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Aplastic anemia Aplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood cells. [1] The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia. Typically, anemia refers to low red blood cell counts, but aplastic anemia patients have lower counts of all three blood cell types:red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, termed pancytopenia. Sickle cell anemia Sickle cell anemia is a disease passed down through families in which red blood cells form an abnormal crescent shape. (Red blood cells are normally shaped like a disc.) Causes, incidence, and risk factors Sickle cell anemia is caused by an abnormal type of hemoglobin called hemoglobin S. Hemoglobin is a protein inside red blood cells that carries oxygen. Hemoglobin S changes the shape of red blood cells, especially when the cells are exposed to low oxygen levels. The red blood cells become shaped like crescents or sickles. The fragile, sickle-shaped cells deliver less oxygen to the body's tissues. They can also get stuck more easily in small blood vessels, and break into pieces that interupt healthy blood flow. Sickle cell anemia is inherited from both parents. If you inherit the hemoglobin S gene from one parent and normal hemoglobin (A) from your other parent, you will have sickle cell trait . People with sickle cell trait do not have the symptoms of sickle cell anemia. Sickle cell disease is much more common in people of African and Mediterranean descent. It is also seen in people from South and Central America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East. Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a multinational treaty for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting
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Page 1: Aplastic Anemia

Aplastic anemiaAplastic anemia is a condition where bone marrow does not produce sufficient new cells to replenish blood

cells.[1] The condition, per its name, involves both aplasia and anemia. Typically, anemia refers to low red blood

cell counts, but aplastic anemia patients have lower counts of all three blood cell types:red blood cells, white

blood cells, and platelets, termed pancytopenia.

Sickle cell anemiaSickle cell anemia is a disease passed down through families in which red blood cells form an abnormal crescent shape. (Red blood cells are normally shaped like a disc.)

Causes, incidence, and risk factorsSickle cell anemia is caused by an abnormal type of hemoglobin called hemoglobin S. Hemoglobin is a protein inside red blood cells that carries oxygen. Hemoglobin S changes the shape of red blood cells, especially when the cells are exposed to low oxygen levels. The red blood cells become shaped like crescents or sickles.The fragile, sickle-shaped cells deliver less oxygen to the body's tissues. They can also get stuck more easily in small blood vessels, and break into pieces that interupt healthy blood flow.Sickle cell anemia is inherited from both parents. If you inherit the hemoglobin S gene from one parent and normal hemoglobin (A) from your other parent, you will have sickle cell trait. People with sickle cell trait do not have the symptoms of sickle cell anemia.Sickle cell disease is much more common in people of African and Mediterranean descent. It is also seen in people from South and Central America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East.

Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) is a multinational treaty for the purpose of establishing international standards for intellectual property rights enforcement. The agreement aims to establish an international legal framework for targeting counterfeit goods, generic medicines and copyright infringement on the Internet, and would create a new governing body outside existing forums, such as the World Trade Organization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, or the United Nations.

The agreement was signed in October 2011 by Australia, Canada, Japan, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea and the United States. In January 2012, the European Union and 22 countries which are member states of the European Union signed as well, bringing the total number of signatories to 31. No signatory has approved (ratified) the agreement, which would come into force after ratification by 6 countries.

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Supporters have described the agreement as a response to "the increase in global trade of counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works". Large intellectual property-based organizations such as the MPAA and Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America were active in the treaty's development.

Opponents say the convention adversely affects fundamental rights including freedom of expression and privacy. The secret nature of negotiations has excluded civil society groups, developing countries and the general public from the agreement's negotiation process and it has been described as policy laundering by critics including the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and the Entertainment Consumers Association. The signature of the EU and many of its member states resulted in the resignation in protest of the European Parliament's appointed chief investigator, rapporteur Kader Arif, as well as widespread protests across Europe.

United Nations Convention against Corruption The United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC) is the first legally binding international anti-corruption instrument.[1] In its 8 Chapters and 71 Articles, the UNCAC obliges its States Parties to implement a wide and detailed range of anti-corruption measures affecting their laws, institutions and practices. These measures aim to promote the prevention, criminalization and law enforcement, international cooperation, asset recovery, technical assistance and information exchange, and mechanisms for implementation.

[edit] Signatures, Ratifications and Entry into Force

The UNCAC was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, on 31 October 2003 by Resolution 58/4. The convention was signed by 140 countries. Ecuador became the thirtieth country to ratify the Convention on 15 September 2005, and in accordance with Article 68 (1) of Resolution 58/4, it entered into force on 14 December 2005. As of 13 December 2011, the convention had been ratified, accepted, approved or acceded to by 158 countries (which became thus States Parties to the convention) as well as the European Union [2] and applies to most of the world population. The countries with a population of over 1 million, that had of 15 May 2011 not ratified were:

[edit] Background

The UNCAC is the most recent of a long series of developments in which experts and politicians have recognized the far-reaching impact of corruption and economic crimes, including money laundering that undermine the value of democracy, sustainable development, and rule of law [3] also the need to develop effective measures against it at both the domestic and international

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levels. International action against corruption has progressed from general consideration and declarative statements to legally binding agreements. While at the beginning of the discussion, measures were focused relatively narrowly on specific crimes, above all bribery, the definitions and understanding of corruption have become broader and so have the measures against it. The Conventions' (not only the UNCAC, but the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption) comprehensive approach and the mandatory character of many of its provisions give proof of this development. The UNCAC deals with forms of corruption that had not been covered by many of the earlier international instruments, such as trading in official influence, general abuses of power, and various acts of corruption in the private sector. A further significant development was the inclusion of a specific chapter of the Convention dealing with the recovery of assets, a major concern for countries that pursue the assets of former leaders and other officials accused or found to have engaged in corruption.

[edit] Conference of the States Parties

A Conference of the States Parties (CoSP) to the UNCAC was established to improve the capacity of and cooperation between States Parties to achieve the objectives set forth in the Convention, and to promote and review its implementation. The first session of the CoSP took place on 10–14 December 2006 at the Dead Sea, Jordan. At this meeting, government representatives discussed how to follow-up on the UNCAC and they committed themselves to establishing a formal monitoring system. An inter-governmental working group was established to start working on the design of such a review of implementation mechanism.[4] Two other working groups were set up to promote coordination of activities related to technical assistance and asset recovery, respectively,.[5][6]

The second CoSP was held in Bali, Indonesia, on 28 January to 1 February 2008. As for the mechanism for review of implementation, the States Parties decided, inter alia, to take into account a balanced geographical approach, to avoid any adversarial or punitive elements, to establish clear guidelines for every aspect of the mechanism and to promote universal adherence to the Convention and the constructive collaboration in preventive measures, asset recovery, international cooperation and other areas. The CoSP also reiterated its support for the Working Group on Asset Recovery, requested donors and receiving countries to strengthen coordination and enhance technical assistance for the implementation of the UNCAC, and dealt with the issue of bribery of officials of public international organizations.[7]

The next session of the CoSP took place in Doha, Qatar, from 9–13 November 2009. Pursuant to the resolutions and decisions taken by the CoSP at its second session, the CoSP was expected to concentrate on key issues regarding review of the implementation of the Convention, asset recovery and technical assistance. The CoSP also offers an opportunity to anti-corruption policymakers and practitioners to exchange views on practical matters. Furthermore, it will be preceded and accompanied by numerous side events, such as the last Global Forum (in cooperation with businesses) and a Youth Forum.[8]

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[edit] Measures and Provisions

The UNCAC covers five main areas: prevention, criminalization and law enforcement measures, international cooperation, asset recovery, and technical assistance and information exchange. It includes both mandatory and non-mandatory provisions.

[edit] General Provisions (Chapter I, Articles 1-4)

The opening Articles of the UNCAC include a statement of purpose (Article1), which covers both the promotion of integrity and accountability within each country and the support of international cooperation and technical assistance between States Parties. They also include definitions of critical terms used in the instrument. Some of these are similar to those used in other instruments, and in particular the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, but those defining "public official", "foreign public official", and " official of a public international organization" are new and are important for determining the scope of application of the UNCAC in these areas. The UNCAC does not provide for a definition of corruption. In accordance with Article 2 of the UN Charter, Article 4 of the UNCAC provides for the protection of national sovereignty of the States Parties.,[9][10]

[edit] Preventive Measures (Chapter II, Articles 5-14)

The First Conference of the States Parties recognized the importance of prevention to fight corruption by going far beyond the measures of previous instruments in both scope and detail. The preventive measures cover both the public and private sectors. The chapter includes model preventive policies, such as the establishment of anti-corruption bodies and enhanced transparency in the financing of election campaigns and political parties. Anti-corruption bodies should implement the anti-corruption policies, disseminate knowledge and must be independent, adequately resourced and have properly trained staff. States are also obliged to ensure that their public services are subject to safeguards that promote efficiency, transparency and recruitment based on merit. Once recruited, public servants should be bound by codes of conduct, requirements for financial and other disclosures, and appropriate disciplinary measures. Also Article 14 requires the measure to prevent money laundering. Transparency and accountability in matters of public finance must also be promoted, and specific requirements are established for the prevention of corruption, in the particularly critical areas of the public sector, such as the judiciary and public procurement. Since the combating of corruption also depends on cooperation between the State and society, the UNCAC places particular emphasis on the involvement of civil society and on the general reporting process through which the public administration reports to the people. The requirements made for the public sector also apply to the private sector – it too is expected to adopt transparent procedures and codes of conduct.[11]

[edit] Criminalization and Law Enforcement (Chapter III, Articles 15-44)

Chapter III calls on States Parties to establish or maintain a series of specific criminal offences including not only long-established crimes such as various forms of bribery and embezzlement, but also conduct not already criminalized in many States, such as trading in official influence and other abuses of official functions. The broad range of ways in which corruption has manifested

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itself in different countries and the novelty of some of the offences pose serious legislative and constitutional challenges, a fact reflected in the decision of the Ad Hoc Committee to make some of the requirements either optional on the part of States Parties ("…shall consider adopting…") or subject to domestic constitutional or other fundamental requirements ("…subject to its constitution and the fundamental principles of its legal system…").[12] Specific acts that States Parties must criminalize include active bribery (the offer or giving of an undue advantage) of a national, international or foreign public official, and passive bribery of a national public official and embezzlement of public funds. Other mandatory crimes include obstruction of justice, and the concealment, conversion or transfer of criminal proceeds (money laundering). Sanctions extend to those who participate in or attempt to commit corruption offences.[13] The Convention goes thus beyond previous instruments of this kind that criminalize only basic forms of corruption. States are encouraged – but not required – to criminalize, inter alia, passive bribery of foreign and international public officials, trading in influence, abuse of function, illicit enrichment, private sector bribery and embezzlement, money laundering, and the concealment of illicit assets.

Furthermore, States Parties are required to simplify the provision of evidence of corrupt behaviour by, inter alia, ensuring that obstacles that may arise from the application of bank secrecy laws shall be overcome. This is especially important as corrupt acts are very difficult to prove before a court. Particularly important is also the introduction of the liability of legal persons. In the area of law enforcement, the UNCAC calls for better cooperation between national and international bodies and with civil society. There is a provision for the protection of witnesses, victims, expert witnesses and whistle blowers to ensure that law enforcement is truly effective.

[edit] International Cooperation (Chapter IV, Articles 43-49)

Under Chapter IV of the UNCAC, States Parties are obliged to assist one another in every aspect of the fight against corruption, including prevention, investigation, and the prosecution of offenders. Particular emphasis is laid on mutual legal assistance, in gathering and transferring evidence for use in court, and extradition of offenders. A key issue in developing the international cooperation requirements arose with respect to the scope or range of offences to which they would apply. The broad range of corruption problems faced by many countries resulted in proposals to criminalize a wide range of conduct. This, in turn, confronted many countries with conduct they could not criminalize (as with the illicit enrichment offence discussed in the previous segment) and that were made optional as a result. Many delegations were willing to accept that others could not criminalize specific acts of corruption for constitutional or other fundamental reasons, but still wanted to ensure that countries that did not criminalize such conduct would be obliged to cooperate with other States that had done so. The result of this process was a compromise, in which dual criminality requirements were narrowed as much as possible within the fundamental legal requirements of the States that cannot criminalize some of the offences established by the Convention. According to the Convention, the principle of dual criminality can only be insisted on where the assistance would require coercive action such as arrest or search and seizure, and States Parties are encouraged to allow a wider scope of assistance without dual criminality where possible. Also, where dual criminality is required, it is sufficient that the conduct at issue constitutes a crime in both jurisdictions; the

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language of the laws need not coincide exactly. Cooperation in criminal matters is mandatory. In civil and administrative matters, States Parties are encouraged to do so.[14]

[edit] Asset Recovery (Chapter V, Articles 51-59)Main article: International asset recovery

The agreement on asset recovery is considered a major breakthrough and many observers claim that it is also the reason for why so many developing countries have signed the UNCAC.[15] Asset recovery is indeed a very important issue for many developing countries where high-level corruption has plundered the national wealth. Reaching an agreement on this Chapter involved intensive negotiations, as the needs of countries seeking the illicit assets had to be reconciled with the legal and procedural safeguards of the countries whose assistance was sought.[16] Generally, countries seeking assets sought to establish presumptions that would make clear their ownership of the assets and give priority for return over other means of disposal. Countries from which return was likely to be sought, on the other hand, had concerns about the language that might have compromised basic human rights and procedural protections associated with criminal liability and the freezing, seizure, forfeiture and return of such assets.

Chapter V of the UNCAC establishes asset recovery as a "fundamental principle" of the Convention. The provisions on asset recovery lay a framework, in both civil and criminal law, for tracing, freezing, forfeiting and returning funds obtained through corrupt activities. The requesting state will in most cases receive the recovered funds as long as it can prove ownership. In some cases, the funds may be returned directly to individual victims.

If no other arrangement is in place, UNCAC signatories may use the Convention itself as a legal basis for enforcing confiscation orders obtained in a foreign criminal court. Specifically, Article 54(1)(a) of the UNCAC provides that: "Each State Party (shall)... take such measures as may be necessary to permit its competent authorities to give effect to an order of confiscation issued by a court of another state party"[9] ^ United Nations Convention against Corruption Article 54 Section 1A,2A. Indeed, Article 54(2)(a) of the UNCAC also provides for the provisional freezing or seizing of property where there are sufficient grounds for taking such actions in advance of a formal request being received.[17]

Recognizing that recovering assets once transferred and concealed is an exceedingly costly, complex and all-too-often unsuccessful process, this Chapter also incorporates elements intended to prevent illicit transfers and generate records that can be used where illicit transfers eventually have to be traced, frozen, seized and confiscated (Article 52). The identification of experts who can assist developing countries in this process is also included as a form of technical assistance (Article 60(5)).

[edit] Technical Assistance and Information Exchange (Chapter VI, Articles 60-62)

Chapter VI of the UNCAC is dedicated to technical assistance, meaning support offered to developing and transition countries in implementing the Convention. The provisions cover training, material and human resources, research, and information sharing. The Convention also calls for cooperation through international and regional organizations (many of who already have

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established anti-corruption programmes), research efforts, and the contribution of financial resources both directly to developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime,(UNODC), which is the Secretariat to the Conference of the States Parties.

[edit] Mechanisms for Implementation (Chapter VII, Articles 63-64)

Chapter VII deals with international implementation through the CoSP and the UN Secretariat.

[edit] Final Provisions (Chapter VIII, Articles 65 – 71)

The final provisions are similar to those found in other UN treaties. Key provisions ensure that: the UNCAC requirements are to be interpreted as minimum standards, which States Parties are free to exceed with measures "more strict or severe" than those set out in the specific provisions; and the two Articles governing signature, ratification and the coming into force of the Convention.[12]

[edit] Implementation of the UNCAC and Monitoring Mechanism

Article 63 of the UNCAC establishes a CoSP with a mandate to, inter alia, promote and review the implementation of the Convention. In accordance with Article 63(7), "the Conference shall establish, if it deems necessary, any appropriate mechanism or body to assist in the effective implementation of the Convention". [18] At its first session, held in Jordan in December 2006, the CoSP agreed that it was necessary to establish an appropriate and effective mechanism to assist in the review of the implementation of the Convention (Resolution 1/1). The Conference established an open-ended intergovernmental expert group to make recommendations to the Conference on the appropriate mechanism, which should allow the Conference to discharge fully and efficiently its mandates, in particular with respect to taking stock of States’ efforts to implement the Convention. The Conference also requested the Secretariat to assist States in their efforts to collect and provide information on their self-assessment and their analysis of implementation efforts and to report on those efforts to the Conference. In addition, several countries, already during this session of the CoSP, expressed their readiness to support, on an interim basis, a review mechanism that would combine the self-assessment component with a review process supported by the Secretariat. The "Pilot Review Programme" was established to offer adequate opportunity to test possible means for the implementation review of the UNCAC, with the overall objective to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness of the tested mechanism(s) and to provide to the CoSP information on lessons learnt and experience acquired, thus enabling the CoSP to make informed decisions on the establishment of the appropriate mechanism for reviewing the implementation of the UNCAC. The Pilot Programme is an interim measure to help fine-tune the course of action. It is strictly voluntary and limited in scope and time. The methodology used under the Pilot Review Programme was to conduct a limited review of the implementation of UNCAC in the participating countries using a combined self-assessment / group / expert review method as possible mechanism(s) for reviewing the implementation of the Convention. Throughout the review process, members of the Group engage with the individual country under review in an active dialogue, discussing preliminary findings and requesting additional information. Where requested, country visits are conducted to assist in undertaking the

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self-assessments and/or preparing the recommendations. The teams conducting the country visits will be composed of experts from two prior agreed upon countries from the Group and two members of the Secretariat. The scope of review under the Pilot Review Programme includes Articles: 5 (preventive anti-corruption policies and practices); 15 (bribery of national public officials); 16 (bribery of foreign public officials and officials of public international organizations); 17 (embezzlement, misappropriation or other diversion of property by a public official); 25 (obstruction of justice); 46 (mutual legal assistance), particularly paragraphs 13 and 9; 52 (prevention and detection of transfers of proceeds of crime); and 53 (measures for direct recovery of property).

[edit] UNCAC Coalition of Civil Society Organisations

The "UNCAC Coalition", established in 2006, is a network of more than 300 civil society organisations (CSOs) that is committed to promoting the ratification, implementation and monitoring of the UNCAC. It aims to mobilise broad civil society support for the UNCAC and to facilitate strong civil society action at national, regional and international levels in support of the Convention. The Coalition is open to all organisations and individuals committed to these goals. The breadth of UNCAC means that its framework is relevant for a wide range of CSOs, including groups working in the areas of human rights, labour rights, governance, economic development, environment and private sector accountability.

In addition, the main function of the International Anti-Corruption Academy, located in Laxenburg, Austria, is to, inter alia, facilitate more effective implementation of the UNCAC.

[edit] Challenges

In general, the adoption of an effective follow-up monitoring mechanism is often considered to be one of the biggest challenges that still lies ahead. Many developing countries also face the challenge of implementing the demanding provisions of the UNCAC into national law, and above all into the reality of daily life. Effective technical assistance, as foreseen in the UNCAC, is therefore crucial for the successful implementation of the Convention.

