Streptomyces caldifontis sp. nov., isolated from a hot water spring of Tatta Pani, Kotli, Pakistan

A Gram-staining positive, non-motile, rod-shaped, catalase positive and oxidase negative bacterium, designated NCCP-1331(T), was isolated from a hot water spring soil collected from Tatta Pani, Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. The isolate grew at a temperature range of 18-40 °C (optimum 30 °C), pH 6.0-9.0 (optimum 7.0) and with 0-6 % NaCl (optimum 2 % NaCl (w/v)). The phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequence revealed that strain NCCP-1331(T) belonged to the genus Streptomyces and is closely related to Streptomyces brevispora BK160(T) with 97.9 % nucleotide similarity, followed by Streptomyces drosdowiczii NRRL B-24297(T) with 97.8 % nucleotide similarity. The DNA-DNA relatedness values of strain NCCP-1331(T) with S. brevispora KACC 21093(T) and S. drosdowiczii CBMAI 0498(T) were 42.7 and 34.7 %, respectively. LL-DAP was detected as diagnostic amino acid along with alanine, glycine, leucine and glutamic acid. The isolate contained MK-9(H8) as the predominant menaquinone. Major polar lipids detected in NCCP-1331(T) were phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylinositol and unidentified phospholipids. Major fatty acids were iso-C16: 0, summed feature 8 (18:1 ω7c/18:1 ω6c), anteiso-C15:0 and C16:0. The genomic DNA G + C content was 69.8 mol %. On the basis of phylogenetic, phenotypic and chemotaxonomic analysis, it is concluded that strain NCCP-1331(T) represents a novel species of the genus Streptomyces, for which the name Streptomyces caldifontis sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is NCCP-1331(T) (=KCTC 39537(T) = CPCC 204147(T)).

Elevating fishers of Dal Lake in Jammu and Kashmir

The deteriorating condition of one of the most magnificent lakes of India, the Dal Lake, has provoked a lot of research interest from the biological and ecological points of view. However, the impact of deterioration of the ecology on the inhabitant fisher folk around Dal Lake has not been given much importance. In this study, the three major beats of the lake, namely, Hazratbal, Nishat and Nehru Park, were surveyed, randomly taking 10% of the fishermen families. It was observed that the summer mean catch per day (5.18 ± 0.69 kg) was more than the mean winter catch per day (2.85 ± 0.40 kg). However, the total annual catch per person was only 1195.56 ± 211.63 kg. Moreover, marketing through middlemen, especially, during summer, was observed to be very low fetching in terms of mean price per kilogram fish, amounting to Rs 37.50 ± 2.54 for local fish and Rs 22.50 ± 2.88 for the carp. It was also observed that the fisher folk had borrowed a good amount of money for the repair and construction of their houses and boats. Therefore, on the whole, the fishing business around Dal Lake was observed to be under severe stress. In this context, this paper has come out with recommendations to uplift the socio-economic conditions of the fishers.

A review of the potential of renewable energy sources for the State of Jammu and Kashmir (India)

The future economic development trajectory for India is likely to result in rapid and accelerated growth in energy demand, with expected shortages. Many of its current policies and strategies are aimed at the improvement and possible maximization of energy production from the renewable sector. It is also clear that while energy-conservation and energy-efficiency can make an important contribution in the national energy strategy, renewable energies will be essential to the solution and are likely to play an increasingly important role for the growth of grid power, providing energy access, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, and helping India pursue its low carbon progressive pathway. However, most of the states in India, like the northernmost State of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), have experienced an energy crisis over a sustained period of time. As India intends to be one of the emerging powers of the 21st century, it has to embark upon with these pressing issues in a more sustainable manner and accordingly initiate various renewable energy projects within these states. This paper will provide a broad-spectrum view about the energy situation within J&K and will highlight the current policies along with future strategies for the optimal utilization of renewable energy resources.

Potential of the renewable energy development in Jammu and Kashmir, India

The future economic growth for India is likely to result in rapid and accelerated surge in energy demand, with expected shortages in terms of supply. Many of its current policies and strategies are aimed at the improvement and possible maximization of energy production from the renewable sector. It is also clear that while energy conservation and energy efficiency can make an important contribution, renewable energies will be essential to the solution and are likely to play an increasingly important role for providing enhanced energy access, reducing consumption of fossil fuels, and helping India pursue its low-carbon progressive pathway. However, most of the states in India, like the northernmost state of Jammu and Kashmir, have experienced an energy crisis over a sustained period of time and the government both at center and state level has to embark upon with these pressing issues in a more sustainable manner and accordingly initiate various renewable energy projects within these states. This paper will provide a broad-spectrum view about the energy situation within Jammu and Kashmir and will highlight the current policies along with future strategies for the optimal utilization of renewable energy resources.

Eastern Turkistan

specially prepared for the Foreign Department, from India ; published under direction of Colonel F. B. Longe, R. E., Surveyor General of India.

Travels in the Himalayan provinces of Hindustan and the Panjab; in Ladakh and Kashmir; in Peshawar, Kabul, Kunduz, and Bokhara;

"Published under the authority of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta."

Análisis de mujeres cachemires como sujetos subalternos en la representación institucional de India y Paquistán a partir del fenómeno de desaparición forzada (1989-2008)

El interés de esta monografía es analizar las consecuencias de la representación institucional de India y Paquistán en la disputa territorial por Cachemira durante el periodo de 1989 a 2008. Puntualmente, se analiza y explica cómo la representación institucional prestada individualmente por India y Paquistán validó sus intereses como agentes de poder en la región, pasó por alto las necesidades de la población cachemir y fomentó la práctica de la desaparición forzada, lo que en consecuencia convirtió a las mujeres cachemires en un grupo subalterno. Para tal objetivo, se hará uso de la teoría postcolonialista, específicamente el enfoque subalternista de la autora Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak ya que permite explicar adecuadamente el proceso mediante el cual las mujeres cachemires se convirtieron en un grupo subalterno.

