Interaction between humans, livestock, and wildlife plays an important role in zoonotic disease transmission. The emergence of Leptospira in humans, rodents, and cattle remains relatively understudied. A cross-sectional study was conducted between February and May 2023 in Muheza to determine evidence of Leptospira infection and associated risk factors in rodents, cattle, and humans. A total of 479 serum samples from rodents (n=201), humans (n=198), and cattle (n=80) were examined by using the Microscopic Agglutination Test (MAT) to detect antibodies against six live Leptospira stock culture serovars, including Pomona, Hebdomadis, Canicola, Grippotyphosa, Sokoine, and Lora. Additionally, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 140 respondents to establish potential risk factors for transmission of Leptospira. The overall Leptospira seroprevalence in rodents, cattle and humans was 6.0% (12/201; 95% CI: 3.12%-10.20 %), 12.5% (10/80; 95% CI: 6.16%-21.79%) and 13.13% (26/198; 95% CI: 8.76%-18.65%), respectively and the most predominant serovars were Grippotyphosa, Sokoine, and Hebdomadis. A significant difference in the seroprevalence was observed in the occupation category, with farmers likelier to be infected with leptospirosis than those in other categories (χ 2= 9.19, df = 3, p = 0.027). This study showed co-agglutination between rodents, cattle, and humans with serovars Hebdomadis, Sokoine, and Grippotyphosa. People aged 36-59 had the highest seropositivity, suggesting they are the most at-risk group. Our study shed light on pathogenic serovars circulating among humans, rodents, and cattle and their associated risk factors. It also highlights the importance of employing a One Heath approach in controlling zoonotic disease.

HIV-1 exhibits distinct epidemic characteristics across different regions, making it crucial to understand its genetic variation for effective AIDS prevention and control. The frequent population migration between Shenzhen and Dongguan presents significant challenges in this regard. In this study, we analyzed samples from HIV-1 infected patients who had not received antiviral therapy at Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital from January 2019 to January 2021, comprising 165 patients from Shenzhen and 269 from Dongguan. The results indicated that HIV-1 transmission in Shenzhen primarily occurred through homosexual contact, with the predominant genotypes being CRF07_BC, CRF01_AE, and CRF55_01B. The primary transmission route was men who have sex with men (MSM). In contrast, Dongguan exhibited an equal rate of infections from both heterosexual and homosexual contact, with the same three genotypes prevalent in both routes. Notably, the proportion of CRF55_01B was higher among heterosexual contacts. Molecular network analysis revealed a trend of mutual transmission between the two locations. Dongguan demonstrated a high infection rate, indicating a greater risk of epidemic spread. In conclusion, although the main genotypes in both regions are similar, their epidemic characteristics differ. It is essential to closely monitor the rising trend of CRF55_01B in heterosexual infections, particularly by strengthening HIV-1 surveillance in Dongguan and implementing targeted interventions for multiple high-risk behavior groups to curb the rapid spread of HIV-1 in the region.

not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown In order to alleviate computational duties of MDO (Multidisciplinary Design Optimization) or RA (Reliability Analysis) involving multi-blade interaction in aeroengine design, an interface ROM (reduced order model) method is proposed to replace upstream and/or downstream domains in CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) simulations, in which flow passage is divided into upstream, midstream, and downstream and midstream blade is under design. In the method, the interface velocity and pressure relations between upstream and midstream and those between downstream and midstream are identified by Volterra series firstly, which are called ROM here. Then, the ROMs are coded into user defined function (UDF) and imposed on the inlet and outlet of the midstream CFD model to characterize the influence of upstream and downstream. In this way, the multi-blade CFD simulation is transformed into a simple simulation of the midstream blade, while the effect of multi-blade interaction is kept. This will greatly reduce CFD costs involving multiple blades. The paper addresses two primary issues of the method: 1) how to build interface ROM by Volterra series; 2) how to consider the working condition change in the ROM. A flow passage example of three blades is used to verify the proposed method. The results indicate that the proposed method is feasible. The results also show that there is error in the ROM method. The error is minimal when only one of the upstream and downstream domains is replaced by ROM. It increases when both upstream and downstream domains are replaced by ROM.

The grey partridge population has experienced significant declines across Europe, largely due to agricultural intensification and loss of habitat, leading to conservation actions such as Red-listing in the UK and hunting bans in Greece. The genetics of Balkan and Scottish populations remain largely unexplored; genetic analyses are essential to evaluate the impact of past restocking efforts on wild populations, as breeding between released and wild-living partridges may complicate recovery efforts. In this study, we sample wild and farmed individuals of grey partridge from the Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia) and the United Kingdom (UK) and employ 2300 SNPs, eight microsatellites and two mitochondrial markers to investigate the genetic structure and diversity of their populations and the impact of past restocking activities. We reveal a clear distinction between two clades, an Eastern and a Western, as in previous studies, with wild birds from Greece and the UK classified to each clade respectively. However, birds from North Macedonia belonged to either clade, suggesting a contact zone between the two or a genetic legacy of past restocking practices. The captive stock in Greece and the UK is clearly of Western origin, with minor introgression of the Eastern clade being detected. Finally, an informative SNP marker panel is presented that accurately assigns each individual to either the Eastern or Western clade and will serve as a valuable tool for monitoring population structure, guiding conservation efforts, and assessing the impact of restocking activities on grey partridge populations.

Sexual differences in physiology are widely regarded as potential proximate mechanisms that underlie sex differences in mortality, life history and disease risk of vertebrates. However, little is known about the causes of sex-specific variation in physiology. Sexual selection and parental workload are two key components suggested to play a role. Theory predicts that, within males, species with stronger male sexual selection (greater sexual dichromatism and more frequent social polygyny) and higher male parental effort should have lower immune capacity and stronger oxidative imbalance. Within females, weak or no direct effect of male sexual selection on physiology is expected, but species where females invest more in parental care should have lower immune capacity and higher oxidative imbalance. We tested these predictions by phylogenetic comparative analyses conducted separately for the two sexes and based on 11,586 physiological measurements of samples collected in the field from 2,048 individuals of 116 and 106 European species for males and females, respectively. For males, we found that the degree of dichromatism, polygyny and male parental effort correlated negatively with multiple immune indices, and the level of antioxidant glutathione correlated positively with polygyny score. In contrast, female immune and oxidative variables were unrelated or weakly related to both male sexual selection or female parental effort. We conclude that sex roles can drive inter-specific variation in immune function (primarily in male birds), but less so in oxidative physiology. These findings support earlier claims that males pay higher physiological costs of sexual selection than females, but apparently also of caregiving. We discuss how females might avoid such costs.

In this paper, the effect of tensile loads single-lap adhesive joints of composite in three dimensions is investigated. First, the model of single-lap joint which consists of two composites and FM73 adhesive, it is modeled in three dimensions by using MATLAB software.Then, the model is analyzed analytically by using the meshless method, which is one of the newest numerical methods of analysis. In this regard, the displacement in each node is calculated by using element free Galerkin method, which is one of the numerical methods of the meshless method.Moving least square regression method is used in this analyze. Then the three-dimensional normal and shear stress distributions in the length and depth of the mid-plane of adhesive layer that subjected to tensile load is obtained. To confirm the results of the meshless method, the model was investigated by using the finite element method and stresses that obtained from this method was compared with the meshless method results.The normal and shear stresses were obtained and compared for eight different orientation of carbon/epoxy composite.