8888 Uprising The 8888 Nationwide Popular Pro-Democracy Protests (Burmese: ၈- ၄လုံ�း or ရှစ်လေလးလုံ�း; MLCTS: hrac le: lum: also known as the People Power Uprising[4]) was a series of marches, demonstrations, protests,[5] and riots[6] in the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma (today commonly known as Burma or Myanmar). Key events occurred on August 8, 1988, and from this (08/08/1988), it is known as the "8888 Uprising".[7]

Since 1962, the country had been ruled by the Burma Socialist Programme Party regime as a one-party state, headed by General Ne Win. The catastrophic Burmese Way to Socialism had turned Burma into one of the world's most impoverished countries.[8][9][10] Almost everything was

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nationalized and the government combined Soviet-style central planning with superstitious beliefs.[10] In an article published in a February 1974 issue of Newsweek magazine, the Burmese Way to Socialism was described as "an amalgam of Buddhist and Marxist illogic".[11]

The 8888 uprising was started by students in Yangon (Rangoon) on August 8, 1988. Student protests spread throughout the country.[8][12] Hundreds of thousands of ochre-robed monks, young children, university students, housewives, and doctors demonstrated against the regime.[13][14] The uprising ended on September 18, after a bloody military coup by the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). Thousands of deaths have been attributed to the military during this uprising,[12][15][16] while authorities in Myanmar put the figure at around 350 people killed.[17]

[18]

During the crisis, Aung San Suu Kyi emerged as a national icon. When the military junta arranged an election in 1990, her party, the National League for Democracy, won 80% of the seats in the government (392 out of 447).[19] But the military junta suppressed everything that could have developed from these democratic achievements. Part of the strategy was to place Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. The State Law and Order Restoration Council would be a cosmetic change from the Burma Socialist Programme Party.[13] Suu Kyi's house arrest would be lifted no earlier than in 2010 when worldwide attention for her peaked again during the sumptuous making of the biographical film The Lady

Mill Gate Price Scheme (MGPS): Ministry of TextilesName of the Scheme

Mill Gate Price Scheme (MGPS)

Sponsored by Central Government

DescriptionThe objective of this scheme is to provide all types of yarns to the handlooms weavers Orgainsations at the Mill Gate price

Beneficiaries other,

Other Beneficiaries

All Handloom organizations of National/State/Regional/Primary handloom level

Benefits

Benefit Type Others,

Other Benefits To make available all types of yarn (including processed/dyed yarn) to the eligible

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handloom weavers

Details

The scheme is implemented through National Handloom Development Corporation (NHDC), Lucknow, a Government of India Undertaking to make available all types of yarn (including processed/dyed yarn) to the eligible handloom weavers organizations at the price at which it is available at the place of manufacturing. There is also a provision for supply of yarn to the individual weavers through the yarn depots approved by the NHDC. The expenditure for operating the yarn depot is to be reimbursed by the NHDC @2 � % of the value of the yarn. Under the Mill Gate Price Scheme, following assistance is provided by the Government of India as per rates mentioned below: (i) Freight reimbursement for transportation of yarn. (ii) Expenses of operating the yarn depots @ 2.5%, based on actuals. (iii) Service Charges to NHDC for its role as nodal agency for the implementation of the Mill Gate Price Scheme. Out of these, the assistance mentioned in items (i) and (ii) is being paid by the NHDC to the eligible agencies and is reimbursed to the NHDC subsequently by the Government of India. The transportation expenditure involved in supply of yarn is reimbursed by NHDC to the user agencies subject to a maximum as under :- Item In Plains Hills/remote NE Area Other than Silk/Jute yarn 1.00% 1.75% 3.00% Silk Yarn 1.00% 1.25% 1.50% Jute/Jute blended yarn 7.00% 8.00% 8.50% The actual cost of transportation or the above mentioned freight re-imbursement, whichever amount is less, is allowed to the agencies. Further, there is a provision for supply of yarn to the weavers in the remote areas through mobile vans for 20 days in a month. However, the agencies, which are authorized to operate depots, will not be permitted to operate mobile vans. The actual expenditure involved for operating the mobile van is reimbursed subject to a maximum of @Rs.1500/- per day per van by the NHDC.

Eligibility criteria

The scheme benefits All Handloom organizations of National/State/Regional/Primary handloom level. Handloom Development Centre. Handloom producers/exporters/manufacturers registered with HEPC/any other export promotion council under Ministry of Textiles/Director of Industries/Handloom of State/U.T. All approved export houses/trading houses/star trading houses for production of handloom items. Members of recognized/approved handloom associati0ons. NGOs fulfilling CAPART norms. Any other agency approved by the office of the Development Commissioner (Handlooms), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India

Vanadium Vanadium (  /vəˈneɪdiəm/ və- NAY -dee-əm) is a chemical element with the symbol V and atomic number 23. It is a hard, silvery gray, ductile and malleable transition metal. The element is found only in chemically combined form in nature, but once isolated artificially, the formation of an oxide layer stabilizes the free metal somewhat against further oxidation. Andrés

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Manuel del Río discovered vanadium in 1801 by analyzing a new lead-bearing mineral he called "brown lead," and named the new element erythronium (Greek for "red") since, upon heating, most of its salts turned from their initial color to red. Four years later, however, he was convinced by other scientists that erythronium was identical to chromium. The element was rediscovered in 1831 by Nils Gabriel Sefström, who named it vanadium after the Germanic goddess of beauty and fertility, Vanadís (Freyja). Both names were attributed to the wide range of colors found in vanadium compounds. Del Rio's lead mineral was later renamed vanadinite for its vanadium content.

The element occurs naturally in about 65 different minerals and in fossil fuel deposits. It is produced in China and Russia from steel smelter slag; other countries produce it either from the flue dust of heavy oil, or as a byproduct of uranium mining. It is mainly used to produce specialty steel alloys such as high speed tool steels. The most important industrial vanadium compound, vanadium pentoxide, is used as a catalyst for the production of sulfuric acid.

Large amounts of vanadium ions are found in a few organisms, possibly as a toxin. The oxide and some other salts of vanadium have moderate toxicity. Particularly in the ocean, vanadium is used by some life forms as an active center of enzymes, such as the vanadium bromoperoxidase of some ocean algae. Vanadium is probably a micronutrient in mammals, including humans, but its precise role in this regard is unknown.

Vanadium redox battery The vanadium redox (and redox flow) battery is a type of rechargeable flow battery that employs vanadium ions in different oxidation states to store chemical potential energy. The present form (with sulfuric acid electrolytes) was patented by the University of New South Wales in Australia in 1986 [2] An earlier German Patent on a titanium chloride flow battery was registered and granted in July 1954 to Dr. Walter Kango, but most of the development of flow batteries was carried out by NASA researchers in the 1970s. Although the use of vanadium in batteries had been suggested earlier by Pissoort,[3] by NASA researchers and by Pellegri and Spaziante in 1978,[4] the first known successful demonstration and commercial development of the all-vanadium redox flow battery employing vanadium in a solution of sulfuric acid in each half was by Maria Skyllas-Kazacos and co-workers at the University of New South Wales in the 1980s.[5]

There are currently a number of suppliers and developers of these battery systems including Ashlawn Energy in the United States, Renewable Energy Dynamics (RED-T) in Ireland, Cellstrom GmbH in Austria, Cellennium in Thailand, and Prudent Energy in the United States and China.[6] The vanadium redox battery (VRB) is the product of over 25 years of research, development, testing and evaluation in Australia, Europe, North America and elsewhere.

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The vanadium redox battery exploits the ability of vanadium to exist in solution in four different oxidation states, and uses this property to make a battery that has just one electroactive element instead of two.

The main advantages of the vanadium redox battery are that it can offer almost unlimited capacity simply by using larger and larger storage tanks, it can be left completely discharged for long periods with no ill effects, it can be recharged simply by replacing the electrolyte if no power source is available to charge it, and if the electrolytes are accidentally mixed the battery suffers no permanent damage.

The main disadvantages with vanadium redox technology are a relatively poor energy-to-volume ratio, and the system complexity in comparison with standard storage batteries.

Energy density

Current production vanadium redox batteries achieve an energy density of about 25 Wh/kg of electrolyte. More recent research at UNSW indicates that the use of precipitation inhibitors can increase the density to about 35 Wh/kg, with even higher densities made possible by controlling the electrolyte temperature. This energy density is quite low as compared to other rechargeable battery types (e.g., lead–acid, 30–40 Wh/kg; and lithium ion, 80–200 Wh/kg).

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology claim to have built a prototype for an improved cell stating “We can now increase the mileage four or fivefold, to approximately that of lithium-ion batteries,”.[7]

[edit] Applications

The extremely large capacities possible from vanadium redox batteries make them well suited to use in large power storage applications such as helping to average out the production of highly variable generation sources such as wind or solar power, or to help generators cope with large surges in demand.

The limited self-discharge characteristics of vanadium redox batteries make them useful in applications where the batteries must be stored for long periods of time with little maintenance while maintaining a ready state. This has led to their adoption in some military electronics, such as the sensor components of the GATOR mine system.

Their extremely rapid response times also make them superbly well suited to UPS type applications, where they can be used to replace lead–acid batteries and even diesel generators.

Vertical farming

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Vertical farming is a concept that argues that it is economically and environmentally viable to cultivate plant or animal life within skyscrapers, or on vertically inclined surfaces. The idea of a vertical farm has existed at least since the early 1950s and built precedents are well documented by John Hix in his canonical text "The Glass House"[1]

Financial Stability Board From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) is an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system. It was established after the 2009 G-20 London summit in April 2009 as a successor to the Financial Stability Forum. The Board includes all G-20 major economies, FSF members, and the European Commission. It is based in Basel, Switzerland.[1]

[edit] Background

The Financial Stability Board emerged from the Financial Stability Forum (FSF), a group of finance ministries, central bankers, and international financial bodies. The FSF was founded in 1999 to promote international financial stability, after discussions among Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the G7 countries, and a study which they commissioned.[2] The FSF facilitated discussion and co-operation on supervision and surveillance of financial institutions, transactions and events. FSF was managed by a small secretariat housed at the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland.[3] The FSF membership included about a dozen nations who participate through their central banks, financial ministries and departments, and securities regulators, including: the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and several other industrialized economies as well as several international economic organizations.[4] At the G20 summit on November 15, 2008 it was agreed that the membership of the FSF will be expanded to include emerging economies, such as China. The 2009 G-20 London summit decided to establish a successor to the FSF, the Financial Stability Board. The FSB includes members of the G20 who were not members of FSF.[5]

The Financial Stability Forum met in Rome on 28–29 March 2008 in connection with the Bank for International Settlements. Members discussed current challenges in financial markets, and various policy options to address them from this point forward.[6] At this meeting, the FSF discussed a report to be delivered to G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in April 2008. The report identifies key weaknesses underlying current financial turmoil, and recommends actions to improve market and institutional resilience. The FSF discussed work underway at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) with regard to sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). The IMF is working closely with SWFs to identify a set of voluntary best practice guidelines, and is focusing

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on the governance, institutional arrangements and transparency of SWFs.[6] On April 12, 2008 the FSF delivered a report to the G7 Finance Ministers which details out its recommendations for enhancing the resilience of the financial markets and financial institutions. These are in five areas:

Strengthened prudential oversight of capital, liquidity and risk management Enhancing transparency and valuation Changes in the role and uses of credit ratings Strengthening the authorities' responsiveness to risks Robust arrangements for dealing with stress in the financial system [1]

[edit] Overview

The FSB represents the G-20 leaders' first major international institutional innovation. Secretary of the US Treasury Tim Geithner has described it as "in effect, a fourth pillar" of the architecture of global economic governance. The FSB has been assigned a number of important tasks, working alongside the IMF, World Bank, and WTO. Chairman of the board is the Canadian Mark Carney, Governor of the Bank of Canada.[7]

The Cabinet approved to implement the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Policy on decontrolled Phosphatic & Potassic  fertilizer with effect from 1st April, 2010.  It has been decided to fix the subsidy on the nutrients ‘N’  – Nitrogen, ‘P’ – Phosphorus, ‘K’ – Potash and ‘S’ – Sulphur contents for the year 2010-11.  In addition to the fixed subsidy on above mentioned nutrients, there will be an additional per tonne subsidy for subsidized fertilizer carrying other secondary nutrients and micro nutrients in formulations approved under FCO 1985.

2.         The intent of the Government to move towards NBS in fertilizer sector was announced in the Budget Speech of 2009-2010 delivered by the Finance Minister.  The NBS regime is expected to promote balanced fertilization and consequently increase agriculture productivity in the country through higher usage of secondary and micro nutrients.  It is also expected that new innovative fertilizer products would be developed subsequently under the NBS regime to meet the different requirements of Indian agriculture.  The NBS regime is expected to depict the actual demand of fertilizers in the country and promote realistic pricing of fertilizer products in the international market.    Unshackling of fertilizer industry is also expected to attract fresh investments in this sector.

3.         It has also been decided to constitute an Inter-Ministerial Committee under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Fertilizers) to examine various scenarios and make recommendations for finalization of per nutrient subsidy to the Government under the proposed Policy.

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4.         Under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) regime, since the subsidy on the subsidised nutrients and consequently subsidized fertilizers will remain fixed, the retail prices of subsidized fertilizers at farmgate level will be decided by the Companies.  The Fertilizer Industry has assured that under NBS regime, the price line around the current level would be maintained during Kharif-2010.  The Government in consultation with the fertilizer industry will make interventions in such a manner that the farmgate prices of non-urea fertilizers are, as far as possible,  near the current prices so that the farmers are not adversely affected.

5.         The provision of additional subsidy for fortified and supplemented fertilizer will encourage production and application of fertilizers carrying secondary and micro nutrients.

6.         Urea which has the maximum tonnage consumed nitrogenous fertilizers in the country will continue to be under the current MRP regime.  However, it has been decided to increase the maximum retail price of urea from Rs.4830/- per MT to Rs.5310/- per MT with effect from 1st April, 2010.

7.         The NBS regime will be implemented with effect from 1st April, 2010.  The subsidy will continue to be disbursed through the Industry during the first phase.  The industry will receive subsidy based on certification of sale by the State Governments / Statutory Auditors of the Company as in the past. The implementation and distribution of the fertilizer will continue to be monitored through the on-line web based “Fertilizer Monitoring System (FMS)”

Differential Rate Of Interest Scheme

 

Purpose Processing Charges

Eligibility Margin

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Security Repayment

Amount of Loan Target Under the Scheme

Rate of Interest DRI Beneficiaries

Fair Practice Code on Lenders Liability

 

Purpose

This scheme offers need based financial assistance to those who intend taking up any productive activity and has been tailored for persons whose income is very low. This scheme is meant for :

a. Persons belonging to SC/STs, Adivasis engaged in agricultural operations and/ or allied activities

b. Persons engaged in collection of forest products, fodder and selling these in markets. 

c. Persons engaged in Village and Cottage Industries on a very small scale.d. Indigent students aspiring to pursue higher studies. e. Physically handicapped persons.f. Institution of physically handicapped for their productive activities.g. Orphanages, Women's Homes where saleable goods are made. h. State Level Corporations working for welfare of SC/ST.i. Co-operative Societies, large sized multi-purpose societies organised specially for the

benefit of tribal population in areas identified by Government of India.

Eligibility

Loans are granted to any person whose :

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a. Family income from all sources is not more than Rs.7,200/- p.a. in metropolitan/ urban/ semi-urban areas or Rs.6,400/- p.a. in rural areas.

b. Land holding does not exceed 1.25 acres of irrigated land or 2.5 acres of dry land. Land holding criteria does not apply to SC/ST borrowers.

Security

Hypothecation of assets created out of the loan only. Collateral security or third party guarantee should not be taken.

 

Amount of Loan

Composite loan upto Rs. 15,000/- & housing loan upto Rs.20,000/- .

 

Rate of Interest

4.00% p.a

 

Margin

No margin money is required to be provided by the borrower

 

Repayment

Repayment period for term loan is up to 5 years

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Target Under the Scheme

1% of the previous years advances should be granted under the scheme.

Out of total DRI advance 40% should be granted to SC/ST beneficiaries and not less than 66.66% Of the DRI advances should be routed through Rural and Semi-urban branches.

 

DRI Beneficiaries

DRI Advances :

DRI beneficiaries are those who are given loans and advances @ 4% p.a. for individuals engaged in cottage and rural industries viz. Basket makers, blacksmiths, broom makers, carpenters, cobblers, cycle repairers, fire wood sellers, fish vendors, glass bangle sellers, handicrafts, hawkers, leather farmers, mat makers, pan shops and tobacco merchants, papad makers, potters, roadside tea stall cum eating houses, rope makers, sellers of eatable's, tailors, teri-makers, vegetable vendors, home delivery service or article and commodities of daily use, driving one's own manual rickshaw or cycle rickshaw etc. and Persons belonging to SC/ST engaged on a very modest scale in agriculture and/or allied agricultural activities like dairy, poultry, goat rearing, bee keeping etc. Further, persons physically engaged in the field of cottage and rural industries and vocation such as spraying of pesticides and poor and needy students of merit going for higher education who do not get scholarships/maintenance grants from Government or educational authorities, physically handicapped persons pursuing gainful employment could also be financed under the scheme.

In addition to the individual beneficiaries mentioned above, the following institutional

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beneficiaries are also covered under DRI scheme.

1. Orphanges and Women's homes2. Institutions for physically handicapped/mentally retarded3. Co-operative Societies where the amount is lent on the same terms and conditions as

are applicable to State owned Corporations for the Welfare of SC/ST. 4. State Corporations for SCs/STs.

‘Nagoya Protocol, a big victory for India'In a hard-fought triumph for India and other developing nations, a new international treaty to ensure that the benefits of natural resources and their commercial derivatives were shared with local communities was signed in the Japanese city of Nagoya on Saturday.

However, the flip side is that the United States — one of the largest users of such resources — is not among the nearly 200 signatories of the Access and Benefit Sharing rules of the Nagoya Protocol. Getting the Americans into the net will be a key aim of the next U.N. summit on biodiversity to be held in New Delhi in 2012.

“It is a big victory for India that both derivatives and pathogens are part of the ABS. As the incoming president [of the next summit], it was incumbent on us to play a major role,” Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh told The Hindu. The ABS is the result of almost two decades of U.N. negotiations, where India leads a group of 17 mega diverse countries with rich reserves of exploitable natural resources.

The new ABS Rules mean that multinational companies will have to share their profits with local communities not only for using the original resource, but also any derivative products developed from it. For example, a pharma company which develops a new drug from ingredients found in an Indian plant will now have to give a fair share to Indian communities which nurtured the plant in the first place.

International drug firms will also have to pay to use human genetic material such as pathogens – the germs responsible for virus pandemics which are used to develop lucrative vaccines. “Otherwise, these companies just take our pathogens, make the vaccine, and then make us pay billions of dollars to buy it from them,” Mr. Ramesh had said before the conference.

In order to bring the American companies into the ramifications of this agreement, the

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U.N.'s Convention on Biological Diversity must be linked to the World Trade Organisation's intellectual property agreement. “the TRIPS (Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) must be amended to bring the U.S. into the mainstream. That is my single point agenda…to wrap up before Delhi 2012,” said Mr. Ramesh.

The Nagoya Protocol includes a sweeping plan to protect biodiversity by setting targets for 2020. Nations agreed to make 17 per cent of the globe's land area and 10 per cent of coastal and marine areas into protected regions, as opposed to the current levels of 13 and one per cent.

They also agreed to bring “natural capital” into national accounting systems so that the trillions of dollars worth of benefits that nature provides to economies are valued. India will take the lead by undertaking a national study on The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity soon.

INDIA’S NATIONAL ACTION PLAN ON CLIMATE CHANGE

On 30 June 2008, the Prime Minister released India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change (NAPCC). Prepared by the specially constituted Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change, the document was intended to provide a concrete road map detailing how India plans to move forward in combating climate change. The Plan, while recognising the immense threat posed by climate change, starts by first and foremost marrying climate change to development concerns in no uncertain terms. The very first line states, “India is faced with the challenge of sustaining its rapid economic growth while dealing with the global threat of climate change.” Thus the goal is development and climate change is a major problem, not least because it could hurt development targets.The emphasis on development was underlined by the Prime Minister during his speech at the release of the NAPCC, when he said, “Without a careful long-term strategy, climate change may undermine our development efforts, with adverse consequences, across the board, on our people’s livelihood, the environment in which they live and work and their personal health and welfare.” In fact the principles that are outlined in the document, and on which it is based, categorically state this.

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The authors also spell out the following objective for India, “Our objective is to establish an effective, cooperative and equitable global approach based on the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities and relative capabilities…we must not only promote sustainable production processes, but equally, sustainable lifestyles across the globe.” This objective is a reiteration of India’s international stand that the developed world must recognize its historical responsibility, stop wasteful emissions and follow the principles of equity.It is at this point that the NAPCC makes one of its most significant and controversial claims that even as India pursues its development objectives, at no time will its per-capita emissions surpass those of the developed countries.

The approach that the NAPCC proposes India takes is, “a directional shift in the development pathway” that promotes development objectives while also yielding co-benefits (emphasis added) for addressing climate change effectively.” Once again it should be pointed out that climate change benefits are seen only as a byproduct or co-benefit of a sustainable plan to meet development targets and not as a goal in itself.The NAPCC then sets out eight “National Missions” as the way forward in implementing the Government’s strategy and achieving the National Action Plan’s objective. The focus of these missions, the authors say, is on “promoting understanding of climate change, adaptation and mitigation, energy efficiency and natural resource conservation.”

The missions are:1. National Solar Mission

2. National Mission for Enhanced Energy Efficiency

3. National Mission on Sustainable Habitat

4. National Water Mission

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5. National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan Ecosystem

6. National Mission for a Green India

7. National Mission fro Sustainable Agriculture

8. National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate Change

National Solar Mission“Our vision is to make India’s economic development energy-efficient. Over a period of time, we must pioneer a graduated shift from economic activity based on fossil fuels to one based on non-fossil fuels and from reliance on non-renewable and depleting sources of energy to renewable sources of energy. In this strategy, the sun occupies center stage, as it should, being literally the original source of all energy”

– Indian Prime Minister on the release of the National Action PlanGreat importance has been given to the National Solar Mission in the NAPCC. This is justified by the fact that India is ideally situated in the equatorial Sun Belt receiving abundant solar radiation the year around. The average solar insolation incident over India is about 5.5 kWh/m2 per day, which means that just 1% of India’s land can meet the country’s entire electricity requirement till 2030.[1] The stated objective of the mission is to increase the share of solar energy and other renewable and non-fossil based energy sources in the total energy mix of the country. This includes nuclear energy as a non-fossil option.

