified from the FinnGenn biobank based on their id as noted above. The control patients ranged from 147,221 to 212,242, depending on the cohort being compared. Genetic instruments comprising 5 SNPs for hyperlipidemia, 16 SNPs for psoriasis and 4 SNPs for PsA were used for this two-sample MR. A significant causal effect was noted in hyperlipidemia and psoriasis (OR 1.26 (95% CI 1.097-1.439; p < 0.00009) and hyperlipidemia and PsA (OR 1.35 (95% CI 1.08-1.68; p=0.007) but no causal effect was noted in the reverse direction with psoriasis leading to hyperlipidemia OR 1.02 (95% CI 0.977-1.07; p=0.31) and PsA leading to hyperlipidemia OR 1.03 (95% CI 0,987 to 1.08; p=0.15).ConclusionOur two-sample MR study genetically predicted that hyperlipidemia has a potential causal association with psoriatic disease, which leads to a higher risk of psoriasis and PsA. Further validation and molecular studies are required to understand this relationship. If these results were to be validated, targeted reduction of hyperlipidemia may help modify the expression of psoriatic disease.References[1]Snekvik, I., et al. Metabolic syndrome and risk of incident psoriasis: prospective data from the HUNT Study, Norway. Br. J. Dermatol. 2019; 180, 94–99[2]https://risteys.finngen.fi/endpoints/E4_HYPERLIPNASAcknowledgements:NIL.Disclosure of InterestsQuan Li: None declared, Amanda Dohey: None declared, Dianne Codner: None declared, Proton Rahman Speakers bureau: Abbott, AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, and Pfizer, Consultant of: Abbott, AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, and Pfizer, Grant/research support from: Janssen and Novartis.

Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are chronic inflammatory diseases of undetermined etiology. Both entities exhibit features of autoimmunity (exhibited by clonal expansion of T cell populations) and autoinflammation, as noted by the aberrant activity of innate and innate-like cells [1]. In this study, we screen for genetic variants associated with known autoinflammatory disease in patients with AS, PsA, and compare it to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriasis (Ps). The UK genome biobank identified exomes of AS, PsA, RA, and Ps patients. Autoinflammatory genes were selected from the blueprint autoinflammatory syndrome panel [2]. Twenty thousand nine hundred five missense mutations were identified from the 47 autoinflammatory genes in the blueprint panel and screened in these four cohorts. Mutational burden, mutation number, and mutation rate in these 47 genes were calculated. Exonic mutations of 1264 in AS, 886 in PsA, 5361 in RA and 5567 in Ps patients from the UK biobank were enrolled and analyzed in this study. The number of autoinflammatory variants identified was 937 in AS, 780 in PsA, 2081 in RA and 2015 in Ps. The average mutation rate in 47 genes is around 0.26 for these four diseases. The autoinflammatory panel's average mutation burden was not significantly different between these diseases (116 in AS and PsA, 118 in RA and Ps). However, when we accounted for the number of individuals screened, AS and PsA had a higher mean number of autoinflammatory variants than RA and Ps. Specifically, AS and PsA patients had a mean number of 0.741 and 0.880 variants per individual, respectively, compared to 0.388 and 0.362 for RA and Ps, respectively. This study strengths the role of autoinflammation in AS and PsA as we report an overabundance of autoinflammatory variants in AS and PsA compared to RA and psoriasis. Consideration of autoinflammatory etiology may impact current diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. [1]Mauro D, Thomas R, Guggino G, Lories R, Brown MA, Ciccia F. Ankylosing spondylitis: an autoimmune or autoinflammatory disease? Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2021 Jul;17(7):387-404. doi: 10.1038/s41584-021-00625-y. Epub 2021 Jun 10. PMID: 34113018. [2]https://blueprintgenetics.com/tests/panels/immunology/autoinflammatory-syndrome-panel/ NIL. Quan Li: None declared, Amanda Dohey: None declared, Dianne Codner: None declared, Proton Rahman Speakers bureau: Abbott, AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, and Pfizer, Consultant of: Abbott, AbbVie, Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Eli Lilly, Janssen, Novartis, and Pfizer, Grant/research support from: Janssen and Novartis. Table 1Autoinflammatory variants in AS, PsA, RA and PsDiseaseNo. of PatientsNo. of Autoinflammatory VariantsAverage No. of Autoinflammatory Variants per patientAS12649370.741PsA8867800.880RA536120810.388Ps556720150.362

This scientific paper deals with the two-level backbone computer networks with arbitrary topology. A specialized method, offered by the author for calculation of the stationary availability factor of the two-level backbone computer networks, based on the Markov reliability models for the set of the independent repairable elements with the given failure and repair rates and the methods of the discrete mathematics, is also discussed. A specialized algorithm, offered by the author for analysis of the network connectivity, taking into account different kinds of the network equipment failures, is also observed. Finally, this paper presents an example of calculation of the stationary availability factor for the backbone computer network with the given topology.

This scientific paper is devoted to the fault-tolerant local area networks with three functional layers: core, distribution and access. The reliability analysis of three-layer networks using the reliability model of the group of identical and independent restorable elements and offered by the author formulas for calculation of the stationary availability factor of three-layer local area networks with single and multiple distribution subgroups are discussed. Finally, an example of calculation of the stationary availability factor of the fault-tolerant three-layer local area network with two distribution subgroups is presented.