Objective: To assess the efficacy of early pregnancy calcium and low dose of aspirin (LDA) in preventing preeclampsia and eclampsia in Blantyre, Malawi. Design: This was a double-blind cluster randomized controlled trial. Setting: Four urban health centers and Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH) as a referral site in Blantyre, Malawi. Population or sample: A total of 306 women at high-risk of preeclampsia were recruited. Methods: Women were assigned to LDA (150mg/day) or placebo from 12 to 16 weeks until 34 weeks of gestation in clusters. All women were additionally given calcium 1 gram/day. The intention to treat analysis and adherence analysis was conducted. Main outcome measure: The rate of preeclampsia. Results: A total of 39 women were lost to follow up and 1 withdrew consent. Data for 266 women was available for analysis. Overall preeclampsia occurred in 15.8% (42/266) and eclampsia in 2.3% (6/266) of all women. There was no statistically significant difference in the rate of preeclampsia between the LDA group 19% (26/135) and placebo group 14% (16/131) (adjusted OR 1.01 95%CI 0.34-3.04, p=0.135). No statistically significant difference was observed in the secondary maternal and neonatal outcomes. The overall adherence was 69%. Conclusion: Treatment with LDA and calcium in women at risk of preeclampsia resulted in no difference in the rate of preeclampsia, nor cesarean section rates, or important neonatal outcomes in Malawi. Funding: The study was funded by PEARLS at the Heart Research Institute, Sydney, Australia. It was registered by Pan African Clinical Trial Registry([http://www.pactr.org/](http://www.pactr.org/)) registration number PACTR202108825067735.

not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown Salinization severely impacts soil health. The seasonal freeze-thaw period is a crucial time for the restoration of soil fertility, and soil microorganisms play an important role in the cycling of soil ecosystems. Therefore, it is essential to determine the changes in microbial abundance under the influence of soil salinity gradients during the seasonal freeze-thaw period and to understand their relationships with soil environmental factors.This study designed 19 different gradients of chloride and sulfate salts. Soil samples were collected after the seasonal freeze-thaw period to examine the abundance of soil microorganisms and soil environmental factors, followed by correlation analysis. We found that with increasing salinity, the abundance of soil bacteria and fungi significantly decreased, but chloride and sulfate concentrations at 3 g/kg promoted fungal proliferation.We also observed that during the seasonal freeze-thaw period under the chloride gradient: in the 0-5 cm soil layer, soil bacteria and fungi exhibited a symbiotic relationship, with the abundance of soil bacteria primarily influenced by soil pH, Na +, Ca 2+, Cl -, organic matter, and nitrate nitrogen; the abundance of soil fungi was mainly affected by soil pH. In the 5-20 cm soil layer, the abundance of soil bacteria was mainly influenced by soil salinity, soil pH, Ca 2+, Cl -, and nitrate nitrogen, while the abundance of soil fungi was affected by soil salinity, soil pH, Na +, Ca 2+, Cl -, and nitrate nitrogen.We also found that under the sulfate gradient during the seasonal freeze-thaw period: in the 0-5 cm soil layer, the abundance of soil bacteria was not significantly correlated with various soil indicators, and the abundance of soil fungi was mainly influenced by Na +, Ca 2+, Cl -, and SO 4 2-; in the 5-20 cm soil layer, the abundance of soil bacteria was influenced by soil pH, Na +, Ca 2+, Cl -, and SO 4 2-, while the abundance of soil fungi was affected by nitrate nitrogen. The thresholds for chloride and sulfate concentrations were 5.5 g/kg and 6.5 g/kg, respectively.