The mission also calls for the launch of a research and development (R&D) programme that, with the help of international cooperation, would look into creating more cost-effective, sustainable and convenient solar power systems.As can be seen from the adjoining diagram renewable energy currently comprises a very small proportion of our energy sources and solar is responsible for even less.

The NAPCC sets the solar mission a target of delivering 80% coverage for all low temperature (<150° C) applications of solar energy in urban areas, industries and commercial establishments, and a target of 60% coverage for medium temperature (150° C to 250° C) applications. The deadline for achieving this is the duration of the 11th and 12th five-year plans, through to 2017. In addition, rural applications are to be pursued through public-private partnership.The NAPCC also sets the target of 1000 MW/annum of photovoltaic production from integrated facilities by 2017 as well as 1000 MW of Concentrating Solar Power generation capacity.

These efforts are to be backed by R&D to ensure that India develops commercial and near commercial solar technologies. The ultimate aim is to develop a solar industry that is competitive against fossil fuel options within the next 20-25 years.

National Mission for Enhanced Energy EfficiencyThis Mission is basically targeted at industry, which, according to the NAPCC, accounts for 42% of the country’s total

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commercial energy use (2004-2005) and 31 % of total CO2 emissions (1994).

The Government of India already had a number of initiatives to promote energy efficiency in place before the NAPCC such as the star labelling system and energy conservation building code and had also passed the Energy Conservation Act of 2001. In addition to these, the NAPCC calls for:

· Mandating specific energy consumption decreases in large energy consuming industries and creating a framework to certify excess energy savings along with market based, mechanisms to trade these savings. This is aimed at enhancing cost effectiveness of improvements in energy efficiency in energy-intensive sectors.

Innovative measures to make energy efficient appliances/products in certain sectors more affordable.

Creation of mechanisms to help finance demand side management programmes by capturing future energy savings and enabling public-private-partnerships for this.

Developing fiscal measures to promote energy efficiency such as tax incentives for including differential taxation on energy efficient certified appliances.

National Mission on Sustainable Habitat

The aim of the Mission is to make habitats more sustainable through a threefold approach that includes

Improvements in energy efficiency of buildings in residential and commercial sector

Management of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW)

Promote urban public transport

The NAPCC claims that use of energy efficient options could hep achieve 30% electricity savings in new residential buildings and 40% in new commercial buildings. For existing buildings the corresponding savings are 20% and 30% respectively.

The authors call for a wide and diverse range of policy instruments to overcome the barriers to adoption of energy efficient options in residential and commercial sectors, highlight the need for more a more competitive market for energy efficient products and advocate an involving all stakeholders. In addition, they once again stress on the need for technology transfer from developed countries.

With regards to MSW, the Plan suggests some policy reforms such as common regional disposal facilities for smaller towns and villages in a particular region, and integrated system for collection, transport, transfer, treatment and disposal facilities.

Finally, with regards to urban public transport, the NAPCC endorses mass transit such as buses, railways and mass rapid transit systems and the use of CNG, ethanol blending in gasoline and bio-diesel. Hydrogen is something that is mentioned for the future. In addition, the Plan proposes the promotion of costal shipping and inland waterways, increasing attractiveness of railways, introducing appropriate transport pricing measures to influence purchase and use of vehicles in respect of fuel efficiency and fuel choice, tightening regulatory standards in fuel-economy of

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automobiles.

As with the other Missions, the Plan emphasises the need for R&D for all the components of the Sustainable Habitat Mission.

National Water MissionAccording to the NAPCC, out of the 4000 billion m3 of precipitation that India receives annually, only 1000 billion m3 is available for use, which comes to approx. 1000 m3 per capita per annum. Further, by 2050 it states that India is likely to be water scarce. The National Water Mission thus aims at conserving water, minimising wastage and ensuring more equitable distribution through integrated water resource management. It also aims to optimize water use efficiency by 20% by developing a framework of regulatory mechanisms having differential entitlements and pricing.In addition, the Water Mission calls for strategies to tackle variability in rainfall and river flows such as enhancing surface and underground water storage, rainwater harvesting and more efficient irrigation systems like sprinklers or drip irrigation.

National Mission for Sustaining the Himalayan EcosystemThe NAPCC recognises the Himalayan ecosystem as vital to preserving the ecological security of the country. It consists of forests; perennial rivers which are a source of drinking water, irrigation, and hydropower; rich biodiversity; and is a major tourist attraction. All these are in danger from climate change through increases in temperature, changes in precipitation patterns, drought and glacier melt.

The Plan calls for empowering local communities especially Panchayats to play a greater role in managing ecological resources. It also reaffirms the following measures mentioned in the National Environment Policy, 2006.

Adopting appropriate land-use planning and water-shed management practices for sustainable development of mountain ecosystems

Adopting best practices for infrastructure construction in mountain regions to avoid or minimize damage to sensitive ecosystems and despoiling of landscapes

Encouraging cultivation of traditional varieties of crops and horticulture by promoting organic farming, enabling farmers to realise a price premium

Promoting sustainable tourism based on best practices and multi-stakeholder partnerships to enable local communities to gain better livelihoods

Taking measures to regulate tourist inflows into mountain regions to ensure that the carrying capacity of the mountain ecosystem is not breached

Developing protection strategies for certain mountain scopes with unique “incomparable values”

National Mission for a Green IndiaThis Mission aims at enhancing ecosystem services such as carbon sinks. It builds on the Prime Minister’s Green India campaign for afforestation of 6 million hectares and the national target of increasing land area under forest cover from 23% to 33%. It is to be implemented on degraded forest land through Joint Forest Management Committees set up under State Departments of Forests. These Committees will promote direct action by

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communities.

The Green India programme suggests:

Training on silvicultural practices for fast-growing and climate-hardy tree species

Reducing fragmentation of forests by provision of corridors for species migration, both fauna and flora

Enhancing public and private investments for raising plantations for enhancing the cover and the density of forests

Revitalizing and upscaling community-based initiatives such as Joint Forest Management and Van Panchayat committees for forest management

Formulation of forest fire management strategies

In-situ and ex-situ conservation of genetic resources, especially of threatened flora and fauna

Creation of biodiversity registers (at national, district, and local levels) for documenting genetic diversity and the associated traditional knowledge

Effective implementation of the Protected Area System under the Wildlife Conservation Act and National Biodiversity Conservation Act 2001

National Mission for Sustainable AgricultureThe aim is to make Indian agriculture more resilient to climate change by identifying new varieties of crops, especially thermal resistant ones and alternative cropping patterns. This is to be supported by integration of traditional knowledge and practical systems, information technology and biotechnology, as well as new credit and insurance mechanisms.

In particular the Mission focuses on rain-fed agricultural zones and suggests:

Development of drought and pest resistant crop varieties

Improving methods to conserve soil and water

Stakeholder consultations, training workshops and demonstration exercises for farming communities, for agro-climatic information sharing and dissemination

Financial support to enable farmers to invest in and adopt relevant technologies to overcome climatic related stresses

In addition, the Mission makes suggestions for safeguarding farmers against increased risk due to climate change. These suggestions include, strengthening agricultural and weather insurance; creation of web-enabled, regional language based services for facilitation of weather-based insurance; development of GIS and remote sensing methodologies; mapping vulnerable regions and disease hotspots; and developing and implementing region-specific, vulnerability based contingency plans.

Finally, it suggests greater access to information and use of biotechnology.

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National Mission on Strategic Knowledge for Climate ChangeThis Mission will strive to work with the global community in research and technology development and collaboration through a variety of mechanisms and, in addition, will also have its own research agenda supported by a network of dedicated climate change related institutions and universities and a Climate Research Fund. The Mission will also encourage private sector initiatives for developing innovative technologies for adaptation and mitigation.

The Mission includes:

Research in key substantive domains of climate science to improve understanding of key phenomena and processes

Global and regional climate modelling to improve the quality and accuracy of climate change projections for India

Strengthening of observational networks and data gathering and assimilation to increase access and availability to relevant data

Creation of essential research infrastructure, such as high performance computing

Other ProgrammesThe NAPCC also describes other ongoing initiatives, including:

Power Generation: The government is mandating the retirement of inefficient coal-fired power plants and supporting the research and development of IGCC and supercritical technologies.Renewable Energy: Under the Electricity Act 2003 and the National Tariff Policy 2006, the central and the state electricity regulatory commissions must purchase a certain percentage of grid-based power from renewable sources.Energy Efficiency: Under the Energy Conservation Act 2001, large energy-consuming industries are required to undertake energy audits and an energy labeling program for appliances has been introduced.[2]

ImplementationAccording to the NAPCC the 8 National Missions are to be institutionalised by “respective ministries” and will be organised through inter-sectoral groups including, in addition to related Ministries, Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission, experts from industry, academia and civil society.

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Structure of Institutional Arrangement of NAPCCEach Mission has been given the task of evolving specific objectives for the remaining duration of the 11th Plan and the 12th Plan period (through to 2017). These objectives were to be stated in comprehensive documents along with strategies, plans of action, timelines and monitoring and evaluation criteria, which were to be submitted to the Prime Minister’s Council on Climate Change by December 2008. The Council is to periodically review the progress of these Missions and the each Mission is to report its performance publically every year.The implementation strategy is to be supported by increasing public awareness through a media and communication strategy, civil society involvement, capacity building, curricula reform and awards.

EvaluationThough it is commonly agreed that the NAPCC represents a significant step forward, in that it is the first systematic attempt by the Government to frame a comprehensive policy framework to deal with climate change, most believe that it is insufficient and lacking in vision and real measurable targets.

One of the strongest criticisms has come from a civil society coalition called Climate Challenge India coalition, which gives the NAPCC “a B+ for effort, and a D for vision”. The coalitions main criticisms are:

The NAPCC just takes a number of the Government’s existing National Plans for water, agriculture, renewable energy, energy efficiency, etc. and combines them with a few additional ones, rather than formulating a new “well-thought through ‘strategy’ chalking out a discernible low-carbon pathway for India.”

It relies too much on out of date IPCC projections and not the best currently available climate science, thereby leading to a lack of urgency

The NAPCC lays blame on developed countries without taking enough ownership for the problem

It has a lack of clear targets and timetables for action thereby showing a lack of seriousness in the Government’s commitment to dealing with climate change. The only targets are vague like, at no time during its development will India’s per capita emissions surpass those of the developed world.

There is a lack of focus on forest conservation as opposed to afforestation

The NAPCC suggests glacier melt might not be caused by climate change and that further study is needed[3]

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Other criticisms include:

Lack of clarity with regards to roles and responsibilities. How is the NAPCC to reach citizens all over India? Who will be responsible for interpretation and translation of the document and its objectives? Who will fund the national outreach/public awareness programmes? These questions and others are not answered

There has been no stakeholder consultation during the framing of the NAPCC. No opinions were taken from a broader community of experts, citizen’s groups, civil society, etc.

NAPCC does not adequately analyse regional or global views. It does not mention the deadlock in the international arena on climate change

Sectoral and ministry-bound approaches (like NAPCC) to problems have till date kept climate change risks out of our national development policies[4]

Policy is limited by what contributes to the development process and also by political concerns like elections[5] NAPCC does not outline a definitive strategy of how to take to eight Missions of the ground[6] The Government has not clearly stated how it will finance the plan, it does not talk of any concrete financial

mechanisms nor does it set out a budgetary allocation process[7]

Shah CommissionFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Shah Commission was a commission of inquiry appointed by Government of India in 1977 to inquire into all

the excesses committed in the Indian Emergency (1975 - 77). It was headed by Justice J.C. Shah, a

former chief Justice of India.[1]

Shah Commission to visit Orissa again

BS Reporter / Kolkata/ Bhubaneswar Apr 03, 2012, 00:41 IST

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The Justice M B Shah Commission of enquiry appointed by Government of India to probe illegal mining in states, is set to visit Orissa yet again later this month.

This time, the commissioner, M B Shah, has opted out of Orissa visit and in his absence, the probe panel will be led by U V Singh, chief conservator of forests (Karnataka) and one of the commission’s members. The commission is

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likely to visit some mines in the Koira mining circle in Sundergarh district.

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“The Shah Commission had indicated that they are going to visit Orissa sometime in April. But they are yet to communicate the date and detailed agenda with us,” said a top official of state steel & mines department.

The eight-member Shah Commission had previously visited Orissa in December last year. In its last visit, the commission had taken serious note of illegal mining activities, stating that it would not have been possible without the connivance of bureaucrats.

The commission also raised concern over the rampant extraction of iron ore by miners in excess of the approved mining plan especially in the Joda mining circle, urging the state to curb production so as to ensure that the finite mineral resource is preserved for future generations. The commission had also expressed displeasure over Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM) for its alleged inaction against miners involved in ore extraction beyond the approved mining plan.

The mines inspected by the probe panel during its previous visit include Sarada Mines, Joda (east) mines of Tata Steel, Kasia iron ore and dolomite mines of Essel Mining & Industries, Mideast Integrated Steel's (Mesco) Barbil mines, Unchabali iron ore & manganese ore mines of Indrani Patnaik, Patnaik Minerals Pvt Ltd under Joda circle, Jajang mines of Rungta Mines, Mala Ray mines and B D Patnaik's Kalapahad mines. The panel members had also visited the Paradeep port.

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FerromagnetismFerromagnetism is the basic mechanism by which certain materials (such as iron) form permanent

magnets, or are attracted to magnets. In physics, several different types of magnetism are distinguished.

Ferromagnetism (including ferrimagnetism) is the strongest type; it is the only type that creates forces

strong enough to be felt, and is responsible for the common phenomena of magnetism encountered in

everyday life. Other substances respond weakly to magnetic fields with two other types of

magnetism, paramagnetism and diamagnetism, but the forces are so weak that they can only be detected

by sensitive instruments in a laboratory. An everyday example of ferromagnetism is a refrigerator

magnet used to hold notes on a refrigerator door. The attraction between a magnet and ferromagnetic

material is "the quality of magnetism first apparent to the ancient world, and to us today". [1]

Permanent magnets (materials that can be magnetized by an external magnetic field and remain

magnetized after the external field is removed) are either ferromagnetic or ferrimagnetic, as are other

materials that are noticeably attracted to them. Only a few substances are ferromagnetic; the common

ones areiron, nickel, cobalt and most of their alloys, some compounds of rare earth metals, and a few

naturally-occurring minerals such as lodestone.

Ferromagnetism is very important in industry and modern technology, and is the basis for many electrical

and electromechanical devices such aselectromagnets, electric motors, generators, transformers,

and magnetic storage such as tape recorders, and hard disks.

 ParamagnetismParamagnetism is a form of magnetism whereby the paramagnetic material is only attracted when in the

presence of an externally applied magnetic field. In contrast with this behavior, diamagnetic materials are

repelled by magnetic fields.[1] Paramagnetic materials have a relative magnetic permeability greater or equal to

unity (i.e., a positive magnetic susceptibility) and hence are attracted to magnetic fields. The magnetic

moment induced by the applied field is linear in the field strength and rather weak. It typically requires a

sensitive analytical balance to detect the effect and modern measurements on paramagnetic materials are

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often conducted with a SQUID magnetometer.

Paramagnetic materials have a small, positive susceptibility to magnetic fields. These materials are slightly

attracted by a magnetic field and the material does not retain the magnetic properties when the external field is

removed. Paramagnetic properties are due to the presence of some unpaired electrons, and from the

realignment of the electron paths caused by the external magnetic field. Paramagnetic materials include

magnesium, molybdenum, lithium, and tantalum.

Unlike ferromagnets, paramagnets do not retain any magnetization in the absence of an externally applied

magnetic field, because thermal motionrandomizes the spin orientations. Some paramagnetic materials retain

spin disorder at absolute zero, meaning they are paramagnetic in the ground state. Thus the total

magnetization drops to zero when the applied field is removed. Even in the presence of the field there is only a

small induced magnetization because only a small fraction of the spins will be oriented by the field. This

fraction is proportional to the field strength and this explains the linear dependency. The attraction experienced

by ferromagnetic materials is non-linear and much stronger, so that it is easily observed, for instance, by the

attraction between a refrigerator magnet and the iron of the refrigerator itself.

DiamagnetismDiamagnetism is the property of an object or material which causes it to create a magnetic field in opposition

to an externally applied magnetic field.

Diamagnetism is believed to be due to quantum mechanics (and is understood in terms of Landau levels[1]) and

occurs because the external field alters the orbital velocity of electrons around their nuclei, thus changing

the magnetic dipole moment. According to Lenz's law, the field of these electrons will oppose the magnetic

field changes provided by the applied field.

In most materials diamagnetism is a weak effect, but in a superconductor a strong quantum effect repels the

magnetic field entirely, apart from a thin layer at the surface.

Diamagnets are materials with a magnetic permeability less than   (a relative permeability less than 1).

Bohr magnetonIn atomic physics, the Bohr magneton (symbol μB) is a physical constant and the natural unit for expressing

an electron magnetic dipole moment.

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Curie temperatureIn physics and materials science, the Curie temperature (Tc), or Curie point, is the temperature at which

a ferromagnetic or a ferrimagnetic material becomes paramagnetic on heating; the effect is reversible. A

magnet will lose its magnetism if heated above the Curie temperature. The term is also used

in piezoelectric materials to refer to the temperature at which spontaneous polarization is lost on heating. An

analogous temperature, the Néel temperature, is defined for antiferromagnetic materials. The Curie

temperature is named after Pierre Curie.

Below the Curie temperature neighboring magnetic spins are aligned parallel within ferromagnetic materials

and anti-parallel in ferrimagnetic materials. As the temperature is increased towards the Curie point, the

alignment (magnetization) within each domain decreases. Above the Curie temperature, the material

is paramagnetic so that magnetic moments are in a completely disordered state.

The destruction of magnetization at the Curie temperature is a second-order phase transition and a critical

point where the magnetic susceptibility is theoretically infinite.

A heat-induced ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition is used in magneto-optical storage media, for erasing

and writing of new data. Famous examples include the Sony Minidisc format, as well as the now-obsolete CD-

MO format. Other uses include temperature control in soldering irons, and stabilizing the magnetic field

of tachometer generators against temperature variation.[1]

ElectromagnetFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

An electromagnet is a type of magnet in which the magnetic field is produced by the flow of electric current.

The magnetic field disappears when the current is turned off. Electromagnets are widely used as components

of other electrical devices, such as motors, generators, relays, loudspeakers, hard disks, MRI machines,

scientific instruments, and magnetic separation equipment, as well as being employed as industrial lifting

electromagnets for picking up and moving heavy iron objects like scrap iron.

An electric current flowing in a wire creates a magnetic field around the wire (see drawing below). To

concentrate the magnetic field, in an electromagnet the wire is wound into a coil with many turns of wire lying

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side by side. The magnetic field of all the turns of wire passes through the center of the coil, creating a strong

magnetic field there. A coil forming the shape of a straight tube (a helix) is called a solenoid; a solenoid that is

bent into a donut shape so that the ends meet is called a toroid. Much stronger magnetic fields can be

produced if a "core" of ferromagnetic material, such as soft iron, is placed inside the coil. The ferromagnetic

core increases the magnetic field to thousands of times the strength of the field of the coil alone, due to the

high magnetic permeability μ of the ferromagnetic material. This is called a ferromagnetic-core or iron-core

electromagnet.

The direction of the magnetic field through a coil of wire can be found from a form of the right-hand rule.[1][2][3][4][5]

[6] If the fingers of the right hand are curled around the coil in the direction of current flow (conventional current,

flow of positive charge) through the windings, the thumb points in the direction of the field inside the coil. The

side of the magnet that the field lines emerge from is defined to be the north pole.

The main advantage of an electromagnet over a permanent magnet is that the magnetic field can be rapidly

manipulated over a wide range by controlling the amount of electric current. However, a continuous supply of

electrical energy is required to maintain the field.

Superconducting electromagnetsWhen a magnetic field higher than the ferromagnetic limit of 1.6 T is needed, superconducting electromagnets can be used. Instead of using ferromagnetic materials, these use superconductingwindings cooled with liquid helium, which conduct current without electrical resistance. These allow enormous currents to flow, which generate intense magnetic fields. Superconducting magnets are limited by the field strength at which the winding material ceases to be superconducting. Current designs are limited to 10–20 T, with the current (2009) record of 33.8 T. [12] The necessary refrigeration equipment and cryostat make them much more expensive than ordinary electromagnets. However, in high power applications this can be offset by lower operating costs, since after startup no power is required for the windings, since no energy is lost to ohmic heating. They are used in particle accelerators, MRI machines, and research.

