Claiming space: Contested coastal commons in Mumbai

Many of the world’s cities are located on the coast, and coastal ecologies and livelihoods are under increasing pressure from rapid urban transformations and climate change. This necessitates paying attention to how coastal spaces are understood and governed, but the spatial dimensions of urban coastal commons has received comparatively little attention. How are coastal spaces framed, understood, and contested? Drawing on scholarship on socio-spatial relations, the ‘right to the city’, and spatial justice, we explore these questions through tracing the contestations around the coastal commons in Mumbai, particularly focusing on the Coastal Road project and how claims of rights and access by the Koli fishing community unfolded. The case untangles the multi-scalar framings of coastal commons as places that are intimately tied up with Koli identity, versus city planners’ view of coasts as mere ‘conduits’, with the transformation of fluid land-sea commons into legible and controllable territory. We make an argument for the notion of a ‘right to the coast as commons’ as being conducive for a more climate-resilient city that heeds the particular ecological interdependencies and stewardship of coastal communities.publishedVersio

Pharmacoeconomic evaluation in cost of illness in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients in a tertiary care hospital

Background: India is expected to bear the burden of world’s greatest increase of diabetes population. This burden needs to be considered in terms of costs.Methods: Cross-sectional study was done in type 2 diabetes mellitus 100 patients that attended Medicine OPD. Prior to enrollment Institutional Ethics Committee permission was taken. Written Informed consent was taken. Demographic information related to Education, Occupation and Income was taken down. Also Information related to diagnostic tests and medications were documented. Inclusion criterion were 18-70 years of either gender diagnosed by Physicians in OPD as type 2 diabetes, willing to participate and have followed in OPD for at least one year. The Exclusion criterion was Critically ill or unconscious patients and Pregnant women. Direct and indirect costs were calculated.Results: The average age was 56.31±10.50 years. The average fasting blood glucose was 120.65±22.70mg/dl. The average cost per month for investigations was 159.74±128.06. Annual visit to OPD was 13.06±7.35. Time loss per visit was 5.62±1.29 hours and of accompanying person was 6.55±3.87 hours. There were 2 from Lower and 63 from Upper Lower socioeconomic class. There were 41 patients having diabetic complications. The indirect cost was around 5838.51 and direct cost was around 19925. Total cost per annum per patient was around 32361.27 INR.Conclusions: There is need for strategies to reduce the cost burden. There is also needed to design financial systems for diabetes related nationwide health programs

GENETIC VARIABILITY, ESTIMATION FOR VARIOUS CHARACTERS IN PEA (PISUM SATIVUM) FOR MOLLISOL OF UTTARAKHAND

ABSTRACT: Under the present study an attempt has been made for the genetic variability of Pea (Pisum sativum L.) on the experimental field of Pantnagar Agricultural University at Uttarakhand on mollisol. The Randomized Completely Block Design with 3 replications has been used for the field experiment with 30*10 cm distance. Under the study 10 quantitative characters are taken for the genetic variability, viz. Days to first flowering, Node of first flowering, Number of primary branches per plant, Plant height (cm), Number of pods per plant, Pod length (cm), Pod weight (g), Number of seeds per pods, 100-seed weight (g) and Green pod yield per hectare. Out of these 10 characters the coefficient of variance of green pod yield per hectare is maximum (20.97 %) fallowed by primary branches per plant (17.88 %) and 100-seed weight (17.22 %)

Linking atomistic, kinetic Monte Carlo and crystal plasticity simulations of single-crystal tungsten strength

Understanding and improving the mechanical properties of tungsten is a critical task for the materials fusion energy program. The plastic behavior in body-centered cubic (bcc) metals like tungsten is governed primarily by screw dislocations on the atomic scale and by ensembles and interactions of dislocations at larger scales. Modeling this behavior requires the application of methods capable of resolving each relevant scale. At the small scale, atomistic methods are used to study single dislocation properties, while at the coarse-scale, continuum models are used to cover the interactions between dislocations. In this work we present a multiscale model that comprises atomistic, kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) and continuum-level crystal plasticity (CP) calculations. The function relating dislocation velocity to applied stress and temperature is obtained from the kMC model and it is used as the main source of constitutive information into a dislocation-based CP framework. The complete model is used to perform material point simulations of single-crystal tungsten strength. We explore the entire crystallographic orientation space of the standard triangle. Non-Schmid effects are inlcuded in the model by considering the twinning-antitwinning (T/AT) asymmetry in the kMC calculations. We consider the importance of ?111?{110} and 111 {112} slip systems in the homologous temperature range from 0.08Tm to 0.33Tm, where Tm =3680 K is the melting point in tungsten.</p

Effects of iron-rich intermetallics and grain structure on semisolid tensile properties of Al-Cu 206 cast alloys near solidus temperature

The effects of iron-rich intermetallics and grain size on the semisolid tensile properties of Al-Cu 206 cast alloys near the solidus were evaluated in relation to the mush microstructure. Analyses of the stress–displacement curves showed that the damage expanded faster in the mush structure dominated by plate-like β-Fe compared to the mush structure dominated by Chinese script-like α-Fe. While there was no evidence of void formation on the β-Fe intermetallics, they blocked the interdendritic liquid channels and thus hindered liquid flow and feeding during semisolid deformation. In contrast, the interdendritic liquid flows more freely within the mush structure containing α-Fe. The tensile properties of the alloy containing α-Fe are generally higher than those containing β-Fe over the crucial liquid fraction range of ~0.6 to 2.8 pct, indicating that the latter alloy may be more susceptible to stress-related casting defects such as hot tearing. A comparison of the semisolid tensile properties of the alloy containing α-Fe with different grain sizes showed that the maximum stress and elongation of the alloy with finer grains were moderately higher for the liquid fractions of ~2.2 to 3.6 pct. The application of semisolid tensile properties for the evaluation of the hot tearing susceptibility of experimental alloys is discussed

Climate change and uncertainty from ‘above’ and ‘below’: perspectives from India

Climate-related uncertainty refers to the inability to predict the scale, intensity, and impact of climate change on human and natural environments. Debates of uncertainty in climate change have emerged as a ‘super wicked’ problem for scientists and policy makers alike. The article draws on ongoing research in different socio-ecological and cultural settings in India (Kutch, the Sundarbans and Mumbai) and introduces the heuristic of the ‘above’, ‘middle’ and ‘below’ to explore how climate change and uncertainty are understood and experienced by diverse actors. Responses from ‘above’ (especially by planners and policy makers) tend to be directed towards controlling uncertainty through top-down, techno-managerial solutions whereas scientists tend to rely on quantitative assessments and models based on probabilistic scenarios. These may have little to do with the experiences and lived realities of local people, especially in the global South, who are often at the frontline of climate change. Also at the local level, climate-related uncertainties seldom stand alone, rather they closely interact with other socio-economic drivers of change that create new uncertainties and vulnerabilities, especially for poor and powerless people constraining their adaptation choices. This article demonstrates deep differences in ways different actors understand and experience climate change and uncertainty. It argues that diverse knowledge and approaches need to be deployed to understand and embrace climate related uncertainties in order to facilitate socially just adaptation.publishedVersio