Demographic and Economic Transformations in South Asia: A Comparative Analysis of India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh AbstractThis paper is a comparative and rigorous analytical review of demographic and economic changes in India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh over the past twenty years. Using population growth, urbanization, GDP growth, poverty reduction, and structural challenges development as lenses, our aim is to clarify the varying developmental paths in South Asia. We take into account the relationship between governance quality, social policy responsiveness, and integration into the global economy. By placing these changes in a broader geopolitical and global market frame, we highlight some of the issues, successfully or unsuccessfully, around demographic dividends, economic development, and social equity in the three countries. IntroductionIndia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have shared a colonial past under British rule, culminating in the partition of 1947 and each has historically pursued its peculiar path of nation building. In the immediate, these three countries are structurally connected due to geography, history, and socio-political entanglements. Together, they represent over 1.7 billion people and a large part of the global South Asian people and economy. Understanding the comparable trajectories of these three countries will be an important way to assess the development future of South Asia. This paper examines the demographic trends and economic trajectories in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh has evolved between approximately 2000 and 2022. It discusses how the strategies commissioned by governments, global economic integration, and social changes have affected selected development statistics. It will also seek to reflect on how much of the trends observed were encouraged by prior governance and how much was a function of governments reacting to regional and international pressures including transnational corporations and financial institutions. Population Dynamics and Demographic TrendsIndiaAs the world’s largest democracy and with a population of 1.4 billion, India is set to overtake China with projected figures estimating their population growth has slowed to 1.2% annually, down from its peak of 2.3% in the 1970s, with a fertility rate of 2.2 children per woman (edge toward the replacement rate of 2.1). Urbanization represents one of the most significant demographic trends; in 2022 some 35% of India's population lived in urban areas, expected to be greater than 40% by 2030. Urbanization is taking place due to internal migration and the restructuring of the economy that has created demand for housing, transport and urban services. Urbanization, at times, has proceeded more rapidly than governments have been able to respond.India has an extreme demographic opportunity in its so-called "youth bulge". The demographic profile suggests that almost 65% of the population is under the age of 35, at a tipping point. But, India has failed to actively invest in education, health care, and skills training to be able to effectively meet this growing demand. India developing this urban human capital into a productive human force for the nation, will largely determine its mid-term national development trajectory.PakistanWith a population of over 243 million, Pakistan ranks as the fifth largest country in the world by population. Pakistan maintains annual population growths of nearly 2% per year, with a fertility rate of 3.6- which is nevertheless much lower than its regional population growths. Current demographic trends reflect the rapidity of this change and the ability of national planning mechanisms to anticipate population change.Urbanization is accelerating rapidly, and currently approximately 37% of Pakistanis live in urban areas. Urbanization remains unplanned for the most part, and cities such as Karachi and Lahore are experiencing substantial challenges from overstretched urban infrastructural capabilities, the vast proliferation of slums cities,, and declining public services. Internal displacement and urban congestion has been exacerbated by the effects of rural poverty.The youth cohort in Pakistan represents an opportunity potential, given the demographic data on its population, in that about 64% are less than 30 years of age, but its size and potential benefit is significantly mediated by low levels of literacy, high levels of unemployment and underemployment, weak levels of gender equity, and the political uncertainty. In the absence of sufficient systemic change i, this demographic dividend, will become a demographic burden.BangladeshBangladesh is a uniquely interesting case of population transition operating in a resource constrained environment. The rate of population growth has stabilized at approximately 1% per year, and its fertility rate has declined to a replacement rate of 2.1. Both changes are attributed to centrally coordinated family planning programs and efforts to increase access to education for women in rural areas.Urbanization is steadily increasing, with an urban aggregate population of almost 38% of the country's total national population. Urban areas such as Dhaka and Chittagong face huge infrastructural stresses while urban areas are burdened by management of a vast ecological downgrade in urban spaces, as well as a host of public health challenges.There are emerging hints and signs that suggest the demographic context in Bangladesh may mature with time, such as declining fertility rates, increasing life expectancy rates, and increasingly positive maternal health improvements; however, the unanticipated urban growth pressures for urban systems to absorb unplanned migration and unaccounted for land use combined with a failure to monitor and enforce statutes governing aspects of environmental legislation threaten to eclipse social-ecological improvements. Economic Growth and DevelopmentIndiaIndia is one of the most significant developing economies and GDP grew to approximately 3.1 trillion dollars in 2021 (IMF, 2021), making India the sixth largest economy in nominal GDP. The country has shifted its economy due to growth in the service sectors mainly through information technology and telecommunications combined with industrial diversification and foreign direct investment (FDI).Nonetheless, there are caveats with India’s growth story. The COVID pandemic saw contractions of -7.3% in 2020, and even though estimates of below potential growth of around 8.5% in 2022 exist, inclusive development is worsened by structural problems such as stagnant employment, vulnerable informal labour and regional disparities. Furthermore, declining absolute poverty and rising economic inequality, are alarming issues when coupled with long standing underdevelopment in rural areas where economic development has lagged behind urban development.The future of India’s income growth and development rests with deep structural reforms regarding labour market, education, infrastructure and governance which relate back to India’s demographic dividend potential and jobs that are realised.PakistanPakistan’s history has chronic economic volatility and systemic fragility. In 2021 GDP was approximately $346 billion, signalling it being classified in the lower-middle income Country category. Average growth annually is roughly four percent over the last decade and longer, which is not adequate to absorb the labour force nor to reduce chronic poverty.The economy still relies on agriculture which accounts for nearly 20% of GDP while employing around 40% of the labour force. However agriculture is cyclical, productivity diminishing, climate vulnerabilities high with diminishing outputs, and inefficient resource use suggesting output that is sustainable is decreasing. Industrial and service sectors are not sufficiently developed to buffer the impact of a cyclical agricultural sector.Additionally, Pakistan’s economic sovereignty is compromised with high foreign debt, IMF bailouts, little or no export diversification, currency depreciation, and high double-digit inflation eroding the purchasing power of one’s real income increasing economic and social distance. Structural and institutional weaknesses, governance issues and poor fiscal management are compounding long standing socio-economic challenges.BangladeshOf the three populous South Asian states it is Bangladesh which has achieved inclusive economic growth on a stunning trajectory. GDP growth from approximately 6% and 7% in 2010 - 2020, is almost $416 billion in 2021 of GDP (World Bank, 2021). It is important to note that when looking backwards at 20 years of economic trajectory, not only has her economy changed from low income to lower mid income.The key to this success is the ready-made garment (RMG) industry which accounts for roughly 80% of her export earnings and employs over 4 million workers which are primarily women. The RMG sector has been very labour-intensive and has also produced foreign exchange, and jobs, also providing agency for a large segment of the population in terms of women’s empowerment.The reduction of poverty in Bangladesh has been nothing less than phenomenal, from over 40% to around 20% by 2020. Literacy, health and longevity improvements are also representation of population development, however all things considered, the large reliance on one export sector, poor labour rights and protections, and environmental degradation in many urban and coastal locations, are major risk factors to long-term economic resilience. Social Development and Human RightsIndiaIndia's human development has seen minor improvements but has continued to be obstructed by excessive social issues. The literacy rate and life expectancy improved due to an increasing level of coverage in healthcare and the presence of welfare schemes along with legislative support such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which improved rural incomes and abated seasonal migration; however, India still grappled with a deeply entrenched level of domination, disparity, and inequality within its population. Caste and gender inequity, along with sectarian-based issues are constantly undermining society's dreams of social democracy and the secular inclusiveness that India is founded upon through religion-based and political-parties increasingly agitating with foercs of religious polarization. The level of inequity in public service delivery in education, health, and sanitation is highly unequal with some rural communities and marginalized populations receiving a considerably lesser standard than cities and urban populations. While society sees the benefits of digitalized public service service delivery and some fraud prevention, to an extent, widespread levels of digitalization can also reveal the inequalities that exist in Indian society.PakistanPakistan's social development is marked by some of the most alarming indicators within the region. For reference, the nation holds less than acceptable rankings across numerous globally accepted indicators of literacy, gender equitable practices and health for its' population. With respect to labour, the female labour participation rate is abysmal, rural communities do not receive the same level and quality of education and health are not distributed in rural areas. Even with the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) representing successful cash transfer programs with poor and vulnerable groups of people, the general state of corruption, bureaucracy incompetency, and political instability across the board has had overwhelming effects towards the development of the social sector. Systematic discrimination remains rife to minorities of religious affiliations and women; while discriminated segments of population based on socio-economic circumstance (poverty) remain prescribed to violent and legal exclusion, along with barriers of access to better socio/economic realities. Education, while remains entirely politicized and public spaces for civil society remain suppressed, with governance repression restricting democratic space and civic space.BangladeshBangladesh has received significant global recognition for their gendered approach to social development, national level acceptance of bottom-up strategies to poverty alleviation, as well as empowerment strategies that positions women and marginalized groups at the center of strategies. Gender-wise disparities in advanced access of primary education and primary enrolment has improved recently during this last decade. Moreover, in relation to maternal and child health, Bangladesh has improved their health outcomes, in part, due to community based health effort, even with significant public health concerns.There still exist and hurdles to tackle. The ready-made garment (RMG) industry has helped propel the Bangladeshi economy, there are implications regarding lack of labour and wage rights in exploitation and occupational risks associated with work. Urban poverty, housing, and environment with the rapid growth of urbanization of cities, such as in the city's capital, Dhaka remain significant challenges for increasingly vulnerable and marginalized people that comprise the Bangladeshi society. Along with issues directed towards vulnerable people's realities, freedom of speech and a free press are being undermined, as the quality of governance and quality of democracy are measured and assessed by a rapidly growing audience of global-minded people. The challenges for Bangladesh include advancing economic development while respecting the human rights of people in Bangladesh. ConclusionThe comparative illustration of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh shows different trajectories in terms of how they manage demographic constraints and the economic modernization process. All three countries share a post-colonial experience and similar structural legacies, yet emerge quite differently because of their capacity to govern, prioritize policies and their relationship with the international economy.India, as the most populous Country with a large economy, is at a crossroads. India’s ability to reap a demographic dividend will depend on how it responds to youth employment, regional disparities, and volatile institutions. On the contrary, Pakistan experiences reorganizational momentum because of structural instability, its weak fiscal regime, and a lack of socio-political cohesion in pursuit of common goals. Without significant reforms to governance, education and economic construction, it risks future stagnation.Bangladesh appears to be riding the crest of a wave with an export-led growth model, as well as gaining ground in advancing gender equality and human development. However, overreliance on the RMG sector, environmental degradation, and the systemic erosion of democratic freedoms also comes with significant long-term risks. The outcome of development will depend on diversifying the economy, climate resilience, and institutional engagement.In each case, the effects of climate change, global economic shocks and geopolitical flux will increasingly determine future development prospects in the region. If each of these states hope to mutually benefit from their demographic potential, the nature of human capital investment, fraught with inequalities, and developing inclusive governance, combined with regional cooperation in infrastructure, policies for trade, energy, health, and climate-change will play a significant role. South Asia could emerge, not only as a demographic juggernaut, but as a laboratory of pluralistic equity development aligned with the Global South. References・International Monetary Fund. (2021). World Economic Outlook: Recovery During a Pandemic. Washington, D.C.: IMF. ・United Nations. (2021). World Population Prospects 2021. Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. ・World Bank. (2021). South Asia Economic Focus: Shifting Gears. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. ・World Bank. (2020). Bangladesh Development Update: Moving Forward in Uncertain Times. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. ・World Bank. (2019). Pakistan at a Glance: Key Economic and Social Indicators. Washington, D.C.: World Bank Group. ・Oxfam International. (2021). Wealth Inequality and Economic Justice in South Asia. Oxford: Oxfam.

