Risk and Respectability: Reinventing Sexuality in State-NGO HIV Prevention Programs

Qualitative Sociology - The “AIDS industry” has been a contested topic for scholars of sex work and sexuality in India. Predictions of an AIDS crisis in India in the 1990s led to an...     

The intersection of social protection and mobilities: a move towards a ‘Practical Utopia’ research agenda

Currently, a number of contributions in mobility studies are looking for fruitful intersections with other ‘adjacent’ approaches . In this spirit, our theoretical paper argues to study one particular aspect: the intersection of social protection and mobilities. Currently, the provision of social services in the ‘West’ is strongly entrenched within nation-state logics, which assume that clients’ immobility is a precondition of service delivery and that national citizenship is the desirable conditionality of gaining social rights. To overcome such a wide-spread conflation of social security with state security, we introduce the heuristic concept ‘social protection’. It allows social security to be imagined beyond a state-centric perspective and avoids the pitfalls of either a citizenship or a migration approach by taking on a mobility perspective. Thus, for scholars anchored in mobility studies we propose how to develop a social security perspective in a progressive way. For readers from other areas, e.g. citizenship, migration or social policy, we will show how a mobility perspective enriched by a No Border approach can overcome a narrow Western, statist and static perspective on social security. Our goal is to conceptually open up what we call a ‘practical utopia’ research agenda, one that expands our political horizons for future and present socialities.     

Maximum Likelihood Estimation in Compound Geometric Failure Model with Changing Parameters From Type-I Two-Stage Progressively Censored and Group Censored Samples

Boardman and Kendell (1970 Boardman , T. J. , Kendell , P. J. ( 1970 ). Estimation in compound failure models . Technometrics 12 : 891 – 908 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) considered the problem of estimation with respect to Type-I censoring when an item is subjected to only one of the two causes of failure assuming exponential model. Patel and Gajjar (1992 Patel , M. N. , Gajjar , A. V. ( 1992 ). Maximum likelihood estimation in compound exponential failure model with changing failure rates from Type-I progressively censored and group censored samples . Commun. Statist. Theor. Meth. 21 ( 10 ): 2899 – 2908 .[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) considered extension of the Boardman and Kendell's results in case of two-stage progressive censoring. Here we have considered geometric competing risk failure model with two independent causes of failures. Maximum likelihood estimation of the parameters is carried out using Type-I two-stage progressively censored and group censored samples. Asymptotic standard errors of the estimators are obtained for both the cases. Two illustrative examples are cited for ungroup and group competing risk models.     

Stochastic compartmental mooeld with branching particles and disasters: sojourn time and related characteristics

A semi-Markov cornpartmental model with branching particies is considered. The notion of disaster is incorporated into the structure. The means of (i) the total sojourn time, (ii) the number of deaths, (iii)the number of births and (iv)the number of emigrant particles in the system are analysed. Some interesting relations connecting these means are established. A few special cases are discussed in detail.     

On the algorithmic aspects of strong subcoloring

A partition of the vertex set V(G) of a graph G into \(V(G)=V_1\cup V_2\cup \cdots \cup V_k\) is called a k-strong subcoloring if \(d(x,y)\ne 2\) in G for every \(x,y\in V_i\), \(1\le i \le k\) where d(x, y) denotes the length of a shortest x-y path in G. The strong subchromatic number is defined as \(\chi _{sc}(G)=\text {min}\{ k:G \text { admits a }k\)-\(\text {strong subcoloring}\}\). In this paper, we explore the complexity status of the StrongSubcoloring problem: for a given graph G and a positive integer k, StrongSubcoloring is to decide whether G admits a k-strong subcoloring. We prove that StrongSubcoloring is NP-complete for subcubic bipartite graphs and the problem is polynomial time solvable for trees. In addition, we prove the following dichotomy results: (i) for the class of \(K_{1,r}\)-free split graphs, StrongSubcoloring is in P when \(r\le 3\) and NP-complete when \(r>3\) and (ii) for the class of H-free graphs, StrongSubcoloring is polynomial time solvable only if H is an induced subgraph of \(P_4\); otherwise the problem is NP-complete. Next, we consider a lower bound on the strong subchromatic number. A strong set is a set S of vertices of a graph G such that for every \(x,y\in S\), \(d(x,y)= 2\) in G and the cardinality of a maximum strong set in G is denoted by \(\alpha _{s}(G)\). Clearly, \(\alpha _{s}(G)\le \chi _{sc}(G)\). We consider the complexity status of the StrongSet problem: given a graph G and a positive integer k, StrongSet asks whether G contains a strong set of cardinality k. We prove that StrongSet is NP-complete for (i) bipartite graphs and (ii) \(K_{1,4}\)-free split graphs, and it is polynomial time solvable for (i) trees and (ii) \(P_4\)-free graphs.     