Triple pointIn thermodynamics, the triple point of a substance is the temperature and pressure at which the

three phases (gas, liquid, and solid) of that substance coexist in thermodynamic equilibrium.[1] For example, the

triple point of mercury occurs at a temperature of −38.8344 °C and a pressure of 0.2 mPa.

In addition to the triple point between solid, liquid, and gas, there can be triple points involving more than one

solid phase, for substances with multiple polymorphs. Helium-4 is a special case that presents a triple point

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involving two different fluid phases (see lambda point). In general, for a system with p possible phases, there

are   triple points.[1]

The triple point of water is used to define the kelvin, the SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature.[2] The

number given for the temperature of the triple point of water is an exact definition rather than a measured

quantity. The triple points of several substances are used to define points in the ITS-90 international

temperature scale, ranging from the triple point of hydrogen (13.8033 K) to the triple point of water (273.16 K).

Teller–Ulam designThe Teller–Ulam design is the nuclear weapon design concept used in most of the world's nuclear weapons.[1] It is colloquially referred to as "the secret of the hydrogen bomb" because it employs hydrogen fusion,

though in most applications the bulk of its destructive energy comes from uranium fission , not hydrogen fusion.[2] It is named for its two chief contributors, Edward Teller and Stanisław Ulam, who developed it in 1951 for the

United States, with certain concepts developed with the contribution of John von Neumann. It was first used in

multi-megaton-range thermonuclear weapons. As it is also the most efficient design concept for small nuclear

weapons, today virtually all the nuclear weapons deployed by the five major nuclear-armed nations use the

Teller–Ulam design.[3]

Kirchhoff's circuit lawsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kirchhoff's circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the conservation of charge and energy in electrical

circuits, and were first described in 1845 by Gustav Kirchhoff.[1] Widely used in electrical engineering, they are

also called Kirchhoff's rules or simply Kirchhoff's laws (see also Kirchhoff's laws for other meanings of that

term).

Both circuit rules can be directly derived from Maxwell's equations, but Kirchhoff preceded Maxwell and instead

generalized work by Georg Ohm.

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Stefan–Boltzmann lawThe Stefan–Boltzmann law, also known as Stefan's law, states that the total energy radiated per unit

surface area of a black body per unittime (also known as the black-body irradiance or emissive power), j*, is

directly proportional to the fourth power of the black body'sthermodynamic temperature T (also called absolute

temperature):

Black bodyA black body is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation, regardless of

frequency or angle of incidence.

A black body in thermal equilibrium (that is, at a constant temperature) emits electromagnetic radiation

called black-body radiation. The radiation is emitted according to Planck's law, meaning that it has

a spectrum that is determined by the temperature alone (see figure at right), not by the body's shape or

composition.

A black body in thermal equilibrium has two notable properties:[1]

1. It is an ideal emitter: it emits as much or more energy at every frequency than any other body at the

same temperature.

2. It is a diffuse emitter: the energy is radiated isotropically, independent of direction.

An approximate realization of a black body is a hole in the wall of a large enclosure (see below). Any light

entering the hole is reflected indefinitely or absorbed inside and is unlikely to re-emerge, making the hole a

nearly perfect absorber. The radiation confined in such an enclosure may or may not be in thermal equilibrium,

depending upon the nature of the walls and the other contents of the enclosure. [2][3]

Real materials emit energy at a fraction—called the emissivity—of black-body energy levels. By definition, a

black body in thermal equilibrium has an emissivity of ε = 1.0. A source with lower emissivity independent of

frequency often is referred to as a gray body.[4][5] Construction of black bodies with emissivity as close to one

as possible remains a topic of current interest.[6] A white body is one with a "rough surface [that] reflects all

incident rays completely and uniformly in all directions."[7]

In astronomy, the radiation from stars and planets is sometimes characterized in terms of an effective

temperature, the temperature of a black body that would emit the same total flux of electromagnetic energy.

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Planck's lawIn physics, Planck's law describes the amount of electromagnetic energy with a certain wavelength radiated

by a black body in thermal equilibrium (i.e. the spectral radiance of a black body). The law is named after Max

Planck, who originally proposed it in 1900. The law was the first to accurately describe black body radiation,

and resolved the ultraviolet catastrophe. It is a pioneer result of modern physics and quantum theory.

Jojoba oil Jojoba oil /həˈhoʊbə/ ( listen) is the liquid wax produced in the seed of the jojoba (Simmondsia chinensis) plant, a shrub native to southern Arizona, southern California, and northwestern Mexico. The oil makes up approximately 50% of the jojoba seed by weight.[1]

Uses

Jojoba oil is used as a replacement for whale oil and its derivatives, such as cetyl alcohol. The ban on importing whale oil to the US in 1971 led to the discovery that jojoba oil is "in many regards superior to sperm oil for applications in the cosmetics and other industries."[1]

Jojoba oil is found as an additive in many cosmetic products, especially those marketed as being made from natural ingredients. In particular, such products commonly containing jojoba are lotions and moisturizers, hair shampoos and conditioners. Or, the pure oil itself may be used on skin or hair.

Jojoba oil is a fungicide, and can be used for controlling mildew.[6]

Like olestra, jojoba oil is edible but non-caloric and non-digestible, meaning the oil will pass through the intestines unchanged and can cause a stool condition called steatorrhea.[7]

Jojoba biodiesel has been explored as a cheap, sustainable fuel that can serve as a substitute for petroleum diesel

Nikāya

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Nikāya is a word of meaning "collection", "assemblage", "class" or "group" in both Pāḷi and Sanskrit.[1] It is most commonly used in reference to the Buddhist texts of the Sutta Piṭaka, but can also refer to the monastic divisions of Theravāda Buddhism. In addition, the term Nikāya schools is sometimes used in contemporary scholarship to refer to the early Buddhist schools, of which the Theravāda is one.

Text collections

In the Theravāda canon (in particular, the "Discourse Basket" or Sutta Piṭaka) the meaning of nikāya is roughly equivalent to the English collection, and is used to describe groupings of discourses according to theme, length, or other categories. For example, the Sutta Piṭaka is broken up into five nikāyas:

the Dīgha Nikāya, the collection of long (Pāḷi: dīgha) discourses the Majjhima Nikāya, the collection of middle-length (majjhima) discourses the Samyutta Nikāya, the collection of thematically linked (samyutta) discourses the Anguttara Nikāya, the "gradual collection" (discourses grouped by content enumerations) the Khuddaka Nikāya, the "minor collection"

In the other early Buddhist schools the alternate term āgama was used instead of nikāya to describe their Sutra Piṭakas. Thus the non-Mahāyāna portion of the Sanskrit-language Sutra Piṭaka is referred to as "the Āgamas" by Mahāyāna Buddhists. The Āgamas survive for the most part only in Tibetan and Chinese translation. They correspond closely with the Pāḷi nikāyas.

The monopolies inquiry commissionThe Central Government appointed a five member Commission under the Chairmanship of Mr. K.C. Dasgupta in April, 1964 to enquirer into the concentration of economic power and suggest measures to regulate and control monopolistic and restrictive trade practices in the country.

The Commission submitted its report in October, 1965. It suggested the introduction of Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act to check concentration of economic power and to control monopolistic and restrictive trade practices.Related Articles

States in a formal associationMinor partner Associated with Level of association

Cook Islands New Zealand,since 1965

New Zealand may act on behalf of the Cook Islands in foreign affairs

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and defence issues, but only when requested so by the Cook Islands Government and with its advice and consent.[2]

Marshall Islands United States,

since 1986

United States provides defense, funding grants and access to U.S. social services for citizens of these areas under the Compact of Free Association.[3]

Federated States of Micronesia United States,

since 1986

United States provides defense, funding grants and access to U.S. social services for citizens of these areas under the Compact of Free Association.[4]

Niue New Zealand,

since 1974

New Zealand acts on behalf of Niue in foreign affairs and defence issues, but only when requested so by the Niue Government and with its advice and consent.[5]

Palau United States,

since 1994

United States provides defense, funding grants and access to U.S. social services for citizens of these areas under the Compact of Free Association.[6]

Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline The Trans-Afghanistan Pipeline (TAP or TAPI) is a proposed natural gas pipeline being developed by the Asian Development Bank.[1][2][3] The pipeline will transport Caspian Sea natural gas from Turkmenistan through Afghanistan into Pakistan and then to India. The abbreviation comes from the first letters of those countries. Proponents of the project see it as a modern continuation of the Silk Road.[4][5] The Afghan government is expected to receive 8% of the project's revenue.[citation needed]

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[edit] History

The roots of this project lie in the involvement of international oil companies in Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan beginning of 1990s. As Russia, who controlled all export pipelines of these countries, consistently refusing to allow the use of its pipeline network, these companies needed an independent export route avoiding both Iran and Russia.[6][unreliable source?]

The original project started on 15 March 1995 when an inaugural memorandum of understanding between the governments of Turkmenistan and Pakistan for a pipeline project was signed. This project was promoted by Argentinian company Bridas Corporation. The U.S. company Unocal, in conjunction with the Saudi oil company Delta, promoted alternative project without Bridas' involvement. On 21 October 1995, these two companies signed a separate agreement with Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov. In August 1996, the Central Asia Gas Pipeline, Ltd. (CentGas) consortium for construction of a pipeline, led by Unocal, was formed. On 27 October 1997, CentGas was incorporated in formal signing ceremonies in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, by several international oil companies along with the Government of Turkmenistan.[citation needed]

Since the pipeline was to pass through Afghanistan, it was necessary to work with the Taliban. The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Robert Oakley, moved into CentGas in 1997. In January 1998, the Taliban, selecting CentGas over Argentinian competitor Bridas Corporation, signed an agreement that allowed the proposed project to proceed. In June 1998, Russian Gazprom relinquished its 10% stake in the project. On 7 August 1998, American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam were bombed under the direction of Osama bin Laden, and all pipeline negotiations halted, as the Taliban's leader, Mohammad Omar, announced that Osama bin Laden had the Taliban's support. Unocal withdrew from the consortium on 8 December 1998, and soon after closed its offices in Afghanistan and Pakistan.[citation needed]

The new deal on the pipeline was signed on 27 December 2002 by the leaders of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan.[7] In 2005, the Asian Development Bank submitted the final version of a feasibility study designed by British company Penspen. ‘Since the US-led offensive that ousted the Taliban from power,’ reported Forbes in 2005, "the project has been revived and drawn strong US support" as it would allow the Central Asian republics to export energy to Western markets "without relying on Russian routes". Then-US Ambassador to Turkmenistan Ann Jacobsen noted that: "We are seriously looking at the project, and it is quite possible that American companies will join it."[8] Due to increasing instability, the project has essentially stalled; construction of the Turkmen part was supposed to start in 2006, but the overall feasibility is questionable since the southern part of the Afghan section runs through territory which continues to be under de facto Taliban control.[8]

On 24 April 2008, Pakistan, India and Afghanistan signed a framework agreement to buy natural gas from Turkmenistan.[9] The intergovernmental agreement on the pipeline was signed on 11 December 2010 in Ashgabat.[9]

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[edit] Route

The 1,735 kilometres (1,078 mi) pipeline will run from the Turkmenistan gas fields to Afghanistan. Most of sources reports that the pipeline will start from the Dauletabad gas field while some other sources say that it will start from the Iolotan gas field.[10][11][12]

In Afghanistan, the TAPI will be constructed alongside the highway running from Herat to Kandahar, and then via Quetta and Multan in Pakistan. The final destination of the pipeline will be the Indian town of Fazilka, near the border between Pakistan and India.[10]

For security reasons, the Asian Development Bank had proposed alternative routes in Afghanistan. One alternative was through Taskepri in Turkmenistan to Shebarghan and then through Balakh, Mazar-i-Sharif, Samangan, Kabul and Jalalabad in Afghanistan, and Peshawar, Nowshera, Islamabad and Lahore in Pakistan to India. Another alternative was a route through Serhetabat, Shindand, Delaram, Kandahar, Quetta, Lora Lai, Dera Ghazi Khan and Multan.[13]

Paleontology Paleontology or Palaeontology (  /ˌpælɪɒnˈtɒlədʒi/) is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments (their paleoecology). As a "historical science" it attempts to explain causes rather than conduct experiments to observe effects. Palaeontological observations have been documented as far back as the 5th century B.C.E. The science became established in the 18th century as a result of Georges Cuvier's work on comparative anatomy, and developed rapidly in the 19th century. The term itself originates from Greek: παλαιός (palaios) meaning "old, ancient," ὄν, ὀντ- (on, ont-) meaning "being, creature" and λόγος (logos) meaning "speech, thought, study."

Paleoecology Paleoecology uses data from fossils and subfossils to reconstruct the ecosystems of the past. It involves the study of fossil organisms and their associated remains, including their life cycle, living interactions, natural environment, and manner of death and burial to reconstruct the paleoevironment.

The fossil record has been studied to try and clarify the relationship animals have to their environment, in part to help understand the current state of biodiversity. A close link has been found between vertebrate taxonomic and ecological diversity, that is, the diversity of animals and the niches they occupy.[1]

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Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty (FMCT) is a proposed international treaty to prohibit the further production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other explosive devices. The treaty has not been negotiated and its terms remain to be defined. According to a proposal by the United States, fissile material includes high-enriched uranium and plutonium (except plutonium that is over 80% Pu-238). According to a proposal by Russia, fissile material would be limited to weapons-grade uranium (with more than 90% U-235) and plutonium (with more than 90% Pu-239). Neither proposal would prohibit the production of fissile material for non-weapons purposes, including use in civil or naval nuclear reactors.[1]

In a 27 September 1993 speech before the UN, President Clinton called for a multilateral convention banning the production of fissile materials for nuclear explosives or outside international safeguards. In December 1993 the UN General Assembly adopted resolution 48/75L calling for the negotiation of a "non-discriminatory, multilateral and international effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices." The Geneva based Conference on Disarmament (CD) on 23 March 1995 agreed to a establish a committee to negotiate "a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices.".[2] However, substantive negotiations have not taken place.

In 2004, the United States announced that it opposed the inclusion of a verification mechanism in the treaty on the grounds that the treaty could not be effectively verified. On November 4, 2004. the United States cast the sole vote in the First Committee of the United Nations General Assembly against a resolution (A/C.1/59/L.34) calling for negotiation of an effectively verifiable treaty. The Bush Administration supported a treaty but advocated an ad hoc system of verification wherein states would monitor the compliance of other states through their own national intelligence mechanisms. [3]

On April 5, 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama reversed the U.S. position on verification and proposed to negotiate "a new treaty that verifiably ends the production of fissile materials intended for use in state nuclear weapons." On May 29, 2009, the CD agreed to establish an FMCT negotiating committee,[4]

However, Pakistan has repeatedly blocked the CD from implementing its agreed program of work, despite severe pressure from the major nuclear powers to end its defiance of 64 other countries in blocking international ban on the production of new nuclear bomb-making material, as well as discussions on full nuclear disarmament, the arms race in outer space, and security assurances for non-nuclear states.[5]

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NRHM to be National Health Mission soonTo ensure universal access to free generic essential medicines in public health institutions in time-bound manner

The government proposes to convert the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) into a National Health Mission to provide health care to the urban poor also, in the course of the 12th Plan.

Universal access to free generic essential medicines in public health institutions in a phased and time-bound manner will be ensured.

Announcing major initiatives to provide universal healthcare, President Pratibha Patil on Monday said the government would endeavour to increase both Plan and Non-Plan public expenditure in the Centre and the States taken together to 2.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of the 12th Plan.

“People need to be healthy if they have to learn, earn and lead a productive and fulfilling life. Our National Rural Health Mission has started making a difference as reflected in the health indicators,'' Ms. Patil said in her speech to the joint session of the first day of the Budget session of Parliament, as she recounted the achievements of this ambitious programme.

The Infant Mortality Rate declined from 58 per thousand live births in 2005 to 47 in 2010 and Maternal Mortality Ratio from 254 per one lakh deliveries in 2004-2006 to 212 in 2007-2009. The Janani Suraksha Yojana registered impressive gains with 1.13 crore women benefiting during 2010-11. Polio has been almost eradicated from the country. The World Health Organisation has decided to take India off the list of countries with active endemic wild poliovirus transmission.

Pointing out that in spite of increased investment in the health sector over the last 7 years, public expenditure on healthcare continues to be low, the President said the government would strengthen district hospitals to provide advanced level secondary care under the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancer, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases & Stroke and The National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly.

Health insurance scheme

The immensely popular Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, under which health insurance cover is already being provided to around 2.64 crore families, will be expanded. It is expected that by the end of the 12th Plan around 7 crore families will be provided health insurance cover, she announced.

Building on the platform provided by the Right to Education, integration of skill training with education at all levels is being emphasised. A National Vocational Education Qualification Framework is being developed to set common principles and guidelines for a nationally recognised qualification system, Ms. Patil said.

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Skill training

The government aims to provide skills training to 85 lakh people during 2012-13 and 800 lakh people during the 12th Plan. It will set up 1,500 new Industrial Training Institutes and 5,000 Skill Development Centres under Public Private Partnership at an estimated cost of Rs.13,000 crore.

The Higher Education and Research Bill has been introduced in Parliament. A National Commission for Higher Education & Research is being constituted to set a roadmap for the future. The government also intends to launch a National Mission for Teachers aimed at improving teacher education and faculty development.

To provide all students access to higher education irrespective of their paying capacity, the government intends to set up a Higher Education Credit Guarantee Authority for providing limited credit guarantees through risk-pooling for educational loans, she added.

National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) will provide healthcare in every corner of the country: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said every citizen should have access to affordable health care and asked

citizens to take a pledge to look after their health. In a message on World Health Day, the prime minister said a

healthy population was essential for the development of the country. 

“Our government aims to give all our citizens the opportunity of leading a happy life and become productive citizens.

A healthy population is essential for the development of the country. That is why our government believes that every

citizen should have access to affordable health care,” the prime minister said. 

He said the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), launched by the government, aims to provide health care to

every corner of rural India. ”Let us together pledge to look after our health and make full use of the health facilities

provided by the government,” the prime minister said. Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad

launched a health magazine programme to mark World Health Day. The health magazine programme, “Swasth

Bharat (healthy India)”, will be telecast through 30 regional kendras of Doordarshan and 29 stations of All India Radio

across 27 states. 

According to an official spokesman, the health magazine will be telecast for five days a week in regional languages at

prime time to empower citizens with information on health issues. 

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“The programme is expected to help government for developing an efficient and effective health care delivery system

by creating a demand for better health care services,” the spokesperson said. 

He said health and family welfare is the first ministry to have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with

Prasar Bharati to start such an outreach programme to reach a wide spectrum of the population through mass

media. 

Japanese encephalitis Japanese encephalitis (Japanese: 日本脳炎, Nihon-nōen)—previously known as Japanese B encephalitis to distinguish it from von Economo's A encephalitis—is a disease caused by the mosquito-borne Japanese encephalitis virus. The Japanese encephalitis virus is a virus from the family Flaviviridae. Domestic pigs and wild birds (herons) are reservoirs of the virus; transmission to humans may cause severe symptoms. Amongst the most important vectors of this disease are the mosquitoes Culex tritaeniorhynchus and Culex vishnui. This disease is most prevalent in Southeast Asia and the Far East.

Virology

The causative agent Japanese encephalitis virus is an enveloped virus of the genus flavivirus and is closely related to the West Nile virus and St. Louis encephalitis virus. The positive sense single stranded RNA genome is packaged in the capsid which is formed by the capsid protein. The outer envelope is formed by envelope (E) protein and is the protective antigen. It aids in entry of the virus to the inside of the cell. The genome also encodes several nonstructural proteins also (NS1,NS2a,NS2b,NS3,N4a,NS4b,NS5). NS1 is produced as secretory form also. NS3 is a putative helicase, and NS5 is the viral polymerase. It has been noted that the Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) infects the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)[4][5] and rapidly accumulates substantial amounts of viral proteins for the JEV.

Japanese Encephalitis is diagnosed by detection of antibodies in serum and CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) by IgM capture ELISA.[6]

Viral antigen can also be shown in tissues by indirect fluorescent antibody staining.[2]

Based on the envelope gene (E) there are five genotypes (I - V). The Muar strain, isolated from patient in Malaya in 1952, is the prototype strain of genotype V. Genotype IV appears to be the ancestral strain and the virus appears to have evolved in the Indonesian-Malayasian region. The first clinical reports date from 1870 but the virus appears to have evolved in the mid 1500s.

Over 60 complete genomes of this virus have been sequenced as of 2010.