The Structural Entrapment of Poverty in Pakistan: A Critical Analysis of Systemic Barriers and Socioeconomic Marginalization AbstractThis paper looks at the persistence of poverty in Pakistan through a multidimensional socio-economic lens, illustrating how the combination of structural barriers sustain poverty among marginalized groups. Although there are episodic periods of economic growth, Pakistan remains among the most unequal countries in South Asia. The analysis of poverty expresses the intertwining of systemic deficits in education, health care, informal work, and governance, and their intersection with policy failure and intervention on behalf of international development. It then explores the important, yet limited, role civil society and NGO( non-governmental organizations) actors play to address systemic failures. By addressing both the institutional neglect and the cultural aspects sustaining poverty, the paper calls for a more holistic sustained response to structural injustice and equitable development.Introduction Poverty is the most enduring and structurally engrained of the host of socioeconomic problems facing Pakistan. The government refers repeatedly to economic growth and infrastructure development but a major portion of the population continues to survive (and sometimes not even survive) without basic rights and access including education, health care, clean drinking water, sanitation, and shelter.While poverty had historically been a rural phenomenon in Pakistan, more recently it has expanded to urban areas and in particular, the informal settlements and peri-urban slums of major cities like Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi. This urbanization of poverty means new challenges, including labor informality, spatial and locational marginalization, and welfare loss associated with weakened safety nets.This paper seeks to provide a critical, evidence-based analysis of poverty in Pakistan by exposing the macro-structural barriers to equitable socioeconomic development. These include differential exclusion from quality education and health care, precarious informal labor, and the failure of welfare policies in the state. The paper will also assess the role and contribution of civil society organizations (CSOs) and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and place their work in the context of the larger civil society discourse of development justice. The aim is to assist in exposing the institutionalized nature of poverty and the multitude of ways to respond to it.The Poverty Profile of PakistanWhile there have been some modest periods of macroeconomic growth, entrenched inequality, as well as income and wealth inequality is reported for Pakistan. According to the World Bank (2020), "an estimated 24.3% of population lives under National poverty line," plus there are millions more just above the line and at risk of shocks. But this is only a surface issue, as the data is the tip of the iceberg of the structural malaise in the country.The inequalities in geographies are staggering. Provinces like Balochistan and interior Sindh are massively under serviced and remain devoid of infrastructure, education and health but slight state presence. What these populations may call poverty is not just income poverty but a situation cultivated artificially through institutional neglect, spatial marginalization and severely degraded ecologies. Whether these populations are in as dire contexts as other places are irrelevant, urban poverty is an ever-growing issue, but its manifestations are generally less severe. In megacities like Karachi and Lahore, for example the informal housing settlements that rise out of urban blight issues are only serving to worsen the vulnerability for millions, in which housing insecurity, unsafe working conditions, and lack of services, has turned into 'new poverty'.Income inequality is also increasing. Oxfam (2021) reported the top 1% of earners in Pakistan controlled 25% of national wealth, and the bottom 20% could hardly be consider income earners beyond sandal living. The country has structural adjustment programmes and inflation, along with economic austerity, to wane social safety nets, but dampen the efficacy of poverty relief schemes, with the picture growing even worse as greater than 70% of the 'working' force is in informal economies and therefore not protected, has no benefits, and is not legally employed.The intersection of economic marginalization with gender, 'ethnicities', and geographies builds a complex and multi-dimensional poverty profile, which cannot be rectified in the simple transfer of money. Change to these underlying structures require more than just redistribution.Lack of Access to Quality Education Education is widely perceived as a critical mechanism for poverty reduction and human development; however, millions of Pakistanis remain woefully uneducated. Article 25-A of the Constitution of Pakistan provides for free and compulsory education for all children between the ages of 5 and 16. Unfortunately, this provision has been poorly implemented. Indeed, the World Bank (2019) puts the out-of-school population for Pakistan at nearly 22.8 million children, with more poverty seen among rural and peri-urban families.Public education is broadly characterized by underfunding, bad management, and poor political attention. Rural schools are often devoid of basic infrastructure, including classrooms, toilets, electricity, and boundaries. Untrained teachers or absent teachers are not uncommon. Textbooks are obsolete. Dropout rates are high, especially among girls, who are usually forced to stop school because of other factors such as early marriage, gender-based violence, and restricted mobility.Class divisions are exacerbated by the dual system of education between poorly functioning public system and the elite private school system. Additionally, private schooling access is almost exclusively available to the rich, with few options for the poor or financial support or incentive to provide subsequent generation the chance for educational achievement, which in turn limits opportunities to better their life due to their initial life experiences. In this bifurcated education system, education no longer serves as a vehicle for equality regarding providing an opportunity, but rather as a mechanism of oppression through social stratification.Lastly, the education space has been further compromised by child labor in the home. When families have economic constraints, sending their children to work usually outweighs these family member's educational chances. Therefore, it is a combination of material desperation and rational reaction to systematic neglect. Education has less value than child labor in terms of immediate outcomes to address their short-term needs. Therefore, any efforts toward education universalization should occur alongside socioeconomic reforms to provide (at the least) affordable and accessible schooling.Structural Deficits in Healthcare Access Healthcare in Pakistan represents the confluence of systemic inequity alongside state negligence. Despite constitutional obligations and international development mandates, the public health apparatus has underperformed, and especially for marginalized populations, is unable to properly function. Continued underfunding, bad governance, and a national health policy that is not aligned have created extreme resource gaps, making minimal or no access humanly achievable for the majority of the population.According to UNICEF (2020), Pakistan has some of the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in South Asia, with significant discrepancies between urban and rural areas, and low levels of immunization and high levels of preventable diseases. Public health facilities are widely utilized because they are, for many, the only location to see a treatment provider, but they are overcrowded, poorly funded, and lack adequate care items. In many rural and tribal communities, there are no facilities or ill-functioning facilities to provide access to health.The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the fragility of the Pakistan healthcare system. In the public health crisis faced by Pakistan, poor communities faced even larger health inequalities compounded by their work status vulnerabilities. Informal workers comprise over 70% of the labour force but do not have paid leave or protections by virtue of laws applied to paid employment. Having to comply with public health directed activities (e.g. quarantine, isolation, distancing) became impractical given potential occupational remuneration losses. In this context, COVID-19 did not draw attention to limiting health provision and entitlements to health, it highlighted the entrenched structural violence to poor health equitably experienced by public health's poor convertibility.In addition, out-of-pocket payment for health care is among the highest in the region, forcing vulnerable families to go without treatment, or become catastrophically indebted. Women and children, particularly, in patriarchal designated rural spaces, are more impacted by delayed access, often facilitated by cultural and logistical barriers. If there is no plan initiated that targets service delivery and social determinants of health, with policies including the support of community members, the inequities facing the Pakistan health sector will remain static, and grow.The Role and Limitations of Civil Society and NGOs Lacking effective state-led, poverty alleviation mechanisms, civil society and NGOs have emerged as important, if limited, sources of social support actors. Civil society organizations and NGOs, often operate in areas abandoned by the state, focusing on providing education, health, micro finance, disaster relief, and other necessary services. Their contributions are important, but nevertheless, felt as palliative rather than restorative.The Akhuwat Foundation, Edhi Foundation, Aga Khan Development Network, and Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN) have experimented with innovative models of social support provision, where Akhuwat has developed a suite of interest-free microcredit programs, to bolster women entrepreneurs and support the economic inclusion of low-income families; and, importantly, the Aga Khan Health Services has established community-based primary care, including in remote regions lacking government clinics and hospitals.Unfortunately, civil society's overall impact is severely limited by structural limitations. Many NGOs operate precariously within a statutory framework, facing considerable hurdles which involve registration, auditing of financial records, and periodic intensified crackdowns by the state on foreign-funded programs. Simply put, NGO activity often lacks long-term sustainability, particularly as many projects depend upon donor funding.Social and cultural factors also compromise efficacy. For example, gender, caste, and tribal affiliations can limit access to NGO service provision through stigma and/or non-party engagement. Women who received microfinance, may find they have to dissolve their enterprise due to an expectation to provide care to family members or fear of social stigma. In many cases, poverty is less an economic-related condition, than it is a socio-cultural trap, requiring both structural change and a cultural shift experienced by families and communities.Civil society actors certainly act as a vital social safety net, yet do not obviate the need for contextually-appropriate state-led interventions. They should be regarded a complementary function of social safety—rather than a replacement for the structural responsibilities of state actors.Conclusion The ongoing nature of poverty in Pakistan is not solely related to a lack of wealth. It is also related to longstanding structural injustices that form the basis of its socio-economic system. The poor are stuck in a cycle of disadvantage and isolation ranging from unproductive and underfunded education and health systems to a labor market based on informality and precariousness with no stable career paths or prospects. This structural disadvantage perpetuates a cycle of poverty augmented by lack of attention and neglect by institutions.Although civil society organizations and international non-governmental organizations can provide limited interventions, the scope of their action is constrained by distance, funding insecurity and the sociocultural framework within which they operate (for example, both have had little success in understanding social dysfunction along the lines of gender or caste). Without some form of engagement by state institutions i.e. that address the political economy of inequality and enable resources towards human development and social betterment, the efforts of civil societies will be insufficiently supported and sustained over time.Meaningful engagement goes beyond fixing social dysfunction through small changes and short-term humanitarian aid. A reformation of public policies in pursuit of human development (engaging specifically with documentation of labor relations and the inequitable distribution of resources, and understanding social rights) is critically important. Development policies must consider human capital developments in education and health, labor and structural reform, and forms of social protection and security.Additionally, addressing poverty in Pakistan necessitates a change in public perception and attitude towards poverty. The poor must be considered as citizens with rights and capacity for dignity, opportunity and social justice as opposed to passive clients of social services. Only with continued political will, effective and accountable state institutions, and support concerning agency and political efficacy will Pakistan transition from a poverty-management framework to creating equitable and inclusive opportunities for growth.References ・International Labour Organization. (2019). The informal economy in South Asia: Challenges and opportunities. Geneva: ILO. ・Oxfam. (2021). Wealth and inequality in Pakistan. Oxford: Oxfam International.・UNICEF. (2020). Maternal and child health in Pakistan. New York: United Nations Children’s Fund. ・World Bank. (2019). Out-of-school children in Pakistan: Challenges and solutions. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. ・World Bank. (2020). Poverty and inequality in Pakistan: A comprehensive report. Washington, DC: World Bank Group.