Central Asia on New Delhi's Geostrategic Radar. EUCAM Commentary No. 18, October 2011

Central Asia today holds much strategic interest for India as an emerging 21st Century regional and global power. Despite being a latecomer in what some see as a new ‘Great Game’, New Delhi is keen to reconstruct the ‘Silk Route’. While Indo-Central Asian relations go back to antiquity when cultural, commercial and political ties thrived, post-independence India was physically cut off from Afghanistan and West Asia. It remained embroiled in domestic preoccupations and the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir, all of which led to a limited foreign policy until the early nineties and a belated rediscovery of the region.

Ta ri kh-i H asan, mu allafah- i Pi r Ghula m H asan Khuiha mi .

Added t. p.: Tarikh-i-Hassan.

Indus River Region, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, 1816 (Raster Image)

This layer is a georeferenced raster image of the historic paper map entitled: Sindetic Hindoostan or the countries occupied by the Sinde or Indus and its branches, by John Cary. It was published by J. Cary June 1, 1816. Scale [ca. 1:7,000,000]. Covers the Indus River region including portions of Northwest India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir. The image inside the map neatline is georeferenced to the surface of the earth and fit to a modified 'Asia North Lambert Conformal Conic' projection with a central meridian of 72 degrees East. All map collar and inset information is also available as part of the raster image, including any inset maps, profiles, statistical tables, directories, text, illustrations, index maps, legends, or other information associated with the principal map. This map shows features such as drainage, cities and other human settlements, roads, territorial boundaries, shoreline features, and more. Relief shown by hachures. This layer is part of a selection of digitally scanned and georeferenced historic maps from the Harvard Map Collection as part of the Open Collections Program at Harvard University project: Islamic Heritage Project. Maps selected for the project represent a range of regions, originators, ground condition dates, scales, and purposes. The Islamic Heritage Project consists of over 100,000 digitized pages from Harvard's collections of Islamic manuscripts and published materials. Supported by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal and developed in association with the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University.

The pharmaceutical industry, intellectual property rights and access to medicines in Pakistan

The pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan is worth around US$ l.18 billion, with annual growth in 2010 approaching 10 per cent (Khan, 2012). There are more than 650 registered companies, including 31 multinationals, which in 2006 had a market share in value terms of 53.3 per cent, with national firms controlling the remaining 46.7 per cent (IMS Health, 2007). In 2007 medicines worth about US$100 million were exported. Medicines are a vital component of healthcare, and Pakistan spends around three-quarters of its healthcare budget on medicines (WHO, 2004). This chapter provides an overview, from a public health perspective, of the national pharmaceutical market and the development of drug policies and regulation. Pakistan adopted a Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) compliant patent regime in 2000, and the intersection between patents and public health is a central policy challenge. This chapter highlights key issues related to intellectual property, Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), and production and access to medicines.

Sindetic Hindoostan or the countries occupied by the Sinde or Indus and its branches

by John Cary.

The promoter polymorphism -232C/G of the PCK1 gene is associated with type 2 diabetes in a UK-resident South Asian population

Background - The PCK1 gene, encoding cytosolic phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCKC), has previously been implicated as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes (T2D) susceptibility. Rodent models demonstrate that over-expression of Pck1 can result in T2D development and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the promoter region of human PCK1 (-232C/G) has exhibited significant association with the disease in several cohorts. Within the UK-resident South Asian population, T2D is 4 to 6 times more common than in indigenous white Caucasians. Despite this, few studies have reported on the genetic susceptibility to T2D in this ethnic group and none of these has investigated the possible effect of PCK1 variants. We therefore aimed to investigate the association between common variants of the PCK1 gene and T2D in a UK-resident South Asian population of Punjabi ancestry, originating predominantly from the Mirpur area of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan. Methods - We used TaqMan assays to genotype five tagSNPs covering the PCK1 gene, including the -232C/G variant, in 903 subjects with T2D and 471 normoglycaemic controls. Results - Of the variants studied, only the minor allele (G) of the -232C/G SNP demonstrated a significant association with T2D, displaying an OR of 1.21 (95% CI: 1.03 - 1.42, p = 0.019). Conclusion - This study is the first to investigate the association between variants of the PCK1 gene and T2D in South Asians. Our results suggest that the -232C/G promoter polymorphism confers susceptibility to T2D in this ethnic group.

Mobile Base Stations Placement and Energy Aware Routing in Wireless Sensor Networks

Increasing network lifetime is important in wireless sensor/ad-hoc networks. In this paper, we are concerned with algorithms to increase network lifetime and amount of data delivered during the lifetime by deploying multiple mobile base stations in the sensor network field. Specifically, we allow multiple mobile base stations to be deployed along the periphery of the sensor network field and develop algorithms to dynamically choose the locations of these base stations so as to improve network lifetime. We propose energy efficient low-complexity algorithms to determine the locations of the base stations; they include i) Top-K-max algorithm, ii) maximizing the minimum residual energy (Max-Min-RE) algorithm, and iii) minimizing the residual energy difference (MinDiff-RE) algorithm. We show that the proposed base stations placement algorithms provide increased network lifetimes and amount of data delivered during the network lifetime compared to single base station scenario as well as multiple static base stations scenario, and close to those obtained by solving an integer linear program (ILP) to determine the locations of the mobile base stations. We also investigate the lifetime gain when an energy aware routing protocol is employed along with multiple base stations.