Mental health weapons prohibition: demographic and psychiatric factors in petitions for relief

Federal law and most states prohibit possession of firearms by individuals with a history of certain psychiatric diagnoses and/or treatment. In California, an involuntary 72-h hold can trigger a 5-year ban on firearm possession. Individuals so prohibited may petition for early termination of the ban. We report on the demographic and psychiatric characteristics of a sample of individuals petitioning for early relief in Los Angeles County, and on the results of their petitions. The majority of petitioners were Caucasian men over age 40. Sixteen percent of petitioners were employed in law enforcement or armed security, and all of their petitions were granted. Individuals for whom there was greater evidence of mental disorder were significantly less likely to petition successfully. The results are discussed in terms of the benefits of involving a forensic expert in the petition process, which is not presently required under California law.     

Atherosclerosis: a medicolegal tool in exhumed decomposed bodies

An exhumed body of 40-year-old Hindu man was brought for repostmortem after 10 days of death with history of allegation of assault by mob. The body was in the advanced stage of decomposition with adipocere formation over chest, thigh, and arms. In the present case, atherosclerosis was present in the coronaries and aorta sufficiently enough to deduce the cause of death and to substantiate the first autopsy findings even in highly decomposed exhumed body.     

Mapping the linkage between corporate social responsibility and organizational performance along with examining the moderating effect of ownership

Environmental and social initiatives taken by organizations under corporate social responsibility (CSR) have attracted stakeholder's attention and global resonance in the recent times. Alike Western countries, the concept of corporate social responsibility is not new in India rather it has been imbibed in the tradition of Indian society to donate voluntarily for social causes. As a result, a paradigm shift has been noticed where “voluntarism” in CSR has got replaced with a mandatory obligation. This has been made mandatory through an amendment of new Companies Act, 2013. The current study through empirical observations emphases on examining the impact of CSR related activities on the organizational performance with the moderating effect of organizational ownership. A model is proposed and tested using SEM through AMOS. Data were collected from 265 respondents including senior CSR managers and other working professionals of select organizations. The results show a significant and positive relationship between CSR activities and organizational performance. It is also found that organizational ownership has no moderating effect on the relationship between activities conducted under CSR and the performance of the organizations. The analytical finding of the study has a practical implication for the managers of various organizations in the Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh, India.     

Human–elephant interaction: Community perspectives on conflict mitigation and conservation mechanisms

The instances of human–elephant conflict (HEC) are becoming pervasive in elephant range areas across the globe. One of the primary reasons is the exclusion and under-representation of local communities in the planning and implementation of mitigation strategies. However, engaging with local communities and considering their viewpoints are vital for the success of conflict mitigation and conservation efforts. This qualitative study was undertaken to gain a reasonably comprehensive understanding of the local community's perspectives concerning elephants in the Balasore district of Odisha, a state along the Eastern coast of India. Qualitative data obtained primarily through focus group discussions were analyzed using MAXQDA 2020 to perform thematic analysis of participants' narratives. Six common themes emerged from the study: exposure and experiences with elephants, the efficacy of deterrents, compassionate payment provisions, reasons for tolerance, and expectations. Attempts were made to understand the community viewpoints and offer implementable recommendations to improve human–elephant interactions by adopting more inclusive and participatory conservation practices.     

The global governance of water,energy, and food nexus: allocation and access for competing demands

International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics - Globally, 3 billion people are without access to modern fuels or technologies for cooking/heating, 900 million people lack...     

Climate Change and its impacts on Indian agriculture: An Econometric analysis

This study assessed the climate change impacts on land productivity for major food and nonfood grain crops in India. We compiled data for 50 years (1967–2016) using 15 crops across India to estimate the variation of agriculture production for each crop by different variables such as temperature and rainfall estimation. Our results indicate that land productivity decreases with an increase in annual average temperature in most of the crops. The adverse impact of climate change on agricultural production indicates food security threat to small and marginal farming households and adversely affected due to climatic fluctuations. Results show that a rise in temperature would reduce agricultural productivity and assessed sensitivity of Indian agriculture to climate change.     

Climate variability and its impacts on agriculture production and future prediction using autoregressive integrated moving average method (ARIMA)

This study assesses the impacts of climate variation on land productivity for major Indian food and non‐food grain crops. We collected data for 50 years from (1967–2016) with 15 crops across India. To estimate the variation of agriculture production for each crop by different variables, for instance, rainfall and temperature estimation and future prediction for 20 years, that is, until 2036. Our results specify that land productivity drops with a rise in annual mean temperature in most of the crops. The adverse impact of climate variation on agricultural production recommends food security risk to minor and marginal agricultural families, badly affected by climatic variations. Results show that a rise in temperature would reduce agricultural productivity and assessed sensitivity of Indian agriculture to climate change. We did forecasting using the autoregressive integrated moving average model for 20 years. It shows that as temperature and rainfall upturns in the future, production of some crops, such as gram, sesamum (til), jowar, groundnut, sugarcane, and bajra, will also increase. Some crops are climate sensitive, such as arhar, wheat, rice, cotton, and tea. As temperature increases, the production of these crops slightly increase or decrease.     

Investigating the stationarity hypothesis of Gross Domestic Product per capita in Central and Eastern Europe and Commonwealth of Independent State countries: Evidence using Fourier based panel KPSS test

Using annual data from 1985 to 2016, the study conducts a robust panel stationarity analysis by accounting for cross‐sectional dependency, sharp breaks and gradual structural shifts for per capita Gross Domestic Product (PCGDP) of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Commonwealth of Independent State (CIS) countries. The empirical finding reveals that PCGDP at different Fourier frequency and model structure (trend or constant) for both CEE and CIS countries are unit root process. Moreover, the PCGDP of CEE and CIS countries are nonmean reverting in the presence of cross‐sectional dependence and gradual structural shifts which previous studies using well‐known panel stationarity estimators fail to find. Policy insights are highlighted in the conclusion section.     

Lessons from NPAs crisis in Indian banks

Nonperforming assets (NPAs) crisis in Indian public sector banks is one of the biggest challenges before the current government in 2017. The finance ministry, Government of India, and the central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, are worried about the surging NPAs in Indian public sector banks because of their huge macroeconomic impact and systemic risk to the financial system. If not paid timely attention, it can hamper the economic and financial stability of the nation. Rising NPAs in Indian public sector banks are a result of bank specific, macroeconomic, and political factors. In order to control the surging NPAs in Indian public sector banks, the government and the Reserve Bank of India have implemented new crisis management framework which however is not immune to several challenges. This paper looks at NPAs crisis from the lens of crisis management, stakeholder's engagement, government relations, and issue management. Harris and Fleisher ( 2016 ) identify crisis management, stakeholder engagement, government relations, and issues management as important organizational activities that constitute part of public affairs. This paper follows a tripartite structure where it first investigates the causes of NPAs in Indian public sector banks. Second, it examines the crisis management framework developed by the policy makers and highlights the key challenges. Third, in light of these challenges, it makes recommendations to tackle the NPAs crisis in Indian public sector banks.