The Contemporary Human Rights Situation in Pakistan: Challenges, Violations, and Prospects for Reform Abstract This paper presents a critical assessment of the current human rights situation in Pakistan, detailing documented abuses while also measuring progress in main areas. While Pakistan has made some slow progress on issues such as gender-responsive legislation and openness in the media, there are important areas of systemic failure, such as violations against religious freedom, state violence, enforced disappearances, and silencing dissent. These small achievements remain vulnerable to thwarting by entrenched authoritarian institutions, a compromised judiciary, and rapidly declining civic space. Using diverse methods, including legal documents, NGO reports, and published articles, this paper argues that real and sustainable reform requires not only legislative change, but new structuralizing democratization processes, mechanisms for enforcement, as well as greater accountability from state and non-state actors. Introduction Since its independence in 1947, Pakistan has struggled to establish its national identity, and flip-flopped between democratic values and religious nationalism, which have drastically influenced the country's regional human rights narrative. Countries including Pakistan are signatories to some of the world's most defining international covenants such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). However, constitutionally guaranteed rights, particularly those related to freedom of expression, religious tolerance, gender equality, and due process of law, are not consistently enforced.Moreover, Pakistan's human rights concerns are compounded by inconsistent politics that include military rule, judiciary bias, and religious formalism. Civil society is at risk from state actors and private actors, while foreign intervention, while admirable, has had limited success due to geopolitical entanglements and lack of local knowledge. This paper aims to examine the current state of human rights in Pakistan by using thematic analysis of the most important sectors: religious freedom, gender-based violence, freedom of expression, and civil society. It further explores the effectiveness of civil society reforms and the structural constraints that prevent their implementation. Literature Review While there is a growing body of scholarly and policy writing about Pakistan's human rights regime that has identified patterns of selective enforcement, maintenance of systemic coercion, and susceptibility to elite capture, Abbas (2018) has specifically discussed the role military control has played in eroding civilian oversight and hollowing out its democratic institutions. Nussbaum's (2016) capabilities approach serves as a helpful normative framework to assess gendered inequities in Pakistan, especially with regard to women's bodily autonomy and access to justice systems.Documentation from Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have provided empirical insights consisting of key violations occurring particularly in religious freedoms, censoring the press, and reporting gendered crimes, as noted in the works of Abbas and Siddiqa. With specific reference to Pakistan's militarized economy, Siddiqa (2007) and what she described as elite entrenchment represents a barrier towards reform, and also enables a culture of impunity. Whereas these donor-to-state relations provided avenues for external accountability, they often do not enable domestic empowerment, and maintain a position of dependency with weakened local agency. This paper draws on this cascade of analysis to develop an assessment, as it relates to rights, in a non-linear form in 2025. 1. Religious Intolerance and the Persecution of Minorities Religious persecution continues to be one of the most serious human rights problems in Pakistan. Despite its constitutional commitments to religious freedom, the state has adopted and put into place laws that render discrimination against religious minorities institutionalized. The most frequently invoked of these laws are the blasphemy laws — sections 295 through 298 of the Pakistan Penal Code — and they are most frequent against Christians, Hindus, and Ahmadis.The blasphemy laws are often weaponized for personal vendettas and to instigate mob violence. Police complicity and judicial inaction further endanger accused persons, many of whom are murdered extrajudicially or detained for untenable lengths of time. The well-publicized case of Asia Bibi, a Christian, who was acquitted of blasphemy after nearly a decade of incarceration exemplifies the miscarriage of justice that these laws produce.Ahmadis continue to experience systematic marginalization as they were declared non-Muslims by constitutional amendment in 1974. Now they cannot identify as Muslims or profess their faith without risking prosecution. Human Rights Watch (2020) reports that Ahmadi mosques are vandalized and or razed by others, and Ahmadis are charged just for engaging in religious expression. This deliberate marginalization defies international human rights standards, and exposes the much deeper crisis of state complicity in the context of religious apartheid. 2. Women’s Rights and Gender-Based Violence Several legal reforms advancing women's rights, notably the Anti-Rape Bill and the Anti-Honor Killing Bill passed in 2016, have all been enacted by Pakistan (and instead, Article 120 of Women Empowerment Bill, 2019 has come forth). While these formal changes to the laws are politically significant, they have not meaningfully changed the actual lives of most women, particularly for women in rural Pakistan and tribal areas, where patriarchal customs and laws continue to prevail (and wherein the jirgas and the panchayats retain transactional power).According to the report prepared by World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report (2020), Pakistan ranks 151st out of 156 countries which shows considerable gaps in education, health, economic participation, decision-making and political representation of women. This is an indication of a systemic problem to change social realities based on laws. There is a persisting violence against women based on forced marriages, domestic violence, sexual harassment and killing based on honour that are pervasive and largely unreported.The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP, 2021) documented murder of over 1,000 women each year for simply being labelled the “honour” crimes (actual number could be much higher because of the underreporting and follow through by law enforcement mechanisms) although these women may never receive justice. There is stigma, fear of retribution, and law enforcement agencies which are not obliged to protect anyone, and therefore a climate of impunity prevails. There are still legal procedures that are constrained by the attestation of the family, and bounded by the male testimony, which means most women are blockers to justice.Women NGOs (such as Aurat Foundation) provide support services and sought to provide legal aid but they remain over-constrained by limited funding, political harassment, and social aversion to feminist discourses. The push for women’s rights in Pakistan remains fragile and highly contested, as the struggle for legal change must also be coupled with a shift in structures of state power as well as cultural change. 3. Freedom of Expression and Press Freedom While freedom of expression and freedom of the press are constitutionally guaranteed in Pakistan, both rights in practice are routinely curtailed by state institutions including intelligence agencies and regulatory bodies. Censorship, threats, detentions and even murder are recurrent threats faced by journalists, academics, activists and those who hold opposition views in Pakistan.In the World Press Freedom Index, Pakistan is ranked 145 out of a possible 180, highlighting the serious challenges faced by those wishing to exercise their right to investigate and report. The concern is growing with respect to the emergence of digital repression, especially through the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) of 2016, which provides state authorities with vast surveillance powers. Phrasing such as “anti-state activities” and "false information" can often be vaguely defined, creating a pathway for action to limit dissenting voices and criminalise online speech.Elsewhere, citizens and activists, including citizen journalists, in regions such as Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, are facing disappearance, intimidation or extra-legal accountability. According to Human Rights Watch (2021), targeting by way of enforced disappearance or unlawful detention has also expanded, with state agencies rarely faced with accountability for these violations, generating a culture of fear, which prevents civic participation and plurality in the democratic landscape.There are whispers of continued acts of resistance to state intimidation; many activists have found refuge in anonymous online platforms, encrypted messaging apps or microblogging sites. While these actions do provide relative resistance to censorship, expanded capacity on the part of the state for monitoring online activity brings even these limited pathways of protest and freedom of expression in jeopardy. The direction of reform in governance and a greater level of independence around state-collated surveillance in order to protect dissent, will greatly determine the effectiveness of resistance in Pakistan. 4. The Role of Civil Society and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) Despite increasing institutional restrictions, civil society actors are still among the most resilient and committed defenders of human rights in Pakistan. Organizations like the Aurat Foundation, Edhi Foundation, and Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) continue to operate under extremely difficult conditions, advancing the rights of marginalized communities, documenting violations, and providing humanitarian relief.The civic space is rapidly shrinking. The government has ramped up regulatory controls in the name of national security, deliberately focusing on organizations receiving foreign funding. The Ministry of Interior has cancelled the registration of numerous NGOs for alleged "anti-state" activities in many cases without due process, transparent investigation, or court oversight. This created a situation where in some instances, the expulsion of major international NGOs caused local actors to become isolated, drastically reducing the credibility for independent monitoring, and accountability to the public.This effort to monitor civil society is more than just administrative and has overtly political implications. It is a manifestation of the state being uncomfortable with dissent. Undermining critical voices, and asserting managerial control of the narrative on governance and human rights. If civil society is sufficiently weakened, legal reforms are likely to remain little more than window dressing, measures intended to placate, and enforcement is likely to remain erratic. Thus, whilst the ability of civil society actors to operate independently remains in doubt, the integrity of the Pakistan human rights system is compromised. This means protecting the independence and ability for NGOs to operate freely, while ensuring meaningful dialogue between the state and civil society. Conclusion Pakistan’s human rights landscape offers a contradiction: legal reforms have progressed; but substance lags behind. Although illusory legislative progress is avaiilble now on paper — laws passed in recent years have yet to lead to any qualitative improvements for religious minorities, women, journalists, and civil society actors. But this is not a failure of norms; it is a failure of human rights in Pakistan's system, where structural barriers are manifested in military interference in governance, weak legal institutions, politicized law enforcement, socio-cultural conservatism and historical accountability issues.While there are small steps forward made by committed human rights defenders and international development partners, we will not be able to build upon successes without structural reforms or justice in Pakistan, especially in the judiciary, security sector and public administration. Pakistan's potential for human rights advances rely on not only international pressure and policy instruments and design, but ultimately local accountability and actions, and robust democratic institutions and commitment to constitutional justice. References ・Abbas, H. (2018). Pakistan’s Drift into Extremism: Allah, the Army, and America’s War on Terror. Routledge. ・Human Rights Watch. (2020). World Report: Pakistan. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/pakistan ・Human Rights Watch. (2021). Pakistan: Events of 2021. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2022/country-chapters/pakistan ・Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP). (2021). State of Human Rights in 2021. Retrieved from https://hrcp-web.org/hrcpweb/state-of-human-rights-in-2021/ ・Nussbaum, M. C. (2016). Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach. Cambridge University Press. ・Reporters Without Borders. (2021). World Press Freedom Index 2021: Pakistan. Retrieved from https://rsf.org/en/index ・Siddiqa, A. (2007). Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy. Pluto Press. ・World Economic Forum. (2020). Global Gender Gap Report 2020. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/reports/gender-gap-2020-report-100-years-pay-equality

