Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"Why are some places in the world characterized by better social service provision and welfare outcomes than others? In a world in which millions of people, particularly in developing countries, continue to lead lives plagued by illiteracy and ill-health, understanding the conditions that promote social welfare is of critical importance to political scientists and policy makers alike. Drawing on a multi-method study, from the late nineteenth century to the present, of the stark variations in educational and health outcomes within a large, federal, multiethnic developing country - India - this book develops an argument for the power of collective identity as an impetus for state prioritization of social welfare. Such an argument not only marks an important break from the dominant negative perceptions of identity politics but also presents a novel theoretical framework to understand welfare provision\"-- Provided by publisher.

COVID-19 struck a world already suffering under a scourge – a rash of right-wing populist, exclusionary nationalisms. Whether it is Donald Trump in the USA, Vladimir Putin in Russia, Bolsonaro in Brazil, Orbán in Hungary, Modi in India, the past decade the world has witnessed the rise of leaders claiming the nation for dominant ethnic groups, excluding and targeting ethnic minorities and immigrants. In this article I argue that this preexisting plague of exclusionary nationalism has made the COVID-19 pandemic more dangerous for our body politics than it might otherwise have been. Following from our evolutionary tendency to associate foreigners with disease, all epidemics hold the potential to raise boundaries between ingroups and outgroups and scapegoat the latter. Yet this noxious seed of division latent in all contagions has flourished in the case of COVID-19, as it was planted in the fertile soil of exclusionary nationalism where boundaries between countries, and majority and minority-group boundaries within countries, were already furrowed deep. I delineate how through the pandemic, right-wing, populist, exclusionary nationalist governments have further exacerbated both these types of us-them divides. In concluding, however, I point out how in line with its well-known Janus nature, nationalism has also played a more constructive role during the pandemic.

Upon oxidative stress and aging, Nrf2 (NFE2-related factor2) triggers antioxidant defense genes to defends against homeostatic failure. Using human(h) or rat(r) lens epithelial cells (LECs) and aging human lenses, we showed that a progressive increase in oxidative load during aging was linked to a decline in Prdx6 expression. DNA binding experiments using gel-shift and ChIP assays demonstrated a progressive reduction in Nrf2/ARE binding (−357/−349) of Prdx6 promoter. The promoter (−918) with ARE showed a marked reduction in young vs aged hLECs, which was directly correlated to decreased Nrf2/ARE binding. A Nrf2 activator, Sulforaphane (SFN), augmented Prdx6, catalase and GST π expression in dose-dependent fashion, and halted Nrf2 dysregulation of these antioxidants. SFN reinforced Nrf2/DNA binding and increased promoter activities by enhancing expression and facilitating Nrf2 translocalization in nucleus. Conversely, promoter mutated at ARE site did not respond to SFN, validating the SFN-mediated restoration of Nrf2/ARE signaling. Furthermore, SFN rescued cells from UVB-induced toxicity in dose-dependent fashion, which was consistent with SFN’s dose-dependent activation of Nrf2/ARE interaction. Importantly, knockdown of Prdx6 revealed that Prdx6 expression was prerequisite for SFN-mediated cytoprotection. Collectively, our results suggest that loss of Prdx6 caused by dysregulation of ARE/Nrf2 can be attenuated through a SFN, to combat diseases associated with aging.