Bilateral investment treaty

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A bilateral investment treaty (BIT) is an agreement establishing the terms and conditions for private investment by nationals and companies of one state in another state. This type of investment is called foreign direct investment (FDI). BITs are established through trade pacts. A nineteenth-century forerunner of the BIT is the friendship, commerce, and navigation treaty (FCN).[1]

Most BITs grant investments made by an investor of one Contracting State in the territory of the other a number of guarantees, which typically include fair and equitable treatment, protection from expropriation, free transfer of means and full protection and security. The distinctive feature of many BITs is that they allow for an alternative dispute resolution mechanism, whereby an investor whose rights under the BIT have been violated could have recourse to international arbitration, often under the auspices of the ICSID (International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes), rather than suing the host State in its own courts.[2]

The world's first BIT was signed on November 25, 1959 between Pakistan and Germany.[3] There are currently more than 2500 BITs in force, involving most countries in the world.[4] Influential capital exporting states[citation needed] usually negotiate BITs on the basis of their own "model" texts (such as the US model BIT).[5]

Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is a free trade agreement between India and South Korea.[1] The agreement was signed on August 7, 2009.[2] The signing ceremony took place in Seoul and the agreement was signed by Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and South Korean Commerce Minister Kim Jong-Hoon.[3] The negotiations took three-and-a-half years, with the first session in February 2006. The agreement still needs to pass the South Korean parliament. It passed the Indian parliament.[1] Once passed, the agreement will come into effect sixty days later. The South Korean government expects the agreement to pass in the fall of 2009.[1] The agreement, once passed, will cut South Korean tariffs on 93% of goods from India. India will cut 75% of total tariffs.[2]

The unusual name for the agreement was suggested by India.[1] It is equivalent to a free trade agreement.[1] The agreement will provide better access for the Indian service industry in South Korea.. Services include Information technology, engineering, finance, and the legal field.[4] South Korean car manufactures will see large tariffs cuts to below 1%.[5]

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The agreement will ease restrictions on foreign direct investments. Companies can own up to 65% of a company in the other country.[5] Both countries avoided issues over agriculture, fisheries, and mining and choose not to decrease tariffs in those areas. This was due to the very sensitive nature of these sections in the respective countries.[6] Trade between India and South Korea was $15.6 billion in 2008. This is a major increase from 2002, which had a total trade amount of $2.6 billion.[2] The Korea Institute for International Economic Policy believes the agreement will increase trade between the two countries by $3.3 billion.[1] The act came into force on January 1, 2010.

Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement The Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) is an agreement between Japan and India to strengthen bilateral trade. The agreement is to be finalised by the end of 2006. A Joint Study Group (JSG) in its report submitted in July 2006 recommended that the two countries should work towards the establishment of a CECA. The JSG was established to undertake a comprehensive review of economic and commercial relations between India and Japan and give its recommendations on upgrading those linkages in various fields. Japan's total global trade is $ 1019 billion, but its imports from India as a percentage of Japan's total imports are only 0.44 per cent

RBI releases Malegam Committee Report on microfinance  

Microfinance Focus, January 19, 2011: The Reserve Bank of India today released on its website the Report of the

RBI Sub-Committee of its Central Board of Directors to study Issues and concerns in the micro finance institutions

(MFI) Sector.

The Sub-Committee has recommended creation of a separate category of NBFCs operating in the microfinance

sector to be designated as NBFC-MFIs. To qualify as a NBFC-MFI, the Sub-Committee has stated that the NBFC

should be “a company which provides financial services pre-dominantly to low-income borrowers, with loans of small

amounts, for short-terms, on unsecured basis, mainly for income-generating activities, with repayment schedules

which are more frequent than those normally stipulated by commercial banks” and which further satisfies the

regulations specified in that behalf.

The Sub-Committee has also recommended some additional qualifications for NBFC to be classified as NBFC-MFI.

These are:

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a. The NBFC-MFI will hold not less than 90% of its total assets (other than cash and bank balances and money

market instruments) in the form of qualifying assets.

b. There are limits of an annual family income of Rs.50,000 and an individual ceiling on loans to a  single borrower of

Rs.25,000

c. Not less than 75% of the loans given by the MFI should be for income-generating purposes.

d. There is a restriction on the other services to be provided by the MFI which has to be in accordance with the type

of service and the maximum percentage of total income as may be prescribed.

The Sub-Committee has recommended that bank lending to NBFCs which qualify as NBFC-MFIs will be entitled to

“priority lending” status. With regard to the interest chargeable to the borrower, the Sub-Committee has

recommended an average “margin cap” of 10 per cent for MFIs having a loan portfolio of Rs. 100 crore and of 12 per

cent for smaller MFIs and a cap of 24% for interest on individual loans. It has also proposed that, in the interest of

transparency, an MFI can levy only three charges, namely, (a) processing fee (b) interest and (c) insurance charge.

The Sub-committee has made a number of recommendations to mitigate the problems of multiple-lending, over

borrowing, ghost borrowers and coercive methods of recovery. These include :

a. A borrower can be a member of only one Self-Help Group (SHG) or a  Joint Liability Group (JLG)

b. Not more than two MFIs can lend to a single borrower

c. There should be a minimum period of moratorium between the disbursement of loan and the commencement of

recovery

d. The tenure of the loan must vary with its amount

e. A Credit Information Bureau has to be established

f. The primary responsibility for avoidance of coercive methods of recovery must lie with the MFI and its management

g. The Reserve Bank must prepare a draft Customer Protection Code to be adopted by all MFIs

h. There must be grievance redressal procedures and establishment of ombudsmen

i. All MFIs must observe a specified Code of Corporate Governance

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For monitoring compliance with regulations, the Sub-Committee has proposed a four-pillar approach with the

responsibility being shared by (a) MFI (b) industry associations (c) banks and (d) the Reserve Bank.

While reviewing the proposed Micro Finance (Development and Regulation) Bill 2010, the Sub- Committee has

recommended that entities governed by the proposed Act should not be allowed to do business of providing thrift

services. It has also suggested that NBFC-MFIs should be exempted from the State Money Lending Acts and also

that if the recommendations of the Sub-Committee are accepted, the need for the Andhra Pradesh Micro Finance

Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Act will not survive.

The Sub-Committee has cautioned that while recognising the need to protect borrowers, it is also necessary to

recognise that if the recovery culture is adversely affected and the free flow of funds in the system interrupted, the

ultimate sufferers will be the borrowers themselves as the flow of fresh funds to the microfinance sector will inevitably

be reduced.

The Reserve Bank of India in October 2010 set up a Sub-Committee of its Central Board of Directors to study the

issues and concerns in microfinance sector, under the Chairmanship of   Shri Y H Malegam, a senior member on the

Reserve Bank’s Central Board of Directors. Other members of the Sub-Committee included Shri Kumar Mangalam

Birla, Dr. K C Chakrabarty, Deputy Governor, Smt. Shashi Rajagopalan and Prof. U R Rao. Shri V K Sharma,

Executive Director, Reserve Bank of India was the Member Secretary to the Sub-Committee.

Malegam committee recommends 24% cap on MFI interest rateThe long awaited Malegam report on microfinance companies submitted its report today even as the RBI allowed banks to reschedule loans to these companies without them being downgraded to bad loans.

The Malegam Committee, headed by Yezdi H Malegam, a long-standing member of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) central board has recommended that MFIS charge no more than 24% on loans and that the margins they make be also no more than 10%.

The report has said disallowed more than two microfinance companies to lend to one borrower.

Also read: Concept of MFIs is not just to provide credit: YH Malegam

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It recommended setting up of a microfinance credit information bureau and recommended a priority status on loans to microlenders.

The committee proposed to set up an ombudsman for the MFI sector. It also called for the Reserve Bank of India to draft a customer protection code for MFIs

The committee has said that NBFCs with microfinance operations should be classified as an NBFC-MFI, and said that bank loans to these NBFC-MFI should be included in the priority sector.

An NBFC-MFI will be a company that provides loans largely to low-income borrowers and gives small amount, short-term loans on unsecured basis.  The report says that an NBFC MFIs cannot give more than Rs 25,000 as loan to single borrower and can provide loans only to families with income less than Rs 50,000.

NALSA moots Legal Services Cadet Corps in schoolsNational Legal Services Authority (NALSA) has plans to recommend to the State governments to take steps to establish Legal Services Cadet Corps (LCC) in High Schools on the lines of NCC and NSS to increase legal literacy in the country, said U.Sarath Chandran, Member-Secretary, NALSA.

Talking to The Hindu during the sidelines of a seminar, ‘Access to Justice: What it Means to a Child, Woman and Senior Citizen' held here by Society for Community Organisation Trust on Wednesday, Mr. Sarath Chandran said that establishment of LCC in schools along with the existing (at a few states) Legal Literacy Clubs would help in the growth of legal literacy. Here the LCC students have to watch from within their own community, people who are vulnerable and need access to legal services.

There could be reasons (political, social and economic) which prevent them from getting access to legal service where their actionable entitlements could be denied. LCC students can find these cases of injustice and help them avail legal services at Taluk Legal Services Authority or District Legal Services Authority.

Legal literary clubs are there in many schools, for eg Kerala has it in 200 to 300 schools, and schools in Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra too have LCC. When asked whether this could be successful in bringing more number of marginalized people to avail legal services, he said that now we have regular meetings with the National Executive Chairman, NALSA through video conferencing who would be interacting with us on improving our performances.

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Sarat Chandran in his inaugural address said that more than 90 per cent of the population is ignorant of the existing laws and because of that they don't know what to do in a crisis situation and this in fact is disempowering them apart from the mental inhibitions which are a resultant effect. “Empower the disempowered through the power of law is the motto of this year's action plan of NALSA.”, so NALSA has made this year a year of rights of children, women and senior citizens.

Ajmal Khan, Advocate, Madras High Court, Madurai, quoted the Enactments of Justinian, “Ignorance of fact is excusable but ignorance of law is not.” He recalled how SOCO Trust organised a seminar way back in 1984 that helped him and other law students get sensitised on laws related to women and children.

Mr. Khan talked about laws like Domestic Violence Act, Immoral Trafficking Act, Right to Education Act, Dowry Prohibition Act and Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act.

Exocytosis Exocytosis (/ˌɛksoʊsaɪˈtoʊsɪs/; from Greek ἔξω "out" and English cyto- "cell" from Gk. κύτος "receptacle") is the durable process by which a cell directs the contents of secretory vesicles out of the cell membrane. These membrane-bound vesicles contain soluble proteins to be secreted to the extracellular environment, as well as membrane proteins and lipids that are sent to become components of the cell membrane.

Endocytosis Endocytosis is a process by which cells absorb molecules (such as proteins) by engulfing them. It is used by all cells of the body because most substances important to them are large polar molecules that cannot pass through the hydrophobic plasma or cell membrane. The process which is the opposite to endocytosis is exocytosis. [1]

Macrocytosis Macrocytosis is the enlargement of red blood cells with near-constant hemoglobin concentration, and is defined by a mean corpuscular volume (MCV) of greater than 100 femtolitres (the precise criterion varies between laboratories).

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[edit] Causes

Most commonly (especially when the increase in size is mild, and just above normal range) the etiology is bone marrow dysplasia secondary to alcohol abuse and Chronic alcoholism. Other causes may include:

Megaloblastosis (Vitamin B12 or folate deficiency; or DNA synthesis-inhibiting drugs) hypothyroidism reticulocytosis (commonly from hemolysis or a recent history of blood loss). liver disease myeloproliferative disease Pregnancy- is the most common and requires no treatment as female will return back to normal

post-partum

Pinocytosis In cellular biology, pinocytosis ("cell-drinking", "bulk-phase pinocytosis", "non-specific, non-absorptive pinocytosis", "fluid endocytosis") is a form of endocytosis in which small particles are brought into the cell, forming an invagination, and then suspended within small vesicles (pinocytotic vesicles) that subsequently fuse with lysosomes to hydrolyze, or to break down, the particles. This process requires a lot of energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate, the chemical compound used as energy in the majority of cells. Pinocytosis is used primarily for the absorption of extracellular fluids (ECF), and, in contrast to phagocytosis, generates very small vesicles. Unlike receptor-mediated endocytosis, pinocytosis is nonspecific in the substances that it transports. The cell takes in surrounding fluids, including all solutes present. Pinocytosis also works as phagocytosis, the only difference being that phagocytosis is specific in the substances it transports. Phagocytosis actually engulfs whole particles, which are later broken down by enzymes, such as lysosomes, and absorbed into the cells. Pinocytosis, on the other hand, is when the cell engulfs already-dissolved or broken-down food.

In contrast, molecule-specific endocytosis is called receptor-mediated endocytosis.

Square Kilometre Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is a radio telescope in development which will have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometre.[1] It will operate over a wide range of frequencies and its size will make it 50 times more sensitive than any other radio instrument. It will require very high performance central computing engines and long-haul links with a capacity greater than the current global Internet traffic.[2] It will be able to survey the sky more than ten thousand times faster than ever before. With receiving stations extending out to distance

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of at least 3,000 km from a concentrated central core, it will continue radio astronomy's tradition of providing the highest resolution images in all astronomy. The SKA will be built in the southern hemisphere, in either South Africa or Australia and New Zealand, where the view of our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is best and radio interference least. With a budget of €1.5 billion, construction of the SKA is scheduled to begin in 2016 for initial observations by 2019 and full operation by 2024.[3][4]

The SKA is a global collaboration of 20 countries which is aimed to provide answers to fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the Universe.[5]

In April 2011, Jodrell Bank Observatory (of the University of Manchester) in Cheshire, England was announced as the location of the headquarters office for the project.[6]

Dark energy In physical cosmology, astronomy and celestial mechanics, dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to accelerate the expansion of the universe.[1] Dark energy is the most accepted theory to explain observations since the 1990s that indicate that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. In the standard model of cosmology, dark energy currently accounts for 73% of the total mass-energy of the universe.[2]

Two proposed forms for dark energy are the cosmological constant, a constant energy density filling space homogeneously,[3] and scalar fields such as quintessence or moduli, dynamic quantities whose energy density can vary in time and space. Contributions from scalar fields that are constant in space are usually also included in the cosmological constant. The cosmological constant is physically equivalent to vacuum energy. Scalar fields which do change in space can be difficult to distinguish from a cosmological constant because the change may be extremely slow.

High-precision measurements of the expansion of the universe are required to understand how the expansion rate changes over time. In general relativity, the evolution of the expansion rate is parameterized by the cosmological equation of state (the relationship between temperature, pressure, and combined matter, energy, and vacuum energy density for any region of space). Measuring the equation of state for dark energy is one of the biggest efforts in observational cosmology today.

Adding the cosmological constant to cosmology's standard FLRW metric leads to the Lambda-CDM model, which has been referred to as the "standard model" of cosmology because of its precise agreement with observations. Dark energy has been used as a crucial ingredient in a recent attempt to formulate a cyclic model for the universe.[4]

A 2011 survey of more than 200,000 galaxies appears to confirm the existence of dark energy, although the exact physics behind it remains unknown

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Dark matter In astronomy and cosmology, dark matter is a currently unknown type of matter hypothesized to account for a large part of the total mass in the universe. Dark matter neither emits nor absorbs light or other electromagnetic radiation, and so cannot be directly seen with telescopes.[1] Dark matter is estimated to constitute 83% of the matter in the universe and 23% of the mass-energy.[2]

Dark matter came to the attention of astrophysicists due to discrepancies between the mass of large astronomical objects determined from their gravitational effects, and mass calculated from the "luminous matter" they contain; such as stars, gas and dust. It was first postulated by Jan Oort in 1932 to account for the orbital velocities of stars in the Milky Way and Fritz Zwicky in 1933 to account for evidence of "missing mass" in the orbital velocities of galaxies in clusters. Subsequently, other observations have indicated the presence of dark matter in the universe, including the rotational speeds of galaxies, gravitational lensing of background objects by galaxy clusters such as the Bullet Cluster, and the temperature distribution of hot gas in galaxies and clusters of galaxies. According to consensus among cosmologists, dark matter is believed to be composed primarily of a new, not yet characterized, type of subatomic particle.[3][4] The search for this particle, by a variety of means, is one of the major efforts in particle physics today.[5] Although the existence of dark matter is generally accepted by the mainstream scientific community, many alternative theories have been proposed to try to explain the anomalies that dark matter is intended to account for.[citation needed

Bitcoin is a decentralized electronic cash system using peer-to-peer networking, digital signatures and cryptographic proof to enable irreversible payments between parties without relying on trust. Payments are made in bitcoins, a digital currency issued and transferred by the Bitcoin network. Nodes broadcast transactions to the network, which records them in a public history, called the block chain, after validating them with a proof-of-work system.[4] The Bitcoin network is by far the fastest distributed computing network in the world. (List of distributed computing projects) [5]

[6]

The Bitcoin network began on 3 January 2009 with the issue of the first bitcoins.[7] In the same month the creator, Satoshi Nakamoto, released the original Bitcoin client as open-source software.[8][9]

Cryptography

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(or cryptology; from Greek κρυπτός, "hidden, secret"; and γράφειν, graphein, "writing", or -λογία, -logia, "study", respectively)[1] is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties (called adversaries).[2] More generally, it is about constructing and analyzing protocols that overcome the influence of adversaries[3] and which are related to various aspects in information security such as data confidentiality, data integrity, and authentication.[4] Modern cryptography intersects the disciplines of mathematics, computer science, and electrical engineering. Applications of cryptography include ATM cards, computer passwords, and electronic commerce.

Limnology

Limnology is the study of inland bodies of water and related ecosystems. Limnology divides lakes into three zones: the littoral zone, a sloped area close to land; the photic or open-water zone, where sunlight is abundant; and the deep-water profundal or benthic zone, where little sunlight can reach. The depth to which light can reach in lakes depends on turbidity, determined by the density and size of suspended particles. A particle is in suspension if its weight is less than the random turbidity forces acting upon it. These particles can be sedimentary or biological in origin and are responsible for the color of the water. Decaying plant matter, for instance, may be responsible for a yellow or brown color, while algae may cause greenish water. In very shallow water bodies, iron oxides make water reddish brown. Biological particles include algae and detritus. Bottom-dwelling detritivorous fish can be responsible for turbid waters, because they stir the mud in search of food. Piscivorous fish contribute to turbidity by eating plant-eating (planktonivorous) fish, thus increasing the amount of algae (see aquatic trophic cascade). The light depth or transparency is measured by using a Secchi disk, a 20-cm (8 in) disk with alternating white and black quadrants. The depth at which the disk is no longer visible is the Secchi depth, a measure of transparency. The Secchi disk is commonly used to test for eutrophication. For a detailed look at these processes, see lentic ecosystems.

A lake moderates the surrounding region's temperature and climate because water has a very high specific heat capacity (4,186 J·kg−1·K−1). In the daytime a lake can cool the land beside it with local winds, resulting in a sea breeze; in the night it can warm it with a land breeze.

KerogenKerogen is a mixture of organic chemical compounds that make up a portion of the organic matter

in sedimentary rocks.[1] It is insoluble in normal organic solvents because of the huge molecular

weight (upwards of 1,000 daltons) of its component compounds. The soluble portion is known as bitumen.

When heated to the right temperatures in the Earth's crust, (oil window ca. 60–160 °C, gas window ca. 150–

200 °C, both depending on how quickly the source rock is heated) some types of kerogen release crude

oil or natural gas, collectively known as hydrocarbons (fossil fuels). When such kerogens are present in high

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concentration in rocks such as shale they form possible source rocks. Shales rich in kerogens that have not

been heated to warm temperature to release their hydrocarbons may form oil shale deposits.

The name "kerogen" was introduced by the Scottish organic chemist Alexander Crum Brown in 1912.[2][3]

Will the new nutrient-based subsidy help?The new nutrient-based subsidy policy is finally effective from April 1, 2010. The subsidy will be admissible for the three macro nutrients — nitrogen (N), phosphorous (P) and potassium (K) — one secondary nutrient — sulphur (S) — and two micro nutrients — zinc and boron — on actual weight of the nutrient in the fertiliser. The scheme will be applicable on controlled fertilisers other than urea, but including diammonium phosphate (DAP), monoammonium phosphates (MAP), triple superphosphate (TSP), muriate of potash (MoP), ammonium sulphate, single superphosphate and 12 other complex fertilisers.

The subsidy per-unit tonne has been notified for 13 fertilisers, and the announcement for the remaining five fertilisers will come later. The urea price will continue to be controlled although the price that had been kept unchanged since February 28, 2002, has been raised by 10% from Rs 4,830 to Rs 5,310 a tonne from this month. The heavy subsidy on urea led to its overusage and smuggling to neighbouring countries.

Nutrient Based Subsidy Scheme for FertilizersIn the context of Nation’s food security, the declining response of agricultural productivity to

increased fertilizer usage in the country and to ensure the balanced application of fertilizers, the Government has introduced the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) Policy with effect from 1.4.2010 for decontrolled P & K fertilizers (w.e.f. 1.5.2010 for SSP). As per this policy, the fertilizers namely DAP, MOP, NPKS complexes, MAP, TSP, Ammonium Sulphate (AS) and Single Super Phosphate (SSP) are provided to the farmers at the subsidized rates based on the nutrients (N, P, K & S) contained in these fertilizers. Additional subsidy is also provided on the fertilizers fortified with secondary and micronutrients as per the Fertilizer Control Order such as Boron and Zinc. NBS has been announced for 2010-11 on annual basis based on prevailing international prices and price trends. Since this scheme has just been launched about 3 months ago, therefore at present, Government is not considering any change in the NBS. Subsidy under the NBS is being released through the manufacturers/importers. 