Enduring Confrontation: A Critical Analysis of India-Pakistan Conflicts Since 2000 in Historical, Military, and Diplomatic Contexts AbstractThis research paper provides a serious scholarly study of the conflict between India and Pakistan since 2000, focusing on the continuing contestation of Kashmir, episodic escalations to use of military force, and structural political animosity. Informed by empirical developments and theoretical frameworks originating in international relations and conflict studies, this study analyzes how state-sponsored militancy, nationalism, and religious polarization continue to shape the bilateral hostility. Important events, such as the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, the Uri incident in 2016, and the Pulwama-Balakot crisis in 2019, are reviewed to better understand the regional security architecture. The implications of deterrent coloniality for the strategic management of conflict are considered, as are the counterproductive responses of the United States and one-off challenges posed by China. The paper also assesses the structural barriers to a resilient peace and the changing geoeconomics of the South Asian region. IntroductionSince their partition in 1947, the bilateral relationship between India and Pakistan has been marked by cycles of hostility, tenuous truces, and episodes of renewed conflict. The jagged fault line created by the territorial dispute over the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir continues to be the most dangerous and emotionally salient issue, involving concepts of territorial sovereignty along with mutually exclusive religious and nationalistic ideologies. Since 2000, hostilities between India and Pakistan have evolved, becoming even more troublesome, even while both India and Pakistan became nuclear powers and became embedded in global strategic alignments.This study will attempt to interrogate the nature of post-2000 India-Pakistan relations through a multi-dimensional lens, including military engagements, political rhetoric, and the strategic use of non-state actors. The proliferation of headline-grabbing acts of terror, cross-border strikes, and skirmishes along the Line of Control reveal not only an operational dimension, but a deeper political and structural antagonism that are embedded within each state’s structures of politics and their respective cultures of strategy.The paper will first review relevant academic literature concerning nuclear deterrence theory, state-sponsored terrorism, and Kashmir as symbolic politics, before then critically examining relevant military and political flashpoints, including a review of the events of the attacks on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and the aerial engagements following the 2019 Pulwama incident. Ultimately, the paper attempts to discern the limits of traditional diplomacy and international mediation in altering the trajectory of indo-Pakistani hostility. Literature ReviewSince the 21st century, the academic study of the Indo-Pakistani conflict has multiplied in scale and scope, and undoubtedly different disciplinary perspectives, including international security, South Asian history and politics, and theoretical perspectives on conflict resolution, have fleshed out the existing literature. A principal focus of the literature has been on the continued prominence of the Kashmir conflict, the strategic use of terrorism for asymmetric warfare, and the paradoxical stabilizing yet destabilizing presence of nuclear deterrence. In discussing the ironic logic of nuclear peace, Stephen P. Cohen (2013) offers an explanation for why both states have, arguably, avoided "full-scale" war; namely, that their nuclear capabilities have afforded each state greater latitude to engage in sub-conventional forms of aggression that may otherwise draw them into a crisis within the "nuclear umbrella." Similarly, C. Christine Fair (2014) examined the ideological underpinnings of the Pakistani military establishment and contended that the institutional predisposition of hostility towards India has produced a strategic culture that has resisted moving toward reconciliation. Sumit Ganguly (2016) viewed the Kashmir dispute not only as a boundary dispute, but as an extension of identity politics in which different forms of nationalism drawn from religious symbols lay their claim to a mutually exclusive vision of sovereignty. In contrast, international relations theorists like John Mearsheimer (2001) applied structural realist models to explain the shifting interplay between deterrence and provocation in the conflict ecology of South Asia. Each of these studies argues that the intervention of great powers, particularly in the form of mediation, provision of arms, or the exercise of strategic patronage, while well-meaning, have done more to reinforce than relieve instability in the subcontinent.This study builds on the existing scholarship and provides an updated and empirically based assessment of the India-Pakistan conflict after 2000 and seeks to examine how high-profile events have impacted the regional balance of power and the strategic calculations in both capitals. 1. The 2001 Indian Parliament Attack and Its AftermathThe December 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament was a watershed in Indo-Pakistani relations, threatening to destabilize the region and bring both nuclear states to the brink of war. The attack was carried out by militants associated with Pakistani-based anti-Indian militant groups Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba, and New Delhi viewed this attack as an assault on Indian sovereignty and democratic institutions.India's response was tremendous and unprecedented. Under operation Parakram, India mobilized approximately 800,000 troops on the western border creating a military standoff that lasted for ten months and brought South Asia closer to nuclear confrontation than any time since 1999. While total war was averted largely due to extensive diplomatic engagement from the United States and European powers, this episode also indicated the dangerous nature of the new security environment in South Asia following Kargil.The attack on the Parliament also created a change in India's counterterrorism policy that emphasized punitive deterrence and cross-border retaliation. In addition, it intensified international concerns surrounding Pakistan's ambiguous relationship with militant groups, claiming that these groups virtually operate free of state action/inaction. Although Islamabad denied culpability, the attack of the Indian Parliament marked a transmutation toward the internationalization of the Kashmir problem that framed it was no longer just a bilateral dispute, but a global security challenge linked to transnational jihadism. 2. The Kashmir Conflict and Continued TensionsThe Kashmir issue constitutes the primary and most persistent flashpoint in the India-Pakistan conflict which raises deeper questions of national identity, post-colonial legitimacy and religious-political sovereignty. Since 2000, the Line of Control (LoC) has acted not so much as a stable border but as a contested military theater of military skirmishes, artillery duels, and tactical incursions.The militant attack on an Indian Army base in Uri in 2016 was attributed to operatives in Pakistan was a turning point in India's strategic calculus. The Indian government immediately countered what they described as surgical strikes across the LoC targeting terrorist launching pads. While the operations were limited in scope, this reflected a radical departure from India's historical restrained posture and introduced a new class of cross-border kinetic actions based on the principle of pre-emptive self-defense.This was followed by another significant escalation in February of 2019 when a suicide bombing in Pulwama, Kashmir killed 40 Indian paramilitary persons. The attack was claimed by Jaish-e-Mohammed and contributed to India's first-ever airstrike on Balakot in Pakistan, purportedly a counter-terrorism operation as opposed to an act of war. Pakistan then retaliated with airstrikes and captured an Indian Air Force pilot for a short time to demonstrate the razor-thin space between conventional military actions and full-scale war. These episodes highlight the instability of this conflict and the unpredictable escalation ladder within which political and military actors are prepared to challenge the limits in the interests of honour and credibility of deterrence ways. 3. The Role of Terrorism and MilitancyMilitant violence has been an ongoing and disruptive variable in Indo-Pakistani relations and is obviously central to the Indian government’s long-standing narrative that Pakistan has long been implicated in militant proxy warfare because of its military-intelligence establishments specifically the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed have been associated with numerous well-known terrorist attacks within India leading to a global image of Pakistan as a permissive or supportive state actor of terrorism.In contrast, Pakistan has framed itself both as a victim of and an adversary to terrorism, citing its struggles with groups like Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as examples of internal colonialism that have killed thousands of civilians and military personnel. Nevertheless, these frames have not convinced the international community as a whole. For example, in 2018, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) put Pakistan on its "grey list for weaknesses in counterterrorism financing, and lack of effective action against proscribed organizations", damages Pakistan's standing domestically and abroad, presenting another obstacle to warmer bilateral relations.For India, it sees terrorism not simply as a security threat but also as a political tool used by Pakistan to internationalize the Kashmir crisis and to foment factionalism domestically. This understanding of the response has driven New Delhi to engender an ever more muscular counterterrorism approach to dealing with threats from Pakistan, which included legal and constitutional ways to alter Kashmir's autonomy under Article 370 with nothing less than a deeply supportive domestic constituency, while garnering overwhelmingly negative responses from the international community. 4. Nuclear Deterrence and the Risk of EscalationThe introduction of nuclear weapons in South Asia carried a complex new deterrent dynamic into the India-Pakistan rivalry. While the conventional military balance is asymmetrical and highly favorable to India, Pakistan's development of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) and its doctrine of full-spectrum deterrence, intend to mitigate that asymmetry. The result is a strategic environment that is characterized by nuclear stability, but conventional and sub-conventional instability - a paradox that is often cited in deterrence literature.Analysts such as Cohen (2013) and Narang (2017) suggest that nuclear weapons have deterred total war, while also emboldening Pakistan to continue to support asymmetric warfare because of the belief that India will not escalate their response options because of a potential nuclear response. However, India's post-Uri and post-Pulwama punitive strikes demonstrate a recalibration of responses. The conduct of cross-LoC and cross-border strikes without leading to a nuclear escalation indicates that India aims to create a limited war space below the nuclear threshold.Nevertheless, these limited war gambits carry serious risks. The 2019 air confrontations, where both countries lost aircraft and an Indian pilot was briefly taken by Pakistan, demonstrated how quickly the consequences of certain command-and-control dynamics can deteriorate. Misperception, miscalculation, and erroneous escalation remain real risk, particularly in the context of heightened nationalist sentiment that may undermine strategic cautiousness. 5. International Mediation and DiplomacyGlobal powers have been, and will continue to be, inconsistent mediators between India and Pakistan. The United States has, historically, acted more as a crisis manager, as demonstrated in their shuttle diplomacy during the 2001-2002 military standoff, and again in the 2019 crisis that followed a bombing in Balakot. Importantly, US attempts to manage regional risks have been motivated by the need for regional stability, and international obligations to counter-terrorism. China, as a strategic ally of Pakistan and economic player in the region through the Belt and Road Initiative, has historically been more reserved, occasionally calling upon both Pakistan and India to exercise restraint and/or commence dialogue, but also complicating its neutrality with its increasing strategic footprints in the region, particularly through the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). China’s backing of Pakistan at different times has encouraged India’s rejection of any third-party mediator. India has consistently rejected claims of mediation in relation to the Kashmir issue in line with their long-standing diplomatic doctrine of bilateralism which is consistent with the Simla Agreement of 1972. It has created a structural limitation to international peacemaking efforts, in spite of non-binding statements and resolutions endorsed from organizations such as the United Nations calling for restraint and dialogue. As a result, while global diplomacy has been intermittent in successfully defusing the imminent threat of war, it is inadequate to change the structural dynamics of India-Pakistan hostility. Without sustained, multilateral frameworks for conflict resolution built on mutual strategic trust, another induced process of diplomacy remains unlikely. ConclusionSince the year 2000, the India-Pakistan conflict has demonstrated the ability of historically entrenched disputes to adapt, nourished by expansive political, religious, and strategic fault lines. Although the bilateral relationship has thankfully avoided full scale violence so far, terrorist incidents, poorly calibrated military responses, and nationalist brinkmanship continue to threaten the situation's stability.Kashmir continues to function as both a territorial dispute and a symbolic pivot nationally, with each side firmly rooted in unique and mutually exclusive narratives. The repeated use of militant proxies and limited military responses illustrate that low intensity conflict has become normalized as a strategy. Meanwhile, nuclear deterrence only affords conditional stability — it can prevent total wars but may also incentivize risk taking at lower thresholds of conflict.International actors have been able to intervene when military tensions have escalated and provide de-escalatory intervention, they have generally not been able to facilitate any transformative peace process. As political dynamics and levels of regional geopolitical influence change — particularly the roles of China and the United States and intra-regional factors in South Asia — the India-Pakistan conflicts remain an important barometer of nuclear stability, regional diplomacy, and the possibilities of post-colonial reconciliation.If there is not some new paradigmatic thinking about how to better engage bilaterally based on political courage, civil society engagement, and multilateral commitment, the rhetoric sustaining peace will remain an aspiration. References・Cohen, S. P. (2013). Shooting for a century: The India-Pakistan conundrum. Brookings Institution Press. ・Fair, C. C. (2014). Fighting to the end: The Pakistan army's way of war. Oxford University Press. ・Ganguly, S. (2016). Deadly impasse: Indo-Pakistani relations at the dawn of a new century. Cambridge University Press. ・Mearsheimer, J. J. (2001). The tragedy of great power politics. W.W. Norton & Company. ・Narang, V. (2017). Nuclear strategy in the modern era: Regional powers and international conflict. Princeton University Press. ・Financial Action Task Force. (2018). Jurisdictions under increased monitoring - Pakistan. https://www.fatf-gafi.org/