Candida auris is a recently emerged multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen capable of causing severe infections in hospitalized patients. Despite its recognition as a human pathogen a decade ago, so far the natural ecological niche(s) of C. auris remains enigmatic. Candida auris is a multidrug resistant pathogen that presents a serious global threat to human health. As C. auris is a newly emerged pathogen, several questions regarding its ecological niche remain unexplored. While species closely related to C. auris have been detected in different environmental habitats, little is known about the natural habitat(s) of C. auris . Here, we explored the virgin habitats around the very isolated Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean for evidence of C. auris . We sampled coastal wetlands, including rocky shores, sandy beaches, tidal marshes, and mangrove swamps, around the Andaman group of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Union Territory, in India. Forty-eight samples of sediment soil and seawater were collected from eight sampling sites representing the heterogeneity of intertidal habitats across the east and west coast of South Andaman district. C. auris was isolated from two of the eight sampling sites, a salt marsh and a sandy beach. Interestingly, both multidrug-susceptible and multidrug-resistant C. auris isolates were found in the sample. Whole-genome sequencing analysis clustered the C. auris isolates into clade I, showing close similarity to other isolates from South Asia. Isolation of C. auris from the tropical coastal environment suggests its association with the marine ecosystem. The fact that viable C. auris was detected in the marine habitat confirms C. auris survival in harsh wetlands. However, the ecological significance of C. auris in salt marsh wetland and sandy beaches to human infections remains to be explored. IMPORTANCE Candida auris is a recently emerged multidrug-resistant fungal pathogen capable of causing severe infections in hospitalized patients. Despite its recognition as a human pathogen a decade ago, so far the natural ecological niche(s) of C. auris remains enigmatic. A previous hypothesis suggested that C. auris might be native to wetlands, that its emergence as a human pathogen might have been linked to global warming effects on wetlands, and that its enrichment in that ecological niche was favored by the ability of C. auris for thermal tolerance and salinity tolerance. To understand the mystery of environmental niches of C. auris , we explored the coastal wetland habitat around the very isolated Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean. C. auris was isolated from the virgin habitats of salt marsh area with no human activity and from a sandy beach. C. auris isolation from the marine wetlands suggests that prior to its recognition as a human pathogen, it existed as an environmental fungus.

Cadmium is a well known toxic heavy metal, which has various detrimental effects on plant system. In plants an important enzyme involved in the production of nitric oxide, nitrate reductase, is also affected by cadmium toxicity. According to many studies cadmium has an inhibitory effect on nitrate reductase activity. Similar effect of cadmium was found in our study where an inhibitory effect of cadmium on nitrate reductase activity was noted. However, the mechanism behind this inhibition has not been explored. With the help of homology, 3-D structure of rice-nitrate reductase is modeled in this study. Its binding with nitrate, nitrite and cadmium metal has been explored. The bonds formed between the enzyme-substrate complex, enzyme-cadmium and differences in interactions in presence of cadmium has been studied in detail. The present study should help in understanding the modeled structure of rice-nitrate reductase in 3-D which may in turn guide enzyme related studies . The present study also provides an insight as to how cadmium interacts with nitrate reductase to alter the enzyme activity.

In this work, we review research studies that combine Reinforcement Learning (RL) and Large Language Models (LLMs), two areas that owe their momentum to the development of Deep Neural Networks (DNNs). We propose a novel taxonomy of three main classes based on the way that the two model types interact with each other. The first class, RL4LLM, includes studies where RL is leveraged to improve the performance of LLMs on tasks related to Natural Language Processing (NLP). RL4LLM is divided into two sub-categories depending on whether RL is used to directly fine-tune an existing LLM or to improve the prompt of the LLM. In the second class, LLM4RL, an LLM assists the training of an RL model that performs a task that is not inherently related to natural language. We further break down LLM4RL based on the component of the RL training framework that the LLM assists or replaces, namely reward shaping, goal generation, and policy function. Finally, in the third class, RL+LLM, an LLM and an RL agent are embedded in a common planning framework without either of them contributing to training or fine-tuning of the other. We further branch this class to distinguish between studies with and without natural language feedback. We use this taxonomy to explore the motivations behind the synergy of LLMs and RL and explain the reasons for its success, while pinpointing potential shortcomings and areas where further research is needed, as well as alternative methodologies that serve the same goal.