Fertilizer subsidy: what is good for the farmer and the farm?Venkata Ramana

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Is the chemical fertilizer-based food production system sustainable? As a result, what happens to the soil and the larger issue of food security?

After a raging debate, the government finally decided to hike the chemical fertilizer subsidy, to catch up with spiralling fertilizer prices in the global market. Also, there is talk about bringing urea under the Nutrient Based Subsidy (NBS) system and decontrolling its prices. Obviously, the fertilizer industry is happy. But there is hardly any discussion on what is good for the farmer and the farm. What is the state of the soil in the country? And is this chemical fertilizer-based food production system sustainable?

The past debate and NBS

The government has been spending a huge amount of money to support chemical fertilizer production and its usage. It has touched almost a lakh crore in 2008-2009. This investment has always been under criticism as it was promoting an overuse of chemical fertilizers and thereby catalysing soil degradation. As a result, agricultural production in the bread baskets of the country has stagnated and even started to decline, posing a threat to the food security of the country. The drylands have never received the benefits of the crores of money being given out as fertilizer subsidy, as most farmers in these regions are, by default, organic as they cannot use chemical fertilizers; water being the limiting factor.

There have been concerns raised by several policy experts and others that the fertilizer policy of the country is only helping to move out the Indian tax payers' money to foreign petroleum companies and fertilizer producers. It is to be noted here that fertilizer production is highly dependent on fossil fuels, and that most fertilizers are imported.

In 2009, Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee gave us a glimmer of hope when he announced a fertilizer subsidy reform and introduced the NBS system with a promise that the subsidy amount would be disbursed directly to farmers. In 2010, this policy was made effective, but there was no transfer of money to farmers. One year down the line, the NBS is proving to be a complete failure. Media reports point to the fact that after the introduction of the NBS, urea usage has gone up leading to a further degradation of the soil. Now, with the government increasing the fertilizer subsidy, it is also clear that the NBS has also failed to reduce the burden on the exchequer. It is neither helping the farmer nor the Government.

Soil degradation: farmers' view

In the mad rush to balance the chemical fertilizer kitty with global prices, policy makers are forgetting a huge problem that is staring us in the face — the deteriorating soil in the country and the resultant threat to food security. However farmers are aware of the crisis, but are helpless in the absence of support systems from the government. A recent Greenpeace India report, “Of Soils, Subsidies and Survival,” based on social audits conducted in five Indian States, has revealed that 96 per cent

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out of the 1,000 farmers surveyed were of the opinion that the use of chemical fertilisers led to soil degradation but they continue to use them as there was no other option. Ninety-four per cent of the surveyed farmers believed that only organic fertilisers can maintain soil health. However, only one per cent of the farmers received any kind of support for production and the use of organic fertilisers. Ninety-eight per cent of the surveyed farmers were ready to use organic fertilisers if they are subsidised and made easily available.

Further, only 34 per cent of them knew that chemical fertilisers are subsidised. Of those who knew, only seven per cent knew that a new subsidy system (NBS) was introduced by the government for chemical fertilizers. Even at the subsidised rate, 94 per cent of them thought that chemical fertilisers are unaffordable and not economical.

These are some of the eye-opening revelations that the government should look into. Whenever a fertilizer sop is announced, it is lauded as a farmer-friendly measure. But farmers are not even aware. They are more worried about the soil, a resource on which their livelihood is dependent. But the government tends to ignore this.

Support for alternatives

It is a well-accepted scientific fact that organic matter is the lifeline of the soil which is critical to maintain the health of this ecosystem. Measures have to be taken to promote the generation of sufficient biomass in a field to be added to the soil. Ecological fertilization offers a range of ways to nourish the soil, with no damage to the ecosystem, be it in irrigated or rainfed regions. Indian farmers were once aware of these practices. However with the mad promotion of chemical intensive agriculture in the country, invaluable, traditional knowledge has faded away. From a knowledge driven system, agriculture production in the country has become an external input–driven system. This is when the crisis started to emerge.

The agriculture research system in the country has always neglected an eco-friendly means of soil nutrition and never approached it in a holistic way. It has always revolved around a chemical intensive agricultural model. There is an impending need to refocus scientific research to identify the value of the traditional knowledge available with a farmer. Scientific research should go hand in hand with farmers' wisdom to help the country tide over the crisis.

The government should think about how long we can depend on a volatile fossil fuel-based agriculture system. How long can we be dependent on fertilizer imports? How long can we ignore the state of the soil in the country? And how long can we ignore a farmers' plight?

Now is the time for the government to start building an alternative support system which is both farmer and farm friendly. This can open up a lot of rural employment opportunities and contribute to the livelihood security of a farmer. This will also bring

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prosperity to rural India.

Masdar CityMasdar City (Arabic:  مصدر Madīnat Maṣdar, literally Source City[1]) is a project in Abu Dhabi, in ,مدينة

the United Arab Emirates. Its core is a planned city, which is being built by the Abu Dhabi Future Energy

Company, a subsidiary of Mubadala Development Company, with the majority of seed capital provided by the

government of Abu Dhabi.[2][3] Designed by the British architectural firm Foster and Partners, the city will rely

entirely on solar energyand other renewable energy sources, with a sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-

waste ecology. The city is being constructed 17 kilometres (11 mi) east-south-east of the city of Abu Dhabi,

beside Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Masdar City will host the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).[4][5] The city is

designed to be a hub for cleantech companies. Its first tenant is the Masdar Institute of Science and

Technology, which has been operating in the city since it moved into its campus in September 2010. [6][7][8]

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India gets first e-waste management rules

Putting the onus of re-cycling of electronic wastes (e-waste) on the producers, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) has for the first time notified e-waste management rules.

The e-waste (management and handling) Rules, 2011 would recognise the producers’ liability for recycling and reducing e-waste in the country. The rules will come into effect from May 1, 2012.

Personal Computer manufacturers, mobile handset makers and white goods makers will be required to come up with e-waste collection centres or introduce ‘take back’ systems .

“These rules will apply to every producer, consumer and bulk consumer involved in manufacture, sale, purchase and processing of electronic equipment or components,” an environment ministry official said.

The ministry is giving the producers of electrical and electronic equipment a breathing period of one year to

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set up their collection centres.The rules will come under the Environment Protection Act (EPA).

India, at present, generates about 400,000 tonnes of e-wastes annually of which only 19,000 tonnes are getting recycled according to the recent data by hardware manufacturers association, Mait.

According to Mait, around 40 per cent of the unused and obsolete electronic products sit idle at homes, godowns and warehouses as one does not know what to do with it or there is no systematic mechanism to dispose it.

E-wastes are considered dangerous, as certain electronic components contain substances such as lead, cadmium, lead oxide (in cathode ray tubes), toxic gases, toxic metals, biologically active materials, acids, plastics and plastic additives. These substances are considered hazardous depending on their condition and density.

Under the new rules, producers will have to make consumers aware about the hazardous components present in the product. Also, instructions for consumers for handling the equipment after its use along with the do’s and don’t’s. They will also have to give information booklets to prevent e-waste from being dropped in garbage bins.

However, according to the rules, bulk consumers such as enterprises and government will be responsible for recycling of the e-wastes generated by them. The bulk users have to ensure that the e-waste generated by them is channelized to authorised collection centres or is taken back by the producers.

They also have to maintain records of e-wastes generated by them and make such records available with State Pollution Control Boards or the Pollution Control Committees.

The State Pollution Control Board will be required to prepare and submit to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) an annual report (based on the data received by consumers) with regard to implementation of these rules, by September 30 of every year.

On receiving which, the CPCB will have to prepare a consolidated annual review on management of e-waste and forward it to the government along with its recommendations by December 30 of every year.

Bhore committeeBhore committee set up by the government of India in 1943 to investigate and recommend improvements to

the Indian Public Health system. Under the chairmanship of Sir Joseph Bhore the committee made many

landmark recommendations in its final report in 1946.also known in India as Health Survey and Development

Committee

It said "If it were possible to evaluate the loss, which this country annually suffers through the avoidable waste

of valuable human material and the lowering of human efficiency through malnutrition and preventable

morbidity, we feel that the result would be so startling that the whole country would be aroused and would not

rest until a radical change had been brought about"

Some of the important recommendations of the Bhore Committee were

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1. Integration of preventive and curative services to all administrative levels. 2. Development of Primary Health Centres in 2 stages a. As a short term measure: 1 Primary health center per 40,000 population, 30 beds,3 Sub centers and 2 medical officers b. As a long term programme(3 million Plan):Primary health units with a 75 bedded hospital per 10,000 -20,000 population; secondary health units with 650 bedded hospital Regional Health units with 2,500 beds 3. Major changes in medical education which includes 3 month training in preventive & social medicine to prepare "social physicians".

The committee was instrumental in bringing about the public health reforms related to peripheral health centers

in India.

Though most of the recommendations of the committee were not implemented at the time, the committee was

a trigger to the reforms that followed.

Credit default swapA credit default swap (CDS) is a financial swap agreement that the seller of the CDS will compensate the

buyer in the event of a loan defaultor other credit event. The buyer of the CDS makes a series of payments (the

CDS "fee" or "spread") to the seller and, in exchange, receives a payoff if the loan defaults.

In the event of default the buyer of the CDS receives compensation (usually the face value of the loan), and the

seller of the CDS takes possession of the defaulted loan.[1] However, anyone can purchase a CDS, even

buyers who do not hold the loan instrument and who have no direct insurable interest in the loan (these are

called "naked" CDSs). If there are more CDS contracts outstanding than bonds in existence, a protocol exists

to hold a credit event auction; the payment received is usually substantially less than the face value of the loan.[2] The European Parliament has approved a ban on naked CDSs, since 1 December 2011, but the ban only

applies to debt for sovereign nations.[3]

Credit default swaps have existed since the early 1990s, and increased in use after 2003. By the end of 2007,

the outstanding CDS amount was $62.2 trillion,[4] falling to $26.3 trillion by mid-year 2010[5] but reportedly

$25.5[6] trillion in early 2012.[7]

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In the context of financial risk management an example on how Credit Default Swap Data, can be used is for

monitoring how the market views the credit risk across a wide range of entities. These entities include

Sovereigns (such as Greece), Corporates, Financial Institutions and Banks. Data is recorded as a basis point,

or bps and if they rise, can be used as an indicator of a potential credit risk of the entity concerned, as viewed

by the market. The data can also be used to provide an implied credit rating ahead of formal credit ratings

issued by the agencies.

Most CDSs are documented using standard forms promulgated by the International Swaps and Derivatives

Association (ISDA), although some are tailored to meet specific needs. CDSs have many variations.[8] In

addition to the basic, single-name swaps, there are basket default swaps (BDSs), index CDSs, funded CDSs

(also called credit-linked notes), as well as loan-only credit default swaps (LCDS). In addition to corporations

and governments, the reference entity can include a special purpose vehicle issuing asset backed securities.[9]

CDSs are not traded on an exchange and there is no required reporting of transactions to a government

agency.[10] During the 2007-2010 financial crisis the lack of transparency became a concern to regulators, as

was the multi-trillion dollar size of the market, which could pose asystemic risk to the economy.[8][11][12][13]

Credit default swaps and other derivatives are unusual—and potentially dangerous—in that they combine

priority in bankruptcy with a lack of transparency.[11] In March 2010, the [DTCC] Trade Information Warehouse

(see Sources of Market Data) announced it would voluntarily give regulators greater access to its credit default

swaps database.[14]

A number of financial professionals, regulators, and the media have begun using credit default swap pricing as

a gauge of the riskiness of corporate and sovereign borrowers, and U.S. Courts may soon be following suit.

URBAN POVERTY ALLEVIATION2.2.1 Poverty reduction is an important goal of the urban policy. Urban growth is a result of (1) natural increase in population (2) net migration from rural areas to urban areas and (3) reclassification of towns. The common notion that migration largely fuels urban growth is only partially correct. Therefore, it is necessary to view urban poverty as distinct from rural poverty and not as mere transfer of rural poverty into urban areas.

Urban poverty leads to :

(a) proliferation of slums and bustees; (b) fast growth of the informal sector; (c) increasing casualisation of labour; (d) increasing pressure on civic services; (e) increasing educational deprivation and health contingencies.

The Urban Poverty Alleviation Programmes (UPAPs) which were in operation during eighth plan are as follows:

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Nehru Rozgar Yojana (NRY)

2.2.2 In order to alleviate the conditions of urban poor, a Centrally Sponsored programme - Nehru Rozgar Yojana - was launched at the end of the Seventh Five Year Plan (October 1989) with the objective of providing of employment to the urban unemployed and underemployed poor. The Central Government indicated its overall contribution while the essential task of identifying, earmarking and coordinating the relevant sectoral inputs was undertaken by the State Governments. The NRY consisted of three schemes namely (i) the Scheme of Urban Micro Enterprises (SUME); (ii) the Scheme of Urban Wage Employment (SUWE); and (iii) the Scheme of Housing and Shelter Upgradation (SHASU). The physical and financial details of the implementation of these Schemes are at Annexure-I and Annexure-II   respectively. During the Eighth Plan, 92% of the available funds were utilised and but for the shortfall in the number of dwelling units upgraded/in progress under SHASU, the targets have been achieved under all the other schemes.

Urban Basic Services for the Poor (UBSP)

2.2.3 The UBSP Programme was implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme during the Eighth Five Year Plan with the specific objectives of effective achievement of the social sector goals; community organisation, mobilisation and empowerment; and converence through sustainable support system. The expenditure on the Programme was being shared on a 60:40 basis between the Central and the State Governments and UTs (with legislatures). Further, the per capita expenditure on any slum pocket is Rs.75/- in the first year and Rs.50/- from the second year onwards after the basic infrastructure is developed. The UBSP was targetted to cover 70 lakh urban poor beneficiaries in 500 towns during the Eighth Plan period. The Programme has achieved the physical target of 70 lakh beneficiaries during the Eighth Plan period in 350 towns. Against the release of the Central share of Rs.8090 lakh, the release of the State share was Rs.3439.64 lakh. As on 31.03.1997, 353 towns and 4993 slum pockets have been selected for coverage and 75 lakh beneficiaries have been covered.

Prime Minister's Integrated Urban Poverty Eradication Programme (PM IUPEP) :

2.2.4 Recognising the seriousness and complexity of urban poverty problems, especially in the small towns where the situtation is more grave due to lack of resources for planning their environment and development, the PMI UPEP was launched in November, 1995. The PM IUPEP was a Rs.800 crore scheme approved for the period up to the year 2000. Programme was applicable to all Class II urban agglomerations with a population ranging between 50,000 and 1 lakh subject to the condition that elections to local bodies have been held. The Programme was being implemented on a wholetown/ project basis extending the coverage to all the targetted groups for recuring a visible impact. During 1995-96 and 1996-97, Rs.176.40 crore were released to the States/UTs. Most of the States are in the preparatory stages of the Programme, such as house-to-house survey, patial mapping, need assessment, developing lternative project reports, building community structures etc., which take quite some time. The physical achievements as reported by the States are as under:

a. House-to-house survey has been completed in 213 towns.

b. Town-wise project reports have been prepared for 229 towns.

c. Under the self-employment component, 20775 applications have been forwarded to banks, out of which 3080 cases have been approved.

d. Under the Shelter Upgradation Component, 10386 applications have been forwarded to banks/HUDCO, out of which 4743 cases have been approved by HUDCO.

e. As many as 8382 Neighbourhood Groups, 1200 Neighbourhood Development Committees and 444 Thrift and Credit Societies have been formed.

2.2.5 The performance of the UPAPs in the Eighth Five Year Plan reveals:

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that although urban poverty is no less severe than rural poverty, the priority accorded to alleviation of urban poverty is low as the common perception is that urban poverty is a transfer of rural poverty into urban areas;

that UPAPs are highly fragmented and have overlapping objectives and strategies. that integration of UPAPs with sectoral development and area development programmes has

been overlooked. that the role of voluntary organisations and community based organisation in planning and

implementation of UPAPs is on the periphery.

2.2.6 The Planning Commission's (Modified Expert Group) estimates of urban poverty show a decline in the percentage of urban poor from 38 percent (1987-88) to 32.36 percent (1993-94). As per the Modified Expert Group the number of urban poor is 763.37 lakh in 1993-94. The Hashim Committee, which was set up to review and rationalise Centrally Sponsored Schemes for poverty alleviation and employment generation, had gone into the question of rationalisation of the existing poverty alleviation programmes and recommended that:-

1. the self-employment component of NRY and PMIUPEP be combined into a single programme valid for all the urban areas all over the country;

The Planning Commission’s (modified Expert Group) estimates of urban poverty show a decline in the percentage of urban poor from 38 percent (1987-88) to 32.36 percent (1993-94). As per the Modified Expert Group the number of urban poor is 763.37 lakh in 1993-94.

The Hashim Committee, which was set up to review and rationalise Centrally Sponsored Schemes for poverty alleviation and employment generation, had gone into the question of rationalisation of the existing poverty alleviation programmes.

Based on the recommendation of the Committee the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) has been launched with effect from 1.12.97 and NRY, PMIUPEP and UBSP have been phased out.

The programme has two sub-schemes namely, (a) Urban Self –Employment Programme and (b) Urban Wage Employment Programme. The self-employment and wage employment components of the NRY and PMIUPEP have been re-organised under this single programme. The shelter upgradation components of both NRY and PMIUPEP has been merged with the National Slum Development Programme.

2. the urban wage employment component as well as the physical infrastructure development component under the NRY and the PMIUPEP be merged and be made applicable to all the urban areas with a population less than 5 lakhs. This component may be separated from the self-employment component as a separate scheme with a distinct identity; and

3. the shelter upgradation/housing component under NRY and PMIUPEP be retained either as a separate scheme or merged with the Slum Development/Basic Services Schemes operating at present.

The Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY):

2.2.7 In pursuance of the above recommendations, during the Ninth Plan it is proposed to launch the Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) and phase out NRY, PMIUPEP and UBSP. The SJSRY is to be a Centrally Sponsored Scheme applicable to all the urban areas with expenditure to be shared in ratio 75:25 between the Centre and States/UTs. The programme has become operational on December 1, 1997. This programme would have two sub-schemes, namely, (i) UrbanSelf-Employment Programme and (ii) Urban Wage Employment Programme. The self-employment and wage employment components of the existing NRY and PMIUPEP have been reorganised under this single programme. Further,the shelter upgradation components of both NRY and PMIUPEP will be merged with the National Slum Development Programme.

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2.2.8 The Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) seek to provide gainful employment to the urban unemployed or underemployed poor by encouraging the setting up of self-employment ventures or provision of wage employment. This programme will rely on the creation of suitable community structures on the UBSP pattern and delivery of inputs under this programme will be through the medium of urban local bodies and similar community institutional structures.

2.2.9 The Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana rests on the foundation of community empowerment. Towards this end, community organisations like Neighbourhood Groups (NHGs), Neighbourhood Committees (NHCs) and Community Development Societies (CDSs) will be set up in the target areas based on the UBSP pattern. The CDSs will be the focal point for purposes of identification of beneficiaries, preparation of applications, monitoring of recovery and generally providing whatever other support is necessary to the programme. The CDSs will also identify viable projects suitable for that particular area.

2.2.10 These CDSs may also set themselves up as Thrift and Credit Societies to encourage community savings, as also other group activities. A maximum expenditure at the rate of Rs.100 per member for the first year and Rs.75 per member for each subsequent year will be allowed for activities connected with the CDSs.

The Urban Self Employment Programme (USEP):

2.2.11 This programme will have three distinct components:-

i. assistance to individual urban poor beneficiaries for setting up gainful self-employment ventures.

ii. assistance to groups of urban poor women for setting up gainful self-employment ventures. This sub-scheme may be called "The Scheme for Development of Women and Children in the Urban Areas (DWCUA)".

iii. training of beneficiaries, potential beneficiaries and other persons associated with the urban employment programme for upgradation and acquisition of vocational and entrepreneurial skills.

Coverage:

i. The programme will be applicable to all urban towns in India.

ii. The programme will be implemented on a whole town basis with special emphasis on urban poor clusters.

