STR polymorphism among two tribal populations of India

Two tribal populations of India, Bison Horn Maria and Muria from Bastar district of Madhya Pradesh in Central India were studied for DNA polymorphisms at tetranucleotide short tandem repeat (STR) loci (F13A01 and HUMvWA). A total of 63 random adult individuals for F13A01 locus and 53 samples for HUMvWA were analyzed in the present study.     

Moving from voluntary euthanasia to non-voluntary euthanasia: equality and compassion

Abstract.  The recent Dutch law legalising active voluntary euthanasia will reignite the euthanasia debate. An illuminating method for evaluating the moral status of a practice is to follow the implications of the practice to its logical conclusion. The argument for compassion is one of the central arguments in favour of voluntary active euthanasia. This argument applies perhaps even more forcefully in relation to incompetent patients. If active voluntary euthanasia is legalised, arguments based on compassion and equality will be directed towards legalising active non-voluntary euthanasia in order to make accelerated termination of death available also to the incompetent. The removal of discrimination against the incompetent has the potential to become as potent a catch-cry as the right to die. However, the legalisation of non-voluntary euthanasia is undesirable. A review of the relevant authorities reveals that there is no coherent and workable "best interests" test which can be invoked to decide whether an incompetent patient is better off dead. This provides a strong reason for not stepping onto the slippery path of permitting active voluntary euthanasia.     

External commercial borrowings by the corporate sector in India

The growing levels of external commercial borrowings (ECBs) among the emerging and developing economies have raised the fears that ECBs would lead to widespread crisis and threaten financial stability in India. Against this backdrop, the current study seeks to examine the trends and critically evaluate the policy pertaining to ECBs. In order to immune the economy from potential exchange rate shocks, we suggest to having specific policy focus on the domestic bond market, hedging mechanisms, and appropriate decisions on the cap and level of ECBs by the regulator.     

Climate Change and Marx in the Twenty-First Century,Part II

This paper comes in two parts. Part I, published in the June 2018 issue of this journal, opened with an examination of the relationship between Marx’s characterization of the centrality of commodity production to capitalism as a system, its destructive results on Nature and the global scale of the climate crisis confronting the 21st century. Following a discussion of these issues, Part I moved on to critically examine three models of political economy: Hayekism, Keynesianism and State Socialism. Part II takes the argument further by critically examining a fourth model, Green Keynesianism, currently being manufactured in response to the crisis of climate change, in order to show the inability of all four models to resolve the existential threat posed to humanity in the 21st century and beyond. I then proceed to posit, as a thought experiment, a now-necessary fifth model of political economy, Green Socialism, along with the building blocks important to its evolution as a coherent system. The paper concludes with a brief mention of both the ends and means that demand serious consideration if Green Socialism is to be realized.     

Analyzing the impact of terrorism on tourism in Sri Lanka

While terrorism brings fear and chaos, tourism is the epitome of peace and happiness. Sri Lanka has always attracted international tourists due to tropical climate and beautiful tourist destinations. However, terrorism and the recent debt crisis have led to chaos and economic failure; in this study, the impact of terrorism, external debt, and military expenditure on international tourism in Sri Lanka have been empirically studied to unravel the dynamics. Dynamic ARDL simulation and cumulative fourier frequency causality results highlight the presence of an inverted N-shaped association between terrorism and tourism, as well as external debt and tourism. The phenomenal results from this analysis provide essential policy suggestions for Sri Lanka for economic recovery through the promotion of international tourism.     

Euthanasia: why it doesn't matter (much) what the doctor thinks and why there is no suggestion that doctors should have a duty to kill

A major reason that The Netherlands has taken a different approach to the rest of the world on such a fundamental moral issue is that the courts and legislature in that country have accorded the interests of doctors a cardinal role in the euthanasia debate. This article argues that the interests of doctors are of only incidental and peripheral relevance in relation to the moral status of euthanasia. The moral status of euthanasia has little to do with the preparedness of doctors to administer the lethal injection or their general attitude towards the practice. Euthanasia is principally about the interests of the patient and the impact that the practice may have on the community in general, not preserving the conscience or improving the working life of doctors.     

STR data for the Amp FlSTR Profiler Plus loci among 27 populations of different social hierarchy from southern part of Andhra Pradesh, India

Allele frequency for the 9 STR loci (D3S1358, vWA, FGA, D8S1179, D21S11, D18S51, D5S818, D13S317, D7S820) were estimated from a total of 1096 individuals belonging to 27 endogamous populations from the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, covering the entire gamut of socio-economic variation of the linguistic region. These loci are found to be highly polymorphic within the populations with high levels of average heterozygosity (>0.80). However, the allele frequency distributions are fairly uniform across the populations in case of these loci suggesting relatively greater homogeneity among the populations. Regrouping populations into five broad socio-economic categories further reiterated the homogenous pattern of genetic diversity.