Democracy and Social Transformation: Insights from Ambedkar Anand Teltumbde “My definition of democracy is a form and a method of Government whereby revolutionary changes in the social life are brought about without bloodshed.” -Babasaheb Ambedkar (From his address at Poona District Law Library on December 22, 1952). The above quotation of Babasaheb Ambedkar speaks volumes about his conception of democracy and what he expected from it. It is a commonplace belief that the revolutionary changes can only be brought about through revolution and revolutions are invariably associated with bloodshed. There is also a tacit apprehension that revolutions and democracy are incompatible. These commonplace notions of revolution may be faulted in theory but that is another matter. Likewise, there are commonplace notions about democracy too. It is considered as a form of representative government symbolized by regular elections, multiple political parties and a Constitution governing them that grants equal political value to each individual. Ambedkar, although reckoned as the chief architect of this apparent superstructure of democracy, had a very different conception of democracy. He idealized democracy to realize the simultaneity of ‘liberty, equality, fraternity’, transforming society into a veritable utopia, his ideal society. He viewed democracy as an instrument for social change; both as the end and the means of this ideal.

Source:http://www.yojana.gov.in/topstory_details.asp?storyid=559

Young blood transfusion is key to eternal youth?

‘Recharges Brain, Forms New Blood Vessels In Mice’

Kounteya Sinha TNN

London: Transfusion of young blood into an older body may hold the long-sought cure for the decline of the aging brain, according to researchers. Scientists on Sunday confirmed that new blood recharges the brain, forms new blood vessels and greatly improves memory.
    Harvard Stem Cell Institute researchers have shown that a new protein can make the failing hearts in aging mice appear more like those of young and healthy mice.
    It also improves brain and skeletal muscle function in aging mice. In two separate papers, Amy Wagers and Lee Rubin of Harvard’s department of stem cell and regenerative biology (HSCRB) reported that injections of a protein known as GDF11 which is found in humans as well as mice improved the exercise capability of mice equivalent in age to that of about a 70-year-old human and also improved the function of the olfactory region of the brains of the older mice — they could detect smell as younger mice do.
    The researchers expect to have GDF11 in initial human clinical trials within three to five years.
    Both studies examined the effect of GDF11 in two ways. First, by using what is called a parabiotic system in which two mice were surgically joined and the blood of the younger mouse circulates through the older mouse. The second was by injecting the older mice with GDF11. Doug Melton, co-chair of HSCRB, said, “This should give us all hope for a healthier future. We all wonder why we were stronger and mentally more agile when young and these two unusually exciting papers actually point to a possible answer: the higher levels of the protein GDF11 we have when young. There seems to be little question that, at least in animals, GDF11 has an amazing capacity to restore aging muscle and brain function.”
    GDF11 is naturally found in much higher concentration in young mice and raising its levels in the older mice has improved the function of every organ system thus far studied. Last year scientists reported that when exposed to the blood of young mice the weak enlarged hearts of older mice returned to a more youthful size and their function improved.
    They then further reported that GDF11 was the factor in the blood apparently responsible for the rejuvenating effect. That finding has raised hopes that GDF11 may prove in some form to be a possible treatment for diastolic heart failure which is a fatal condition in the elderly that is irreversible.
    They said, “We think an effect of GDF 11 is the improved vascularity and blood flow associated with increased neurogenesis. This should have other more widespread effect on other areas of the brain. We do think that, at least in principal, there will be a way to reverse some of the decline of aging with a single protein. It could be that a molecule like GDF 11 or GDF 11 itself could reverse the damage of aging.” They added, “It isn’t out of question that GDF11 or a drug developed from it might be worthwhile in Alzheimer’s Disease. You might be able to separate out the issues of treating the plaque and tangles associated with the disease, the decline in cognition and perhaps improve cognition.”

Fostering home-grown research

Times News Network

    The University of Mumbai, in association with the National Innovation Foundation, is organising a summer school to help build strong foundation of research among UG and PG students. The programme will run from May 12 to 31 at University of Mumbai’s Vidyanagari Campus.
    Having already sealed the entries to the summer school, the university instructed all affiliated colleges to nominate two students from the faculty of science and technology. Fifty students were then shortlisted to attend the summer school.
    The students were required to send a 250-word abstract of a research proposal, after which it was reviewed by an expert committee, who then shortlisted candidates on the basis of merit.
    “Fifteen students from rural colleges and 35 from urban colleges have been selected,” said RT Sane, convener of the summer school.
    Elaborating on the need for such a summer school, Sane believes that initiatives like these would inculcate an environment of research in colleges and herald a new age indigenous innovations. He says, “India needs to apply basic research to help develop new products which can be patentable and marketable. The present generation of students lacks the drive to innovate and hence, need to be motivated to conduct research.”
    The summer camp will feature talks and lectures by eminent speakers such as MM Sharma, former director, Institute of Chemical Technology, RA Mashelkar, former director general, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Anil Kakodkar, former chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India and the secretary to the Government of India and others belonging to various institutes, including IIT and TIFR
Source:  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2014/05/05&PageLabel=31&EntityId=Ar03105&ViewMode=HTML

