Savings and fertility: ethical issues

... Population ethics is rightly regarded a difficult field of inquiry. Here I have tried to argue that the kinds of difficulty that have intrigued philosophers in recent years are insubstantial. Real difficulties lie elsewhere. They lie in deep conceptual problems actual people are faced with when they contemplate the desirable size of their family and the savings that should accompany it.     

Professionalization and evaluation: The case of Indian agricultural research

This paper examines the role of evaluation in promoting and sustaining professionalism in agricultural research organizations. The evaluation experience of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) reveals a series of attempts to review and institutionalize the essential features of professionalism: expertise, credentialism, and autonomy. The central thesis is that when evaluations inform or enable major changes in one or more of these features of professionalism, over a period of time, it is a sign of increasing professionalization of research. Following a brief introduction, the evaluation experiences of ICAR are examined in the context of the evolution of the profession of agricultural research. Specific evaluation experiences are then analyzed, with an emphasis on the role of evaluation in resolving the tension between bureaucratic and professional decision making. The paper concludes that unless stringent evaluations are introduced in ICAR, the professionalization of agricultural research in India will remain incomplete. Graduated in agricultural sciences at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, she obtained her doctoral degree at the Kerala Agricultural University in 1994. She started her professional career as an agricultural extension officer at the State Department of Agriculture in Kerala. She has published on research organization, measurement of research efforts, history and evolution of agricultural science, priority setting, research decision-making, and reforms in agricultural education and training. Her current research focuses on impact of soil-science technologies, development of key disciplines in agricultural chemistry within an evolutionary economics perspective, and institutional and policy implications of changes in agricultural science.     

Water quality, agricultural policy and science

This paper analyses how agricultural policy and science deal with the problem of increasing exploitation of low quality irrigation water and consequent deterioration of water quality in the States of Punjab and Haryana in India. In these cereal growing tracts the policy objective of food security is translated into production technologies, price protection and subsidies. Deterioration of water quality is countered with technocentric solutions. The paper argues that the response of science to the complexities involved in natural resource problems or in the scientific understanding of farmers partial response to technological solutions recommended to improve degraded resources, is due to the existing “administrative rationalism” of natural resource bureaucracies. This administrative rationalism, “the problem-solving discourse which emphasizes the role of the expert rather than the citizen” allows policy and science to maintain their hierarchy in determining policy goals and technological solutions with scant ecological or democratic concerns. Sustainable use of water demands institutional reform in agricultural policy and the agricultural sciences. With an inter-disciplinary training in the agricultural sciences and economics, her publications address the history of and institutional reform in agricultural science, the evaluation of agricultural research, and the organization and measurement of agricultural research effort. This paper is based on an in-house project on “Ex-post evaluation of soil science technologies,” conducted during 1997–2001, in collaboration with Sunita Sangar (then QHS Fellow, NISTADS) whose Ph.D. thesis on the same topic has been submitted to IIT, Delhi in January 2002. Sunita Sangar has a degree in the life sciences, and is interested in science and technology policy issues related to soil and water resources. The authors are currently working on the NATP sponsored project, on an ecological economics framework for the evaluation of soil science research in India.     

Finding One’s Voice: Psychotherapy for Dissociative Motor Disorders in the Indian Context

Dissociation is a prevalent disorder in India, however there is a lack of evidence-based psychological interventions worldwide. The present paper includes two case studies of dissociative motor disorder with onset in the perinatal period, seeking treatment in the Indian tertiary mental health set-up. Both cases presented with disabling symptoms of paraparesis, and mutism in one. The case series discusses similarities in presentation, socio-cultural contexts, and the psychotherapeutic approach. The psychotherapy process is discussed in detail, with a focus on challenges encountered, therapist reflections and supervision. Insights from treatment are presented, including the melding of approaches, and sensitivity of interventions to the larger socio-cultural framework.

     

Alpha3-integrins are required for hippocampal long-term potentiation and working memory

Integrins comprise a large family of heterodimeric, transmembrane cell adhesion receptors that mediate diverse neuronal functions in the developing and adult CNS. Recent pharmacological and genetic studies have suggested that beta1-integrins are critical in synaptic plasticity and memory formation. To further define the role of integrins in these processes, we generated a postnatal forebrain and excitatory neuron-specific knockout of alpha3-integrin, one of several binding partners for beta1 subunit. At hippocampal Schaffer collateral-CA1 synapses, deletion of alpha3-integrin resulted in impaired long-term potentiation (LTP). Basal synaptic transmission and paired-pulse facilitation were normal in the absence of alpha3-integrin. Behavioral studies demonstrated that the mutant mice were selectively defective in a hippocampus-dependent, nonmatch-to-place working memory task, but were normal in other hippocampus-dependent spatial tasks. The impairment in LTP and working memory is similar to that observed in beta1-integrin conditional knockout mice, suggesting that alpha3-integrin is the functional binding partner for beta1 for these processes in the forebrain.     

Effect of increased load on scapular kinematics during manual wheelchair propulsion in individuals with paraplegia and tetraplegia

Repetitive loading of the upper extremity musculature during activities like wheelchair propulsion can lead to fatigue of surrounding musculature causing irregular segment kinematics. The goal of this study was to determine the effect of increase in load on the kinematics of the scapula in users with paraplegia and tetraplegia. Data were collected on 18 participants (11 with paraplegia and 7 with tetraplegia) using an electromagnetic motion tracking system (100Hz) and force sensing pushrim (200Hz). The participants propelled under no load and loaded conditions at their customary propulsion velocity. On average a 60N increase in force was elicited with the experimental protocol. Users with tetraplegia showed significant increases (p<.05) in the rate of change of scapular angles in the upward/downward rotation and the retraction/protraction direction under the loaded conditions, whereas users with paraplegia only showed difference in the retraction/protraction rotation direction. Overall both user populations moved towards position of increased downward rotation, anterior tilt and protraction with increase in load hence increasing the risk of impingement. This experiment adds depth to our understanding of dynamic scapular kinematics during wheelchair propulsion under different loading conditions and differences in scapular control between users with paraplegia and tetraplegia.     

Bad attitude

Bad Attitude: The Processed World Anthology, edited by Chris Carlsson with Mark Leger, London/New York: Verso, 1990, 286 pages, £11.95