This paper addresses both direct and inverse problems for the bi-Laplace equation in a simply connected, bounded domain. Using Green's formula, the direct problem is recast as a system of Fredholm integral equations. The existence and uniqueness of solution are rigorously established within suitable Sobolev spaces. The objective of the inverse problem is completing missing Cauchy data on a non-measurable boundary portion subjected to Riquier-Neumann boundary conditions. The approach involves reformulating the problem into a set of nonlinear, ill-posed integral equations that faithfully represent the original inverse problem. To address the challenge posed by incomplete Cauchy data, we employ Tikhonov regularization to achieve a robust solution. The proposed methodology is validated through a series of numerical experiments, showcasing its reliability and accuracy in data completion problem.

The landscape of the NW Iranian Plateau in the Arabia- Eurasia continental collision system results from the interplay between climate and tectonics. The Talesh Mts. along the margin of the plateau exhibit characteristics of a transient landscape shaped by the spatial variability of precipitation, bedrock erodibility, and active tectonics. The influence of the orographic rainfall and its erosional efficiency on topographic building processes, however, is still unknown. To explore the interplay between these factors, we present 11 new erosion rates derived from meteoric 10 Be on the eastern (wetter) and western (drier) flanks of Talesh Mts. We also examine their relationship with ksn and ksnQ metrics considering the spatial rainfall variations. The erosion rates range from ⁓100 to 400 m/Myr, with lower values in the interior, and higher values in the plateau exterior with a positive correlation with topographic metrics. Mountain building and erosion in the range likely started around 12 to 10 million years ago, as suggested by rock uplift histories inferred from river profile inversion analysis. This caused a progressive concentration of precipitation along the windward orogenic side, enhancing tectonic activity. The stationary nature of the range over the last few million years may result from more efficient sediment removal on the wet flank. This feedback could have been amplified during the base-level drop of the Caspian Sea.