Rich Indians seen driving rise in global citizenship

Kounteya Sinha TNN

London: Rich Indians – defined as those with a net worth of $30 million and above — have now become one of the largest populations based abroad.
    The practice of acquiring ‘global citizenship’ — a second citizenship or place of residence — is becoming popular among the world’s ultra-wealthy and an increasing number of superrich from China and India are likely to trend this path in the coming years, said a Wealth-X report.
    Among Indian billionaires, L N Mittal is based in the UK while Pallonji Mistry holds an Irish citizenship. Asia is expected to drive global growth and be the largest Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) region in the world within 20 years. One in every seven UHNW individuals in the world — almost 27,000 out of a total of 200,000 — is now an Indian or a Chinese. At the average population growth rate of 5.9% predicted for Asia, these four groups (non-resident Chinese, NRIs, China and India’s UHNW individuals) would grow by 33% in the next five years.
    This means an additional 8,935 UHNW individuals, greater than the current UHNW population of Switzerland and Italy combined, would be created in the next five years.
    India and China already have some of the largest populations based abroad, with 5,380 NRIs and 3,020 NRCs. “It is likely that we will see an increasing number of UHNW individuals from Asia’s two giants, China and India, seeking global citizenship in the coming years,” the Wealth X report said.
    The average net worth of someone who applies for a second citizenship is above $205 million, 47% above the global average for UNHW individuals of $139 million.
    About 32% of their net worth is in liquid assets which is equal to over $66 million per individual. In absolute terms, it’s nearly double the global average of $35 million, and is also higher as a proportion of wealth,
Source:  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/05/05&EntityId=Ar01402&AppName=1&ViewMode=HTMLmpared to the global average liquidity of 25%. 

New tech can trace back DNA 1,000 yrs

Kounteya Sinha TNN

London: A new ground breaking technique has been developed which can locate the village your ancestors lived 1,000 years ago and hence trace back DNA formation. Previously, scientists had been able to link DNA formation to within a 700 km area which in a continent like Europe is very unreliable.
    The Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool created by Eran Elhaik from the University of Sheffield and Tatiana Tatarinova from the University of Southern California works similarly to a satellite navigation system. The new technique has been 98% successful in locating worldwide populations to their right geographic regions down to their village and/or island of origin.
    The breakthrough has massive implications for life-saving personalized medicine, advancing forensic science and for the study of populations whose ancestral origins are under debate such as African Americans, Roma gypsies and European Jews. Genetic admixture occurs when individuals from two or more previously separated populations interbreed. This results in the creation of a new gene pool representing a mixture of the founder gene pools.
    Elhaik said, “What we have discovered here is a way to find not where you were born but where your DNA was formed up to 1,000 years ago by modelling these admixture processes. What is remarkable is that we can do this so accurately that we can locate the village where your ancestors lived hundreds and hundreds of years ago — until now this has never been possible.”
    Such processes were extremely common in history during migrations and invasions.
    Discovery of a certain genotype might indicate the potential for a genetic disease and suggest that diagnostic testing be done. Also as scientists learn more about personalized medicine there is evidence that specific genotypes respond differently to medications — making this information potentially useful when selecting the most effective therapy and appropriate dosage.

RETRACING ANCESTORS 

Source:  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/05/02&PageLabel=23&EntityId=Ar02301&ViewMode=HTML

TISS Guwhati Campus Library Blog

Respected Users


We are happy to inform you that TISS Guwahati Campus Library has created a blog to keep you update about the Library activities as well as some  special update about happening around the world. We also linked here some important site and list of some Open Access Resources, which might be useful for you.

Thanking you in anticipation


TISS, Guwahati Campus Library Team

Experts crack Ramanujan’s algebra riddle

Kounteya Sinha TNN

London: Mathematicians have found a framework for the celebrated Rogers-Ramanujan identities and their arithmetic properties, solving another long-standing mystery stemming from the work of Indian math genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. The solution was found by mathematicians at Emory University and the University of Queensland.
    “Algebraic numbers are among the first numbers you encounter in mathematics and yet it’s difficult to find functions that return them as values in a uniform and systematic way,” said Ken Ono, a number theorist at Emory. “A fundamental problem in mathematics is to find functions whose values are always algebraic numbers,” he said. Ramanujan could produce such numbers, and he made it look easy. The Rogers-Ramanujan identities are considered among his greatest legacies. The identities were originally discovered by L J Rogers in 1894.
    In 1913, Ramanujan sent a letter to British mathematician G H Hardy that included the two identities that Rogers discovered and a third formula that showed these identities are essentially modular functions and their quotient has the special property that its singular values are algebraic integral units. That result came to be known as the Rogers-Ramanujan continued fraction. Ramanujan died in 1920 before he could explain how he conjured up the formulas. For nearly a century, experts have tried to solve the mystery. 

Source:  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/05/01&PageLabel=17&EntityId=Ar01703&ViewMode=HTML