Target Groups:

i. The programme will target the urban poor,i.e those living below the urban poverty line, as defined from time to time.

ii. Special attention will be given to women, persons belonging to Scheduled Castes/Tribes, disabled persons and other such categories as may be indicated by the Government from time to time. The percentage of women beneficiaries under this programme will not be less than 30 per cent. The SCs and STs must be benefited at least to the extent of their proportion in the local population. A special provision of 3 percent will be reserved for the disabled under this programme.

iii. There will not be any minimum educational qualification set for beneficiaries under this programme. However, to avoid an overlap with the PMRY scheme, for self- employment component, this scheme will not apply to beneficiaries educated beyond the IX standard. As

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regards the wage employment component, there will be no restrictions of educational qualifications whatsoever.

iv. A house-to-house survey for identification of genuine beneficiaries will be undertaken. Non-economic parameters will also be applied to identify the urban poor in addition to the economic criteria of the urban poverty line.

2.2.12 All other conditions being equal, women beneficiaries belonging to women-headed households will be ranked higher in priority than other beneficiaries.

COMPONENTS:

(i) Self-employment through setting up Micro-enterprises and Skill development:

2.2.13 To avoid duplication with the ongoing Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana (PMRY), this component of SJSRY is confined to the below poverty line beneficiaries who have no education upto ninth standard, with emphasis on those accorded a higher priority on the basis of the non-economic critera. The maximum unit cost will be Rs.50,000 and the maximum allowable subsidy will be 15 percent of the project cost, subject to a limit of Rs.7,500. The beneficiary is required to contribute 5 percent of the project cost as margin money. In case a number of beneficiaries decide to jointly set up a project, such project will be eligible for a subsidy which will be equal to the total of the permitted subsidy per person as per the above criteria. In this case too the provision relating to 5 percent margin money per beneficiary will apply. The overall project cost, which can be permitted, will be the total of the individual project cost allowable per beneficiary.

2.2.14 Skill development through appropriate training is another element of this programme. The unit cost allowed for training will be Rs.2000 per trainee, including material cost, trainers' fees, other miscellaneous expenses to be incurred by the training institution and the monthly stipend to be paid to the trainee. The total training period for skill upgradation may vary from two to six months, subject to a minimum of 300 hours.

2.2.15 Infrastructural support may also be provided to the beneficiaries setting up micro-enterprises in relation to marketing of their products etc.

(ii) Development of Women and Children in Urban Areas (DWCUA):

2.2.16 This scheme is distinguished by the special incentive extended to urban poor women who decide to set up self-employment ventures as a group as opposed to individual effort. Groups of urban poor women will take up an economic activity suited to their skill, training, aptitude and local conditions. Besides generation of income, this group strategy will strive to empower the urban poor women by making them independent as also providing a facilitating atmosphere for self-employment. To be eligible for subsidy under this scheme, the DWCUA group should consist of at least 10 urban poor women.

Financial Pattern

2.2.17 The DWCUA group society will be entitled to a subsidy of Rs.1,25,000 or 50% of the cost of project whichever is less.

2.2.18 Where the DWCUA group sets itself up as a Thrift and Credit Society, in addition to its other entrepreneurial activity, the group/Thrift and Credit society will also be entitled to a lump sum grant of Rs.25,000 as a revolving fund at the rate of Rs.1000 maximum per member. This revolving fund will be available to a simple Thrift and Credit Society also even if the society is not engaged in any project activity under DWCUA.

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The Urban Wage Employment Programme (UWEP):

2.2.19 This programme seeks to provide wage employment to beneficiaries living below the poverty line within the jurisdiction of urban local bodies by utilising their labour for construction of socially and economically useful public assets.

2.2.20 This programme will apply to urban local bodies, the population of which is less than 5 lakhs as per the 1991 Census.

2.2.21 The material-labour ratio for works under this programme will be maintained at 60:40. The prevailing minimum wage rate, as notified from time to time for each area, will be paid to the beneficiaries under this programme.

2.2.22 This programme will be dovetailed with the State sector EIUS scheme as well as the National Slum Development Programme (NSDP). This programme is not designed to either replace or substitute the Environmental Improvement Of Urban Slums (EIUS), the NSDP, or any other State sector schemes.

Project Administration :

2.2.23 At the community level, a Community Organiser(CO) will be appointed for about 2000 identified families. The Community Organiser should, as far as practicable, be a woman.

2.2.24 At the town level, there will be an Urban Poverty Eradication Cell under the charge of a Project Officer. The Project Officer will be responsible for coordinating the activities of all the CDSs and COs.

2.2.25 At the district level, the State Government will constitute a District Urban Development Agency (DUDA) with an officer designated as the District Project Officer.

2.2.26 At the State level, there will be a State Urban Development Authority (SUDA), which will be headed by a full-time senior officer of the State Government. The SUDA will be designated as the State Nodal Agency for urban anti poverty programmes.

2.2.27 At the national level, the Department of Urban Employment and Poverty Alleviation will be the nodal department. The programme will be monitored and overseen by the UPA Division.

2.2.28 The Ninth Plan, in particular, needs to focus on the effective implementation and management of urban poverty alleviation programmes (UPAPs). Targetting of urban poor is essential for the success of any anti-poverty programme. Therefore, the UPAPs should be designed to accomodate flexibility in operation. The key components of the Ninth Plan strategy would be:

effective targetting using either a self-identification system or a selection process by institutions responsible for financing and managing UPAPs as faulty targetting will enhance income inequalities.

a "bottom up" approach should be adopted for UPAPs which should be routed through community based organi- sations. There should be effective participation of community institutions for extending loans and for aiding loan recoveries made under UPAPs.

since the problem of urban poverty is a manifestation of the higher incidence of marginal and low income employment in the informal sector, it is essential to upgrade informal sector occupations. Hence there is a need for emphasis on generation of self-employment in processing and services sector, improving the acccess to technology and credit and above all improving the general legal and physical environment which governs the working of the informal sector.

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2.2.29 The policy framework adopted by the Government of India also mentions that "a frontal attack on poverty is an important element in development policy. This is the main rationale for anti-poverty programmes".

SkagerrakThe Skagerrak is a strait running between Norway and the southwest coast of Sweden and the Jutland

peninsula of Denmark, connecting the North Seaand the Kattegat sea area, which leads to the Baltic Sea.

Baltic SeaThe Baltic Sea is a brackish mediterranean sea located in Northern Europe, from 53°N to 66°N latitude and

from 20°E to 26°E longitude. It is bounded by the Scandinavian Peninsula, the mainland of Europe, and

the Danish islands. It drains into the Kattegat by way of the Øresund, the Great Belt and theLittle Belt. The

Kattegat continues through Skagerrak into the North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The Baltic Sea is connected

by man-made waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal, and to the North Sea via the Kiel Canal.

The Baltic Sea might be considered to be bordered on its northern edge by the Gulf of Bothnia, on its

northeastern edge by the Gulf of Finland, and on its eastern edge by the Gulf of Riga. These various gulfs can

also be considered part of the Baltic Sea.

Collective Security Treaty OrganisationThe Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO; Russian: Организация Договора о Коллективной

Безопасности) is an intergovernmental military alliance which was signed on 15 May 1992. On 7 October

2002, the Presidents of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistansigned a charter

in Tashkent founding the CSTO.

Nikolai Bordyuzha was appointed secretary general of the new organization. On 23 June

2006, Uzbekistan became a full participant in the CSTO; and its membership was formally ratified by the Uzbek

parliament on 28 March 2008.[1] The CSTO is currently an observer organisation at the United Nations General

Assembly.

The CSTO charter reaffirmed the desire of all participating states to abstain from the use or threat of force.

Signatories would not be able to join other military alliances or other groups of states, [citation needed] while

aggression against one signatory would be perceived as an aggression against all. To this end, the CSTO

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holds yearly military command exercises for the CSTO nations to have an opportunity to improve inter-

organisation cooperation. The largest-scale CSTO military exercise held to date were the "Rubezh 2008"

exercises hosted in Armenia where a combined total of 4,000 troops from all 7 constituent CSTO member

countries conducted operative, strategic, and tactical training with an emphasis towards furthering efficiency of

the collective security element of the CSTO partnership.[2] A 2011 series of training exercises has recently been

held in central Asia consisting of "more than 10,000 troops and 70 combat aircraft". [3] Also, Russia has won the

right to veto the establishment of new foreign military bases in the member states of the Collective Security

Treaty Organisation (CSTO). In order to deploy military bases of a third country in the territory of the CSTO

member-states, it is necessary to obtain the official consent of all its members. But, the tightening of rules for

opening extra-regional military bases apparently does not apply to existing facilities, such as the U.S. transit

centre in Kyrgyzstan, a German air transit facility in Uzbekistan and French military aircraft based in Tajikistan.

However, the decision gains importance in the light of reported plans by the Pentagon to redeploy to Central

Asia some of the forces that will be pulled out of Afghanistan in 2014.[4]

The CSTO employs a "rotating presidency" system in which the country leading the CSTO alternates every

year. Kazakhstan currently has the CSTO presidency.[5]

United Nations Regional GroupsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The member states of the United Nations are unofficially divided into five geopolitical regional groups. What

began as an informal means of sharing the distribution of posts for General Assembly committees has taken on

a much more expansive role. Depending on the UN context, regional groups control elections to UN-related

positions, dividing up the pie on the basis of geographic representation, as well as coordinate substantive

policy, and form common fronts for negotiations and voting.

As of July 2011, the 193 UN member states are divided into five groups:[1]

the African Group, with 54 member states.

the Asia-Pacific Group, with 53 member states;

the Eastern European Group, with 23 member states;

the Latin American and Caribbean Group (GRULAC), with 33 member states;

the Western European and Others Group (WEOG), with 28 member states, plus 1 member state as

observer.

Kiribati is not included in the above numbers (see below).

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Wallace LineThe Wallace Line (or Wallace's Line) is an imaginary line drawn in 1859 separating

the ecozones of Asia and Wallacea, a transitional zone between Asia and Australia. West of the line are found

organisms related to Asiatic species; to the east, a mixture of species of Asian and Australian origin is present.

The line is named after Alfred Russel Wallace, who noticed this clear division during his travels through

the East Indies in the 19th century. The line runs through Indonesia, between Borneo and Sulawesi (Celebes),

and through the Lombok Strait betweenBali and Lombok. Antonio Pigafetta had also recorded the biological

contrasts between the Philippines and the Maluku Islands (Spice Islands) (on opposite sides of the line) in 1521

during the continuation of the voyage of Ferdinand Magellan, after Magellan had been killed on Mactan.

The distance between Bali and Lombok is small, about 35 kilometers. The distributions of many bird species

observe the line, since many birds do not cross even the smallest stretches of open ocean water.

Some bats have distributions that cross the line, but other mammals are generally limited to one side or the

other; an exception is the Crab-eating Macaque. Other groups of plants and animals show differing patterns,

but the overall pattern is striking and reasonably consistent.

Lombok StraitThe Lombok Strait (Indonesian: Selat Lombok) is a strait connecting the Java Sea to the Indian Ocean,

located between theislands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The Gili Islands are on the Lombok side.

Its narrowest point is at its southern opening, with a width of only 18 km, but at the northern opening it is 40 km

across. Total length is about 60 km. Because it is 250 m deep[1] — much deeper than the Strait of Malacca —

ships that draw too much water to pass through Malacca (so-called "post Malaccamax" vessels) often use the

Lombok Strait, instead.

The Lombok Strait is notable as one of the main passages for the Indonesian Throughflow that exchanges

water between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.

It is also part of the biogeographical boundary between the fauna of Indomalaya ecozone and the distinctly

different fauna ofAustralasia. The boundary is known as the Wallace Line, for Alfred Russel Wallace, who first

remarked upon the striking difference between animals of Indo-Malaysia from those of Australasia and how

abrupt the boundary was between the twobiomes.

Biologists believe it was the depth of the Lombok Strait itself that kept the animals on either side isolated from

one another. When sea levels dropped during the Pleistocene ice age, the islands of

Bali, Java and Sumatra were all connected to one another and to the mainland of Asia. They shared the Asian

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fauna. The Lombok Strait's deep water kept Lombok and theLesser Sunda archipelago isolated from the Asian

mainland. These islands were, instead, colonized by Australasian fauna.

Trojan (astronomy)In astronomy, a Trojan is a minor planet or natural satellite (moon) that shares an orbit with a planet or larger

moon, but does not collide with it because it orbits around one of the two Lagrangian points of stability (Trojan

points), L4 and L5, which lie approximately 60° ahead of and behind the larger body, respectively. Trojan objects

are one type of co-orbital object. In this arrangement, the massive star and the smaller planet orbit about their

common barycenter—a location in space where the forces of their mutual gravitational attraction balance each

other out. A much smaller mass located at one of the Lagrange points is subject to a combined gravitational

force that acts through this barycenter. As a consequence, the mass can follow a circular orbit around this point

with the same periodas the planet, and the arrangement can remain stable over time.[1]

Trojan asteroids are asteroids that reside in a Trojan point of a planet. A Trojan moon is a moon residing at the

Trojan point of another (larger) moon. Trojan planets are theoretical planets that reside at Trojan points of other

planets.

Saturn has the most known Trojan satellites: Saturn's moon Tethys has two Trojan moons

(Telesto and Calypso), and Dione also has two Trojan moons (Helene and Polydeuces).

In 2011, NASA announced the discovery of the first known Earth Trojan.[2]

Numerical simulations indicate that Saturn and Uranus probably don't have a primordial trojan population. [3]

Lagrangian pointFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Lagrange Point" redirects here. For the video game, see Lagrange Point (video game).

This article is about three-body libration points. For two-body libration points, see Geostationary orbit#Earth

orbital libration points.

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A contour plot of the effective potential due to gravity and thecentrifugal force of a two-body system in a rotating frame of

reference. The arrows indicate the gradients of the potential around the five Lagrange points — downhill toward them (red)

or away from them (blue). Counterintuitively, the L4 and L5 points are the high points of the potential. At the points

themselves these forces are balanced.

The five Lagrangian points (marked in green) at two objects orbiting each other (here a yellow star and a blue planet) in an

anti-clockwise circle

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The Lagrangian points (  / l ə ̍ ɡ r ɑː n dʒ i ən / ; also Lagrange points, L-points, or libration points) are the five

positions in an orbitalconfiguration where a small object affected only by gravity can theoretically be stationary

relative to two larger objects (such as a satellitewith respect to the Earth and Moon). The Lagrange points mark

positions where the combined gravitational pull of the two large masses provides precisely the centripetal

force required to rotate with them.

Lagrangian points are the stationary solutions of the circular restricted three-body problem. For example, given

two massive bodies in circular orbits around their common center of mass, there are five positions in space

where a third body, of comparatively negligible mass, could be placed so as to maintain its position relative to

the two massive bodies. As seen in a rotating reference frame with the same period as the two co-orbiting

bodies, the gravitational fields of two massive bodies combined with the satellite's circular motion are in

balance at the Lagrangian points, allowing the third body to be stationary with respect to the first two bodies. [1]

Benthic zoneThe benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean or a lake,

including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. Organisms living in this zone are called benthos.

They generally live in close relationship with the substrate bottom; many such organisms are permanently

attached to the bottom. The superficial layer of the soil lining the given body of water, the benthic boundary

layer, is an integral part of the benthic zone, as it greatly influences the biological activity which takes place

there. Examples of contact soil layers include sand bottoms, rocky outcrops,coral, and bay mud.

DoldrumsFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The doldrums is a colloquial expression derived from historical maritime usage for those parts of the Atlantic

Ocean and the Pacific Ocean affected by the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a low-pressure area around

the equator where the prevailing winds are calm. The low pressure is caused by the heat at the equator, which

makes the air rise and travel north and south high in the atmosphere, until it subsides again in the horse

latitudes. Some of that air returns to the doldrums through the trade winds. This process can lead to light or

variable winds and more severe weather, in the form of squalls, thunderstorms and hurricanes. The doldrums

are also noted for calm periods when the winds disappear altogether, trapping sail-powered boats for periods of

days or weeks.

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When the winds are gone the sea actually has no swells, on a clear day the color of the sky is reflected in the

water. At night the same effect, with no clouds or moon, gives one the effect of floating in space.[citation needed]

The term appears to have arisen in the 18th century (when cross-Equator sailing voyages became more

common). It is derived from dold (an archaic term meaning "stupid") and -rum(s), a noun suffix found in such

words as "tantrum".[1]

BiomagnificationBiomagnification, also known as bioamplification or biological magnification, is the increase

in concentration of a substance that occurs in a food chain as a consequence of:

Persistence (can't be broken down by environmental processes)

Food chain energetics

Low (or nonexistent) rate of internal degradation/excretion of the substance (often due to water-insolubility)

The following is an example showing how biomagnification takes place in nature: An anchovy eats zooplankton

that have tiny amounts of mercury that the zooplankton has picked up from the water throughout the anchovie's

lifespan. A tuna eats many of these anchovies over its life, accumulating the mercury in each of those

anchovies into its body. If the mercury stunts the growth of the anchovies, that tuna is required to eat more little

fish to stay alive. Because there are more little fish being eaten, the mercury content is magnified.

Biological magnification often refers to the process whereby certain substances such as pesticides or heavy

metals move up the food chain, work their way into rivers or lakes, and are eaten by aquatic organisms such as

fish, which in turn are eaten by large birds, animals or humans. The substances become concentrated in

tissues or internal organs as they move up the chain. Bioaccumulants are substances that increase in

concentration in living organisms as they take in contaminated air, water, or food because the substances are

very slowly metabolized or excreted.

Although sometimes used interchangeably with 'bioaccumulation,' an important distinction is drawn between

the two, and with bioconcentration, it is also important to distinct between sustainable development

and overexploitation in biomagnification.

Bioaccumulation occurs within a trophic level, and is the increase in concentration of a substance in

certain tissues of organisms' bodies due to absorption from food and the environment.

Bioconcentration is defined as occurring when uptake from the water is greater than excretion (Landrum

and Fisher, 1999)

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Thus bioconcentration and bioaccumulation occur within an organism, and biomagnification occurs across

trophic (food chain) levels.

Biodilution is also a process that occurs to all trophic levels in an aquatic environment; it is the opposite of

biomagnification, thus a pollutant gets smaller in concentration as it progresses up a food web.

Lipid, (lipophilic) or fat soluble substances cannot be diluted, broken down, or excreted in urine, a water-based

medium, and so accumulate in fatty tissues of an organism if the organism lacksenzymes to degrade them.

When eaten by another organism, fats are absorbed in the gut, carrying the substance, which then

accumulates in the fats of the predator. Since at each level of the food chain there is a lot of energy loss, a

predator must consume many prey, including all of their lipophilic substances.

For example, though mercury is only present in small amounts in seawater, it is absorbed by algae (generally

as methylmercury). It is efficiently absorbed, but only very slowly excreted by organisms (Croteau et al., 2005).

Bioaccumulation and bioconcentration result in buildup in the adipose tissue of successive trophic

levels: zooplankton, small nekton, larger fish etc. Anything which eats these fish also consumes the higher level

of mercury the fish have accumulated. This process explains why predatory fish such

as swordfish and sharks or birds like osprey and eagles have higher concentrations of mercury in their tissue

than could be accounted for by direct exposure alone. For example, herring contains mercury at approximately

0.01 ppm and shark contains mercury at greater than 1 ppm (EPA 1997).

[edit]Current status

In a review of a large number of studies, Suedel et al. (1994) concluded that although biomagnification is

probably more limited in occurrence than previously thought, there is good evidence

that DDT,DDE, PCBs, toxaphene, and the organic forms of mercury and arsenic do biomagnify in nature. For

other contaminants, bioconcentration and bioaccumulation account for their high concentrations in organism

tissues. More recently, Gray (2002) reached a similar substances remaining in the organisms and not being

diluted to non-threatening concentrations. The success of top predatory-bird recovery (bald eagles, peregrine

falcons) in North America following the ban on DDT use in agriculture is testament to the importance of

biomagnification.

[edit]Substances that biomagnify

There are two main groups of substances that biomagnify. Both are lipophilic and not easily degraded. Novel

organic substances are not easily degraded because organisms lack previous exposure and have thus

not evolved specific detoxification and excretion mechanisms, as there has been no selection pressure from

them. These substances are consequently known as 'persistent organic pollutants' or POPs.

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Metals are not degradable because they are elements. Organisms, particularly those subject to naturally high

levels of exposure to metals, have mechanisms to sequester and excrete metals. Problems arise when

organisms are exposed to higher concentrations than usual, which they cannot excrete rapidly enough to

prevent damage. Some persistent Heavy metals are specially armful to the organism they accumulate. These

metals are transferred in an organic form.

[edit]Novel organic substancesFurther information: Persistent organic pollutant

DDT

HCB

PCBs

Toxaphene

Monomethylmercury

[edit]Inorganic substancesFurther information: Heavy metal

Arsenic

Cadmium

Mercury

Selenium

C4 carbon fixationFrom Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

C4 carbon fixation is one of three biochemical mechanisms, along with C3 and CAM photosynthesis, used

in carbon fixation. It is named for the 4-carbon molecule present in the first product of carbon fixation in these

plants, in contrast to the 3-carbon molecule products in C3 plants.

