SIACHEN GLACIER,THE FULCRUM OF THE GREAT GAME: COLONEL ‘BULL’ KUMAR’S PERSPECTIVES

This article, written by Prateek Joshi in close collaboration with Colonel Narender “Bull” Kumar, discusses the development of the conflict over the Siachen Glacier between India and Pakistan. It sets out the Siachen Conflict in the broad framework of the Great Game and explains the crucial role of Colonel Narender “Bull” Kumar's Siachen expeditions in rekindling this old flashpoint in High Asia. Based on Colonel Kumar's two expeditions to the Siachen Glacier region, namely the Teram Kangri expedition in 1978 and the Siachen expedition in 1981, it discusses the perspectives regarding the dispute and its relation to reviving a consciousness of the Great Game. The first perspective discusses Colonel Kumar's expeditions in light of the Indo-Pak conflict as these two visits became the precursor to Operation Meghdoot, following which the Indian Army occupied the Siachen Glacier in 1984. The second perspective discusses a crucial cartographic blank which was filled only after Colonel Kumar's Siachen expedition.     

Transfer of technology: A classification of motivations

Each technology transfer (TT) transaction takes place because of some motivation on the part of the respective participants. This paper attempts to create a generic taxonomy that lists such motivations and links them to the participants in the transfer. Although the past three decades have recorded an exponential growth in the literature of TT, this literature is highly fractionated. Yet, as the literature has grown several taxonomies have surfaced dealing with the various aspects of TT. Most, however, were designed to serve one of the many scientific disciplines or professions concerned with technology transfer. Zhao and Reisman (1992) provide a synthesis of these taxonomic efforts. This paper in turn addresses an aspect of TT not previously dealt with in this manner.     

The Tragedy of Public Housing: Spatial Analysis of Hotspots of Aggravated Assaults in Louisville, KY (1989–1998)

In a community-level analysis, this study examines violent crime hot spots and displacement patterns in the city of Louisville, KY, from 1989 to 1998. Park DuValle, a neighborhood in Louisville, KY, was one of the major historic hot spots for assaults until 1998. The revitalization of the two vulnerable low-income public housing developments in Park DuValle, combined with the acquisition of nearby dilapidated and unattended private property by the Housing Authority of Louisville, caused a shift in the clustering pattern of assaults at Park DuValle in the 1997 and 1998. Maps revealed that assaults were displaced from the Park DuValle neighborhood to the Central Business District—the neighborhood where the majority of former residents of the Park DuValle public housing units were relocated. Both Park DuValle and the Center Business District were associated with low-income census blocks in Louisville, KY. These low-income public housing developments have exhibited a higher incidence of aggravated assaults. The results are discussed in the context of the possible revitalization of low-income public housing units. The study concludes that clustering and displacement of assault hot spots as well as emphasis on the decentralization of low-income residents need to be addressed further.     

Analysis of some commonly found inhalants using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC MS) – Effect of substrates on the identification of inhalants

Inhalant abuse is a serious and ever-evolving problem for our society. Inhalants are abused more commonly by teenagers and adolescents. Inhalants such as glue, paint thinners, correction fluid, and nail paint remover are easily available in the market which makes them readily abused. Out of various methods of abuse, huffing (placing a piece of cloth soaked with inhalant is placed in the mouth), bagging (placing head in a polythene bag containing inhalant), and ballooning (balloons filled with inhalant are used for inhaling vapors through the mouth) are most common. Inhalant abuse results in multiple target organ dysfunction with neuritis and brain damage due to the dissolution of the myelin sheath. In acute poisoning cases, it might cause death due to asphyxia and sudden sniffing syndrome. In such cases, various articles containing traces of inhalants could be retrieved from the scene of incidence and to detect these traces become an important facet of the investigation. However, it might be difficult due to the rapid evaporation of inhalants and the formation of reaction product species. In the present study, an attempt has been made to study the effect of three substrates (balloon, cloth, polythene) on component profiles of four paint thinners and four nail paint removers. The study suggests that although some components are retained, there is the formation of a large number of reaction product species and these must be taken into consideration before furnishing the opinion. These reaction product species might also be inhalant specific which must be further explored.     

Role of business in India’s foreign policy

The paper examines if the business sector in India has had a tangible influence on India’s foreign policy. It suggests several factors for which private business failed to have any influence on India’s foreign policy during the first three decades after Independence. It suggests a conceptual typology of the principal drivers of India’s foreign policy, which, according to the author, provides an effective framework for understanding the role of the private sector since it began to wield some influence in the mid-1980s. The paper uses this threefold classification to argue that, in the period from the 1980s to today, contrary to the general perception, the role of the Indian business sector (and especially of industry associations) on India’s foreign policy has been marginal and restricted to some specific sectors.     

Was elusive carnivore a panther? DNA typing of faeces reveals the mystery

In this study, we report the findings of a recent case in which the officials of an Indian zoo claimed that an animal, possibly a carnivore, is periodically visiting the zoo from a nearby vast forest area and causing panic in zoo and nearby villages. They collected some elusive faecal material from the vicinity of an herbivore enclosure. Looking to the pugmarks found in that area and faecal matter ceased, the officials could not decide whether it was a lioness, a tiger or a panther. We resolved this mystery by DNA-based analysis of the faecal material, using our recently developed novel universal primers to amplify and sequence a specific fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. The findings of the DNA-based analyses were confirmed after few days when the zoo officials trapped the animal of same species as suggested in our report. The potential of our procedure to investigate the cases related to wildlife offence is discussed.     

Revisiting Purchasing Power Parity for India using threshold cointegration and nonlinear unit root test

This study examines the Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) hypothesis in case of India for her five major trading partners over the period of 1991M₁–2009M₂. The study used the DF-GLS unit root test and threshold autoregressive (TAR) model as well as momentum-TAR (M-TAR) models for empirical analysis. However, we relied on TAR and MTAR models based cointegration tests to draw conclusions because of their superiority to traditional cointegration techniques as these models have limit cycles, amplitude dependent frequencies, and jump phenomena. These models are capable of producing asymmetric limit cycles and are suitable for time series data. Our empirical exercise reveals that PPP hypothesis does not exist for all major trading partners in case of India. This reveals that intermediate goods face high barriers to trade in this sampled countries. This supports the argument that Indian government has not been able to strike out the proper balance between flexibility and stability between real bilateral exchange rates and thus unable to maintaining confidence in the domestic currency that has been evident from the recent fall of rupee in relation to the US dollar.     

Construing the Written Warranty

Liverpool Law Review - In common law, the question of whether the express warranty is one that sounds in contract or tort has been a question of some debate. This question is not one of...