Integrated sensing and communication (ISAC) is considered one of the key technologies for the 6G network. In this letter, we propose a fair resource allocation method for the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) enabled communication network, where UAV are equipped with ISAC equipment to serve multiple users and targets. In order to achieve both fair communications and sensing, the resource allocation problem is formulated as maximizing the fairness index under the total power constraint, which is a typical non-convex optimization problem. Then, we propose the modified noise DDPG method to derive the power allocation. Finally, the simulation results verify the effectiveness of the proposed method compared with the benchmarks.

In response to warming temperatures, species worldwide are expanding their range poleward. As these species move into new ecosystems, they interact with novel organisms and may alter food webs. Climate-driven expansions can thus lead to cascading changes in ecological interaction webs, affecting ecosystem function and services. However, climate change rarely acts in isolation. Other anthropogenic stressors, such as pollution and habitat conversion, act in concurrence with the indirect, biotic effects of climate change. In this study, we employed gut content analysis to investigate dietary similarity between sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus) and a tropical congener, sea bream (A. rhomboidalis), in the Indian River Lagoon, Florida (USA). We paired these data with long-term seagrass and macroalgae monitoring data to investigate the effects of a macrophyte cover gradient, as a proxy for eutrophication driven die-offs, on the diets of these fish species. Sheepshead and sea bream had highly similar diets, dominated by macrophyte material, though we also detected a significant effect of fish species identity. Furthermore, tropical sea bream consumed more seagrass at locations with higher seagrass abundance compared to low seagrass abundance, whereas sheepshead consumed a similar amount across seagrass abundance levels. These results suggest the potential for competition between these species, which may impede future recoveries of currently declining sheepshead populations. Invasion of sea bream may hinder recovery of imperiled seagrass populations by increasing grazing pressure in this eutrophic, light-limited system. We provide evidence that the indirect effects of climate change and other anthropogenic stressors can interact and influence ecological interactions.

Large constant-sign solutions for boundray value problems (Bvps) of the partial discrete difference equation involving ( p,q)-Laplacian is investigated in this paper. The method is based on the critical point theory and truncation techniques. Even reducing to the ordinary difference equations, our results generalize and significantly improve some existing ones. In the end, the obtained results are exemplified based on two examples.

Fish-eye morphology is commonly observed in the very high cycle fatigue (VHCF) regime of additively manufactured Ti-6Al-4V alloys. However, its occurrence and implications have been less extensively studied in the high cycle fatigue (HCF) regime. In this paper, the fatigue performance and relationship between fish-eye morphology, fatigue life, and stress amplitude of selective laser melting (SLM) Ti-6Al-4V alloys were investigated in the HCF regime. Additionally, an in-depth analysis revealed that crack initiation in hot isostatic pressing (HIP) treated Ti-6Al-4V alloys predominantly occurs at facets, with a relationship identified between crack initiation sites and localized oxidation. Finally, based on the stress intensity factor (∆𝐾), a mechanistic model is proposed to explain the crack initiation and propagation behavior associated with fish-eye morphology in the HCF regime.

This research investigates the diverse thermal reactions of additively manufactured Inconel 718 samples under cyclic dynamic loading, predominantly influenced by the Self-Heating effect. The study assesses the feasibility of utilizing thermographic techniques to construct an S-N curve for predicting fatigue life with a reduced number of samples compared to conventional constant-amplitude tests. Dedicated Self-Heating tests are performed, systematically elevating the loading amplitude while concurrently tracking the specimen's temperature. The credibility of the proposed solution is juxtaposed with our experimental data, encompassing the influence of four distinct heat treatments on samples from a single additive manufacturing build. This comparison yields valuable insights and leads to noteworthy conclusions.

not-yet-known not-yet-known not-yet-known unknown ：Fatigue damage is the primary failure mode of automotive gears. This study explored the influence of surface strengthening techniques on the transmission performance and contact fatigue life of helical gears in automatic transmission, highlighting the practical value to improve contact performance of gears. Employing 20MnCrS5 as the base material, manganese phosphate conversion coating and composite micro-shot peening were applied respectively to investigate the strengthening mechanism through surface morphology, friction factor, residual stress, and microhardness. Experiments were conducted to analyze transmission characteristics such as surface roughness, efficiency, vibration attributes in running-in stage, the service life and failure mechanism of surface-strengthened gears. The findings indicated that both manganese phosphate coating and composite micro-shot peening can noteworthy heighten the fatigue life of helical gears.

In the digital era, the internet and social media have transformed communication but have also facilitated the spread of hate speech and disinformation, leading to radicalization, polarization, and toxicity. This is especially concerning for media outlets due to their significant role in shaping public discourse. This study examines the topics, sentiments, and hate prevalence in 337,807 response messages (website comments and tweets) to news from five Spanish media outlets (La Vanguardia, ABC, El País, El Mundo, and 20 Minutos) in January 2021. These public reactions were originally labeled as distinct types of hate by experts following an original procedure, and they are now classified into three sentiment values (negative, neutral, or positive) and main topics. The BERTopic unsupervised framework was used to extract 81 topics, manually named with the help of Large Language Models (LLMs) and grouped into nine primary categories. Results show social issues ( 22.22%), expressions and slang ( 20.35%), and political issues ( 11.80%) as the most discussed. Content is mainly negative ( 62.7%) and neutral ( 28.57%), with low positivity ( 8.73%). Toxic narratives relate to conversation expressions, gender, feminism, and COVID-19. Despite low levels of hate speech ( 3.98%), the study confirms high toxicity in online responses to social and political topics.

Key Points: 1. External auditory exostosis (surfer’s ear) is a progressive condition of benign hyperostotic overgrowths of the external auditory canal, secondary to repetitive cold-water exposure, in which symptoms correlate to degree of exostosis. 2. Surgical intervention is the only available treatment, most commonly using the osteotome or microdrill, but these carry a risk of sensorineural hearing loss, post-operative stenosis, temporomandibular dysfunction and tympanic membrane perforation. 3. We describe the Sanu technique, an innovative method of canaloplasty with endoscopic underwater excision of exostoses using Piezoelectric saw and continuous irrigation with 1:1,000,000 adrenaline. 4. The inherent properties of the Piezoelectric saw reduce the overall risk of complications compared to otologic drill and osteotome, most notably of sensorineural hearing loss and temporomandibular joint dysfunction. 5. This novel technique is cost-equivocal and easily implemented in departments with endoscopic capabilities.

Recent breakthroughs in deep learning architectures have allowed models to achieve unprecedented levels of accuracy and contextual understanding in generating humanlike text. However, significant challenges remain, particularly regarding inefficiencies in token processing, inference speed, and the occurrence of hallucinations during generation. Introducing a novel approach, Dynamic Token Clustering (DTC) redefines how tokens are processed by utilizing a context-sensitive clustering mechanism that dynamically groups semantically related tokens, optimizing computational resource allocation throughout the inference process. This technique not only accelerates inference but also improves model accuracy and reduces hallucination frequency by ensuring more focused attention on contextually significant tokens. Experimental results reveal substantial reductions in inference latency and memory usage, along with improvements in BLEU scores and perplexity across a range of language tasks. Moreover, DTC's ability to generalize effectively across different model sizes and tasks demonstrates its scalability and versatility. By addressing key inefficiencies and enhancing token relevance during inference, DTC establishes a new pathway for optimizing large-scale language models while maintaining high levels of output quality and reliability.

Addressing the challenge of an aging population, retirement financial strategies are crucial, affecting not only the quality of life but also the economic security of middle-aged and elderly individuals. This study utilizes data from the 2020 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) to explore the impact of children’s structure on the retirement financial intentions of the middle-aged and elderly. It reveals that the number and quality of children, including their education level and economic status, significantly influence the acceptance and preferences for retirement financial instruments among the middle-aged and elderly. Therefore, it is imperative for researchers to consider the retirement financial intentions of this demographic and develop more personalized and flexible retirement financial policies. Additionally, enhancing retirement financial education can improve the elderly’s understanding of financial products, ensuring their economic security and achieving a comfortable and secure old age.