C4 fixation is an elaboration of the more common C3 carbon fixation and is believed to have evolved more

recently. C4 and CAM overcome the tendency of the enzyme RuBisCO to wastefully fix oxygen rather than

carbon dioxide in what is called photorespiration. This is achieved by using a more efficient enzyme to fix

CO2 in mesophyll cells and shuttling this fixed carbon via malate or asparate tobundle-sheath cells. In these

bundle-sheath cells, RuBisCO is isolated from atmospheric oxygen and saturated with the CO2 released

by decarboxylation of the malate or oxaloacetate. These additional steps, however, require more energy in the

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form of ATP. Because of this extra energy requirement, C4 plants are able to more efficiently fix carbon in only

certain conditions, with the more common C3 pathway being more efficient in other conditions.

The C4 pathway was discovered by Dr. Marshall Davidson Hatch and C. R. Slack, in Australia, in 1966, so it is

sometimes called the Hatch-Slack pathway.[1]

In C3  plants , the first step in the light-independent reactions of photosynthesis involves the fixation of CO2 by

the enzymeRuBisCO into 3-phosphoglycerate. However, due to the dual carboxylase / oxygenase activity

of RuBisCo, an amount of the substrate is oxidized rather than carboxylated, resulting in loss of substrate and

consumption of energy, in what is known asphotorespiration. In order to bypass the photorespiration pathway,

C4 plants have developed a mechanism to efficiently deliver CO2 to the RuBisCO enzyme. They utilize their

specific leaf anatomy where chloroplasts exist not only in the mesophyll cells in the outer part of their leaves

but in the bundle sheath cells as well. Instead of direct fixation to RuBisCO in the Calvin cycle, CO2 is

incorporated into a 4-carbon organic acid, which has the ability to regenerate CO2 in the chloroplasts of the

bundle sheath cells. Bundle sheath cells can then utilize this CO2 to generate carbohydrates by the

conventional C3  pathway .

The first step in the pathway is the conversion of pyruvate to phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), by the

enzyme pyruvate orthophosphate dikinase. This reaction requires inorganic phosphate and ATP plus pyruvate,

producing phosphoenolpyruvate,AMP, and inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi). The next step is the fixation of

CO2 into oxaoloacetate by the enzyme PEP carboxylase. Both of these steps occur in the mesophyll cells:

pyruvate + Pi + ATP → PEP + AMP + PPi

PEP + CO2 → oxaloacetate

PEP carboxylase has a lower Km for CO2 — and, hence, higher affinity — than RuBisCO.

Furthermore, O2 is a very poor substrate for this enzyme. Thus, at relatively low concentrations of

CO2, most CO2 will be fixed by this pathway.

The product is usually converted to malate, a simple organic compound, which is transported to the

bundle-sheath cells surrounding a nearby vein. Here, it is decarboxylated to produce

CO2 and pyruvate. The CO2 now enters the Calvin cycle and the pyruvate is transported back to

the mesophyll cell.

Since every CO2 molecule has to be fixed twice, first by 4-carbon organic acid and second by

RuBisCO, the C4 pathway uses more energy than the C3 pathway. The C3 pathway requires 18

molecules of ATP for the synthesis of one molecule of glucose, whereas the C4 pathway requires 30

molecules of ATP. This energy debt is more than paid for by avoiding losing more than half of

photosynthetic carbon in photorespiration as occurs in some tropical plants,[citation needed] making it an

adaptive mechanism for minimizing the loss.

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There are several variants of this pathway:

1. The 4-carbon acid transported from mesophyll cells may be malate, as above, or aspartate

2. The 3-carbon acid transported back from bundle-sheath cells may be pyruvate, as above,

or alanine

3. The enzyme that catalyses decarboxylation in bundle-sheath cells differs. In maize and

sugarcane, the enzyme is NADP-malic enzyme; in millet, it is NAD-malic enzyme; and,

in Panicum maximum, it is PEP carboxykinase.

[edit]C4 leaf anatomy

The C4 plants often possess a characteristic leaf anatomy. Their vascular bundles are surrounded by

two rings of cells, the inner ring, called bundle sheath cells, contain starch-rich chloroplasts lacking

grana, which differ from those in mesophyll cells present as the outer ring. Hence, the chloroplasts are

called dimorphic. This peculiar anatomy is called kranz anatomy, from the German word for wreath.

The primary function of kranz anatomy is to provide a site in which CO2 can be concentrated around

RuBisCO, thereby avoiding photorespiration. In order to maintain a significantly higher

CO2 concentration in the bundle sheath compared to the mesophyll, the boundary layer of the kranz

has a low conductance to CO2, a property that may be enhanced by the presence of suberin.[2]

Although most C4 plants exhibit kranz anatomy, there are many species that operate a limited C4 cycle

without any distinct bundle sheath tissue. Suaeda aralocaspica, Bienertia cycloptera andBienertia

sinuspersici (all chenopods) are terrestrial plants that inhabit dry, salty depressions in the deserts of

south-east Asia. These plants have been shown to operate single-cell C4 CO2-concentrating

mechanisms, which are unique among the known C4 mechanisms.[3][4][5] Although the cytology of both

species differs slightly, the basic principle is that fluid-filled vacuoles are employed to divide the cell

into two separate areas. Carboxylation enzymes in the cytosol can, therefore, be kept separate from

decarboxylase enzymes and RuBisCO in the chloroplasts, and a diffusive barrier can be established

between the chloroplasts (which contain RuBisCO) and the cytosol. This enables a bundle-sheath-

type area and a mesophyll-type area to be established within a single cell. Although this does allow a

limited C3 cycle to operate, it is relatively inefficient, with the occurrence of much leakage of CO2 from

around RuBisCO. There is also evidence for the exhibiting of inducible C4 photosynthesis by non-

kranz aquatic macrophyte Hydrilla verticillata under warm conditions, although the mechanism by

which CO2 leakage from around RuBisCO is minimised is currently uncertain.[6]

[edit]The evolution and advantages of the C4 pathway

Further information: Evolutionary history of plants#Advances in metabolism

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C4 plants have a competitive advantage over plants possessing the more common C3  carbon

fixation pathway under conditions of drought, high temperatures, and nitrogen or CO2 limitation. When

grown in the same environment, at 30°C, C3 grasses lose approximately 833 molecules of water per

CO2 molecule that is fixed, whereas C4 grasses lose only 277 water molecules per CO2 molecule

fixed. This increased water use efficiency of C4 grasses means that soil moisture is conserved,

allowing them to grow for longer in arid environments.[7]

C4 carbon fixation has evolved on up to 40 independent occasions in different families of plants,

making it a prime example of convergent evolution.[8] C4 plants arose around 25   to   32  million years

ago[8]during the Oligocene (precisely when is difficult to determine) and did not become ecologically

significant until around 6   to   7  million years ago, in the Miocene Period.[8] C4 metabolism originated

when grasses migrated from the shady forest undercanopy to more open environments, [9] where the

high sunlight gave it an advantage over the C3 pathway.[10] Drought was not necessary for its

innovation; rather, the increased resistance to water stress was a by-product of the pathway and

allowed C4 plants to more readily colonise arid environments.[10]

Today, C4 plants represent about 5% of Earth's plant biomass and 3% of its known plant species. [11]

[7] Despite this scarcity, they account for about 30% of terrestrial carbon fixation.[8] Increasing the

proportion of C4 plants on earth could assist biosequestration of CO2 and represent an

important climate change avoidance strategy. Present-day C4 plants are concentrated in the tropics

(below latitudes of 45°) where the high air temperature contributes to higher possible levels of

oxygenase activity by RuBisCO, which increases rates of photorespiration in C3 plants.

[edit]Plants that use C4 carbon fixation

About 7600 species of plants use C4 carbon fixation, which represents about 3% of all terrestrial

species of plants. All these 7600 species are angiosperms. C4 carbon fixation is less common

in dicotsthan in monocots, with only 4.5% of dicots using the C4 pathway, compared to 40% of

monocots. Despite this, only three families of monocots utilise C4 carbon fixation compared to 15 dicot

families. Of the monocot clades containing C4 plants, the grass (Poaceae) species use the

C4 photosynthetic pathway most. Forty-six percent of grasses are C4 and together account for 61% of

C4 species. These include the food crops maize, sugar cane, millet, and sorghum.[7][12] Of the dicot

clades containing C4 species, the order Caryophyllales contains the most species. Of the families in

the Caryophyllales, the Chenopodiaceae use C4 carbon fixation the most, with 550 out of 1400

species using it. About 250 of the 1000 species of the related Amaranthaceae also use C4.[7][13]

Members of the sedge family Cyperaceae, and numerous families of Eudicots, including the

daisies Asteraceae, cabbages Brassicaceae, and spurges Euphorbiaceae also use C4.

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C3 carbon fixationC3 carbon fixation is a metabolic pathway for carbon fixation in photosynthesis. This process converts carbon

dioxide and ribulose bisphosphate (RuBP, a 5-carbon sugar) into 3-phosphoglycerate through the following

reaction:

CO2 + RuBP → (2) 3-phosphoglycerate

This reaction occurs in all plants as the first step of the Calvin-Benson cycle. In C4 plants, carbon dioxide is

drawn out of malate and into this reaction rather than directly from the air.

Plants that survive solely on C3 fixation (C3 plants) tend to thrive in areas where sunlight intensity is

moderate,temperatures are moderate, carbon dioxide concentrations are around 200 ppm or higher,[1] and ground water is plentiful. The C3 plants, originating during Mesozoic and Paleozoic eras, predate

the C4 plants and still represent approximately 95% of Earth's plant biomass. C3 plants lose 97% of the

water taken up through their roots to transpiration.[2] Examples include rice and barley.

C3 plants cannot grow in hot areas because RuBisCO incorporates more oxygen into RuBP as

temperatures increase. This leads to photorespiration, which leads to a net loss of carbon and nitrogen

from the plant and can, therefore, limit growth. In dry areas, C3 plants shut their stomata to reduce water

loss, but this stops CO2 from entering the leaves and, therefore, reduces the concentration of CO2 in the

leaves. This lowers the CO2:O2 ratio and, therefore, also increases photorespiration. C4 and CAM plants

have adaptations that allow them to survive in hot and dry areas, and they can, therefore, outcompete

C3 plants.

The isotopic signature of C3 plants shows higher degree of 13C depletion than the C4 plants.

Crassulacean acid metabolismCrassulacean acid metabolism, also known as CAM photosynthesis, is a carbon fixation pathway that

evolved in some plants as an adaptation to aridconditions.[1] In a plant using full CAM, the stomata in the leaves

remain shut during the day to reduce evapotranspiration, but open at night to collect carbon dioxide (CO2). The

CO2 is stored as the four-carbon acid malate, and then used during photosynthesis during the day. The pre-

collected CO2 is concentrated around the enzyme RuBisCO, increasing photosynthetic efficiency.

[edit]Historical background

CAM was first suspected by De Saussure in 1804 in his Recherches Chimiques sur la Vegetation, confirmed

and refined by Aubert, E. in 1892 in his Recherches physiologiques sur les plantes grassesand expounded

upon by Richards, H. M. 1915 in Acidity and Gas Interchange in Cacti, Carnegie Institution. The term CAM may

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have been coined by Ranson and Thomas in 1940, but they were not the first to discover this cycle. It was

observed by the botanists Ranson and Thomas, in the Crassulaceae family of succulents (which includes jade

plants and Sedum).[2] Its name refers to acid metabolism in Crassulaceae, not the metabolism of crassulacean

acid.

[edit]Overview of CAM: a two-part cycle

CAM is an adaptation for increased efficiency in the use of water, and so is typically found in plants growing in

arid conditions.[3]

[edit]During the night

During the night, a plant employing CAM has its stomata open, allowing CO2 to enter and be fixed as organic

acids that are stored in vacuoles. During the day the stomata are closed (thus preventing water loss), and the

carbon is released to the Calvin cycle so that photosynthesis may take place.

The carbon dioxide is fixed in the cytoplasm of mesophyll cells by a PEP reaction similar to that of C4 pathway.

But, unlike the C4 mechanism, the resulting organic acids are stored in vacuoles for later use; that is, they are

not immediately passed on to the Calvin cycle. The latter cannot operate during the night because the light

reactions that provide it with ATP and NADPH cannot take place.

[edit]During the day

During the day, the CO2-storing organic acids are released from the vacuoles of the mesophyll cells and enter

the stroma of the chloroplasts where an enzyme releases the CO2, which then enters into the Calvin cycle.

[edit]Benefits

The most important benefit of CAM to the plant is the ability to leave most leaf stomata closed during the day.[4] Plants employing CAM are most common in arid environments, where water comes at a premium. Being able

to keep stomata closed during the hottest and driest part of the day reduces the loss of water

through evapotranspiration, allowing such plants to grow in environments that would otherwise be far too dry.

Plants using only C3 carbon fixation, for example, lose 97% of the water they uptake through the roots to

transpiration - a high cost avoided by plants able to employ CAM.[5]

[edit]Comparison with C4 metabolism

The C4 pathway bears resemblance to CAM; both act to concentrate CO2 around RuBisCO, thereby increasing

its efficiency. CAM concentrates it in time, providing CO2 during the day, and not at night, when respiration is

the dominant reaction. C4 plants, in contrast, concentrate CO2 spatially, with a RuBisCO reaction centre in a

"bundle sheath cell" being inundated with CO2. Due to the inactivity required by the CAM mechanism,

C4 carbon fixation has a greater efficiency in terms of PGA synthesis.

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[edit]Biochemistry

Plants with CAM must control storage of CO2 and its reduction to branched carbohydrates in space and time.

At low temperatures (frequently at night), plants using CAM open their guard cells, CO2 molecules diffuse into

the spongy mesophyll's intracellular spaces and then into the cytoplasm. Here, they can

meet phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP), which is a phosphorylated triose. During this time, the plants are

synthesizing a protein called PEP carboxylase kinase (PEP-C kinase), whose expression can be inhibited by

high temperatures (frequently at daylight) and the presence of malate. PEP-C kinase phosphorylates its

target enzyme PEP carboxylase (PEP-C). Phosphorylation dramatically enhances the enzyme's capability

tocatalyze the formation of oxalacetate, which can be subsequently transformed into malateby NAD+ malate

dehydrogenase. Malate is then transported via malate shuttles into the vacuole, where it is converted into the

storage form malic acid. In contrast to PEP-C kinase, PEP-C is synthesized all the time but almost inhibited at

daylight either bydephosphorylation via PEP-C phosphatase or directly by binding malate. The latter is not

possible at low temperatures, since malate is efficiently transported into the vacuole, whereas PEP-C kinase

readily inverts dephosphorylation.

At daylight, plants using CAM close their guard cells and discharge malate that is subsequently transported into

chloroplasts. There, depending on plant species, it is cleaved into pyruvate and CO2 either by malic enzyme or

by PEP carboxykinase. CO2 is then introduced into the Calvin cycle, a coupled and self-recovering enzyme

system, which is used to build branched carbohydrates. The by-product pyruvate can be further degraded in

the mitochondrial citric acid cycle, thereby providing additional CO2 molecules for the Calvin Cycle. Pyruvate

can also be used to recover PEP via pyruvate phosphate dikinase, a high-energy step, which requires ATP and

an additional phosphate. During the following cool night, PEP is finally exported into the cytoplasm, where it is

involved in fixing carbon dioxide via malate.

[edit]Use of CAM by plants

Plants use CAM to different degrees. Some are "obligate CAM plants", i.e. they use only CAM in

photosynthesis, although they vary in the amount of CO2 they are able to store as organic acids; they are

sometimes divided into "strong CAM" and "weak CAM" plants on this basis. Other plants show "inducible

CAM", in which they are able to switch between using either the C3 or C4 mechanism and CAM depending on

environmental conditions. Another group of plants employ "CAM-cycling", in which their stomata do not open at

night; the plants instead recycle CO2 produced by respiration as well as storing some CO2 during the day.[3]

Plants showing inducible CAM and CAM-cycling are typically found in conditions where periods of water

shortage alternate with periods when water is freely available. Periodic drought – a feature of semi-arid regions

– is one cause of water shortage. Plants which grow on trees or rocks (as epiphytes or lithophytes) also

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experience variations in water availability. Salinity, high light levels and nutrient availability are other factors

which have been shown to induce CAM.[3]

Since CAM is an adaptation to arid conditions, plants using CAM often display other xerophytic characters,

such as thick, reduced leaves with a low surface- area-to-volume ratio; thick cuticle; andstomata sunken into

pits. Some shed their leaves during the dry season; others (the succulents[verification needed]) store water in vacuoles.

CAM also causes taste differences: plants may have an increasingly sour taste during the night yet become

sweeter-tasting during the day. This is due to malic acid being stored in the vacuoles of the plants' cells during

the night and then being used up during the day.[6]

[edit]Ecological and taxonomic distribution of CAM-using plants

The majority of plants possessing CAM are either epiphytes (e.g., orchids, bromeliads) or

succulent xerophytes (e.g., cacti, cactoid Euphorbias), but CAM is also found

in hemiepiphytes (e.g., Clusia);lithophytes (e.g., Sedum, Sempervivum); terrestrial

bromeliads; hydrophytes (e.g., Isoetes, Crassula (Tillaea); and in one halophyte, Mesembryanthemum

crystallinum; one non-succulent terrestrial plant, (Dodonaea viscosa) and one mangrove associate (Sesuvium

portulacastrum).

Plants which are able to switch between different methods of carbon fixation include Portulacaria afra, better

known as Dwarf Jade Plant, which normally uses C3 fixation but can use CAM if it is drought-stressed,[7] and Portulaca oleracea, better known as Purslane, which normally uses C4 fixation but is also able to switch

to CAM when drought-stressed.[8]

CAM has evolved convergently many times.[9] It occurs in 16,000 species (about 7% of plants), belonging to

over 300 genera and around 40 families, but this is thought to be a considerable underestimate.[10] It is found

in quillworts (relatives of club mosses), in ferns, and in gymnosperms, but the great majority of plants using

CAM are angiosperms (flowering plants).

The following list summarizes the taxonomic distribution of plants with CAM.

Chinook windChinook winds (  / ʃ ɪ ̍ n ʊ k / ), often called chinooks, commonly refers to foehn winds[1] in the interior West of

North America, where the Canadian Prairies and Great Plains meet various mountain ranges, although the

original usage is in reference to wet, warm coastal winds in the Pacific Northwest.[2]

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Chinook is claimed by popular mythology to mean "eater" but it is really the name of the people in the region

where the usage was first derived. The reference to a wind or weather system, simply "a Chinook", originally

meant a warming wind from the ocean into the interior regions of the Pacific Northwest (the Chinook

people lived near the ocean, along the lowerColumbia River). A strong Chinook can make snow one foot deep

almost vanish in one day. The snow partly melts and partly evaporates in the dry wind. Chinook winds have

been observed to raise winter temperature, often from below −20 °C(−4 °F) to as high as 10–20 °C (50–68 °F)

for a few hours or days, then temperatures plummet to their base levels. The greatest recorded temperature

change in 24 hours was caused by Chinook winds on January 15, 1972, in Loma, Montana; the temperature

rose from -48 to 9 °C (-54 to 48 °F).[3]

The ch digraph in Chinook is not pronounced as in the word "church" in some regions of the Pacific Coast, but

as in French (i.e., shinook) in other regions of the Pacific Coast (e.g., Seattle) and on the prairies. This is

because the French-speakingvoyageurs of the fur companies brought the term from the mountains. The first

syllable in Chicago is pronounced similarly, also due to the original French speaking explorers.

ArtemisininArtemisinin (  / ɑr t ɨ ̍ m ɪ s ɨ n ɨ n / ), also known as Qinghaosu (Chinese: 青蒿素), and its derivatives are a group

of drugs that possess the most rapid action of all current drugs against Plasmodium falciparum malaria.[1] Treatments containing an artemisinin derivative (artemisinin-combination therapies, ACTs) are now standard

treatment worldwide for P. falciparum malaria. The starting compound artemisinin is isolated from the

plant Artemisia annua, sweet wormwood, an herb employed in Chinese traditional medicine.

Chemically, artemisinin is a sesquiterpene lactone containing an unusual peroxide bridge. This peroxide is

believed to be responsible for the drug's mechanism of action. Few other natural compounds with such a

peroxide bridge are known.[2] (Ascaridole is another.)

Use of the drug by itself as a monotherapy is explicitly discouraged by the World Health Organization, as there

have been signs that malarial parasites are developing resistance to the drug. Therapies that combine

artemisinin with some other antimalarial drug are the preferred treatment for malaria and are both effective and

well tolerated in patients. The drug is also increasingly being used in Plasmodium vivax malaria,[3] as well as

being a topic of research in cancer treatment.