Convex median and anti-median at prescribed distance

The status of a vertex v in a connected graph G is the sum of the distances between v and all the other vertices of G. The subgraph induced by the vertices of minimum (maximum) status in G is called median (anti-median) of G. Let \(H=(G_1,G_2,r)\) denote a graph with \(G_1\) as the median and \(G_2\) as the anti-median of H, \(d(G_1,G_2)=r\) and both \(G_1\) and \(G_2\) are convex subgraphs of H. It is known that \((G_1,G_2,r)\) exists for every \(G_1\), \(G_2\) with \(r \ge \left\lfloor diam(G_1)/2\right\rfloor +\left\lfloor diam(G_2)/2\right\rfloor +2\). In this paper we show the existence of \((G_1,G_2,r)\) for every \(G_1\), \(G_2\) and \(r \ge 1\). We also obtain a sharp upper bound for the maximum status difference in a graph G.     

Trends and geographic differentials in mortality under age 60 in India

The study examines overall and region-specific mortality changes and regional mortality variation in India since the 1970s, using data from the Sample Registration System (SRS). An evaluation of the quality of SRS data confirms their reliability for children and adults under age 60. The results suggest the convergence of mortality across the regions of India with important inter-state differences in the pace of health improvements over time. After spectacular progress during the 1970s and the 1980s, many Indian states have witnessed slower mortality improvements in both young and adult age groups. India faces difficulties in making further reductions in infant mortality and in the burden of chronic and man-made diseases at adult ages.     

Ergonomic design intervention strategy for work tools development for women agro based workers in Northeast India

Strategy for finding the appropriate strategy for work tool development has become a crucial issue in occupational wellness of varied nature of women workforce of Northeast India. This paper deals with ergonomics intervention through sustainable work tool design development process. Workers who frequently shift to different activities quite often in unorganised small-scale fruit processing units where productivity is directly related to the harvesting season require different work tools relevant to specific tasks and mostly workers themselves manage work tools of their own with available local resources. Whereas in contrast the tea-leaf pluckers are engaged in a single task throughout the year, and the work schedule and work equipment is decided and supplied to them based on the corporate decision where the workers do not have any individual control. Observations confirm the need for organising participatory workshops specific to trade based occupational well-being and different work tools for different tasks in mostly private owned unorganised sector. Implementation of single variety work tool development that supports a crucial component in tea-leaf plucking for which they are engaged in full time employment; and through a corporate decision a single design with its number of users makes a good effect.     

Is Sex Work Sex or Work? Forming Collective Identity in Bangalore

While sex worker activism grows increasingly vibrant around the world, the forms and practices of sex work vary widely, and are often secret. How do sex workers come to see themselves as sex worker activists? What tensions emerge in the formation of collective identity within sex worker activist organizations, especially when the term “sex work” has often traveled linked to transnational organizations and funding? To answer these questions, this article analyzes in-depth interviews and participant observation on sex worker activism in Bangalore, India. Focusing on an organization I call the Union, I argue that it was first within the “shop floor” of transnationally funded HIV prevention organizations, and then within the activist work of the Union, that sex workers came to identify collectively as activists at a large scale. However, distinct configurations of practice among gendered groups of sex workers in Bangalore meant each group related differently to the formation of a sex worker activist collective identity. Two aspects of sex workers’ practice emerged as particularly central: varying experiences of sex work as “sex” or as “work,” and varying levels of anonymity and visibility in public spaces. Organizing through transnationally funded HIV prevention programs helped solidify these categories of differentiation even as it provided opportunities to develop shared self-hood.