Background Healthcare is witnessing a new disease with the emergence of Long Covid; a condition which can result in myriad symptoms, varying in frequency and severity. As new data are emerging to help inform treatment guidelines, the perspectives of those living with Long Covid are essential in informing healthcare practice. The research aimed to collect the narratives of people living with Long Covid to better understand the lived experience of this condition. In attempting to narrate complex or traumatic experiences the arts and humanities can offer alternative ways of expressing embodied narratives, representing rich sources of meaning. Therefore, the research specifically sought to elicit creative expressions from participants with lived experience of Long Covid. Methods Data were collected via an online repository where participants could submit their pieces of creative writing. Data were collected between August 2021 and January 2022 and a total of 28 submissions were received from participants. These were mostly written creative narratives. However, a small number were submitted as audio or video files of spoken word poetry or songs. Data collection was stopped once data saturation was achieved. Results The submissions were subjected to thematic analysis and five themes were generated. These five themes are Identity, social relationships, symptoms, interaction with healthcare systems and time. The results provide an insight into the experience of Long Covid as detailed by the participants' creative narratives. Conclusion The results from this study provide a unique insight into the lived experience of Long Covid. In relation to clinical practice, the results suggest that adjustment reaction and loss of sense of self could be added as common symptoms. Patient and Public Contribution Before undertaking the research, Long Covid community groups were contacted to discuss the potential value of this study and it was widely supported. One of the leading Long Covid support groups was also involved in disseminating information regarding the project. As part of ongoing work within this project, members of the team are actively disseminating the results within Long Covid communities and seeking to develop arts‐based workshops specifically for people with Long Covid.

Somali upwelling system during northern summer is believed to be the largest upwelling region in the Indian Ocean and has motivated some of the early studies on the Indian Ocean. Here we present results from observations and ocean model to show that the upwelling along the Somali coast is limited to the early phase of the summer monsoon and later primarily limited to the eddy dominated flows in the northern and some extent in the southern part of the coast. Major part of the Somali coast (~60% of the entire coastal length) shows prominent downwelling features driven by offshore negative windstress curl and subsurface entrainment mixing. Further, we show that the surface cooling of coastal waters are dominantly driven by subsurface entrainment and surface heat fluxes. These findings not only augment the existing knowledge of the Somali upwelling system, but also have serious implications on the regional climate. Most importantly, our analysis underscores the use of alongshore winds only to project future (climate driven) changes in the upwelling intensity along this coast.

Host populations often face infection risk from pathogens that can persist in the environment as free-living propagules. We develop a population-level model to understand how host resistance - defined as reduced susceptibility to infection - evolves in response to the exploitation strategy of a pathogen where transmission occurs exclusively via environmental propagules. Using an adaptive dynamics framework, we analyze how the coevolution of host resistance and pathogen exploitation strategy unfolds under the following fitness costs: reduced survival associated with investment in resistance reflected by additional background mortality for the host; and reduced average lifespan represented by increased infected host mortality for the pathogen. Calculating individual host and pathogen invasion fitness expressions using standard invasion analysis, we track how stable levels of investment in host resistance vary across different infection scenarios. We found that costly resistance is disfavoured when pathogen encounters are excessively high, with maximal resistance selected at intermediate levels of transmission. Coevolutionary feedbacks between host resistance and pathogen exploitation can lead to diverse outcomes, including stable evolutionarily singular strategies and, under weakly accelerating costs, evolutionary branching that generates coexistence in the resistance trait. We further quantify how coevolution shapes the equilibrium density of free propagules, revealing conditions under which coevolution suppresses or amplifies pathogen prevalence in comparison to non-evolving scenarios. Overall, our model framework built on survival-based costs offers testable predictions for environmentally transmitted host-pathogen systems.

This article builds an original, analytical framework to understand one of the most important developments of our times — the global ascendance of leaders who fuse populist anti-elite rhetoric with nationalist appeals. In contrast to arguments that treat populism and nationalism as either completely separate or essentially equivalent phenomena, I begin from an understanding of the two as distinct ideologies that grow from a shared foundational claim to represent an “us” versus a “them.” In part 1, I first juxtapose populism and nationalism around this common, undergirding us-them boundary to bring out their core features. I then analyze how populism and nationalism vary across the twin axes of intensity and inclusiveness to bring out their distinct sub-types. In part 2, I use this theoretical map of populism and nationalism to navigate the conceptual terrain of their intersection. I focus, in particular, on the implications of nationalist populism for those seen as “us” versus those viewed as “them,” where the “us” and “them” are determined by the dimensions of intensity and inclusiveness. In contrast to characterizations of nationalist populism in directional terms as negative, I suggest that it is instead better understood as an amplifying force that exacerbates both the positive and negative consequences of populism. All else equal, relative to populism, those beyond nationalist populist boundaries are subject to heightened hostility and discrimination, while those within benefit from enhanced life opportunities.