Informal Housing, Inadequate Property Rights: Understanding the Needs of India's Informal Housing Dwellers

In India, as in many other developing countries, urban population growth and the shortage of planned affordable housing have led to 26–37 million households (33–47 percent of the urban population) living in informal housing (slums and unauthorised housing). Slum dwellers often live in poor conditions and face the threat of eviction or demolition. Unauthorised housing dwellers usually have some basic services (such as electricity and water). However, they may lack proper roads, sewage, or drainage, and they also face the potential threat of demolition.The Indian government has tried many different approaches to help improve living conditions for informal housing dwellers, but without sizeable impact. Redeveloping and relocating slums has not scaled, improving service provision has been slow, and "legalising" unauthorised housing has been limited. Unfortunately, informal housing is going to exist for the foreseeable future in India, and there is an urgent need to improve the lives of people who are living in such sub-optimal conditions.This report applies a property rights lens to segment the different types of informal housing, to understand the size and the needs of these segments, and to identify potential solutions to meet these needs. The research focuses specifically on owner-occupants, since they are most likely to invest in improving their housing as they will benefit from these improvements—both as residents and as owners of the asset.Research for the report involved reviewing 40 reports, speaking to 56 experts, conducting around 200 qualitative interviews of informal housing dwellers in 90 settlements, conducting quantitative interviews of 517 informal housing dwellers in 40 settlements in four cities (Delhi, Pune, Hyderabad, and Cuttack), gathering feedback on the findings in a workshop with 10 experts, and feedback on a draft report from 21 experts

Fast Second-order Cone Programming for Safe Mission Planning

This paper considers the problem of safe mission planning of dynamic systems operating under uncertain environments. Much of the prior work on achieving robust and safe control requires solving second-order cone programs (SOCP). Unfortunately, existing general purpose SOCP methods are often infeasible for real-time robotic tasks due to high memory and computational requirements imposed by existing general optimization methods. The key contribution of this paper is a fast and memory-efficient algorithm for SOCP that would enable robust and safe mission planning on-board robots in real-time. Our algorithm does not have any external dependency, can efficiently utilize warm start provided in safe planning settings, and in fact leads to significant speed up over standard optimization packages (like SDPT3) for even standard SOCP problems. For example, for a standard quadrotor problem, our method leads to speedup of 1000x over SDPT3 without any deterioration in the solution quality. Our method is based on two insights: a) SOCPs can be interpreted as optimizing a function over a polytope with infinite sides, b) a linear function can be efficiently optimized over this polytope. We combine the above observations with a novel utilization of Wolfe's algorithm to obtain an efficient optimization method that can be easily implemented on small embedded devices. In addition to the above mentioned algorithm, we also design a two-level sensing method based on Gaussian Process for complex obstacles with non-linear boundaries such as a cylinder

Natriuretic peptide receptor-C activation regulates vascular smooth muscle cell hypertrophy : molecular mechanisms

Thesis evaluated by: Dr. Rémy Sauvé, Dr. Puttaswamy Manjunath and Dr. Madhu Anand-Srivastava. Thank you for all your help.L’hypertension est associée au remodelage vasculaire dû à l’hyperprolifération et l’hypertrophie des cellules musculaires lisses vasculaires (CMLVs). Nous avons démontré par le passé l’implication de l’expression élevée des protéines Gqα et PLCβ1 dans les CMLVs de rats spontanément hypertendus (RSH) âgés de 16 semaines. Le C-ANP4-23 est un agoniste du récepteur au peptide natriurétique de type C (NPR-C) qui possède la capacité d’inhiber la synthèse de protéines en réponse aux peptides vasoactifs dans les CMLVs. Cette étude a eu pour but d’examiner si le C-ANP4-23 pouvait atténuer l’hypertrophie dans un modèle de rat souffrant d’hypertrophie cardiaque et d’explorer les mécanismes responsables de cette inhibition. Pour ce faire, des CMLVs aortiques de RSH âgés de 16 semaines ont été utilisées. Le taux de synthèse de protéines, un marqueur d’hypertrophie, a été déterminé par l’incorporation de (3H)leucine et l’expression des protéines a été déterminée par la technique d’immunobuvardage de type Western. Le volume cellulaire a été estimé par imagerie confocale tridimensionnelle. Le taux de synthèse de protéines et le volume cellulaire étaient considérablement accrus dans les CMLVs des RSH comparativement aux rats WKY et ont été largement atténués par le traitement au C-ANP4-23. De plus, le traitement au C-ANP4-23 a normalisé l’expression élevée du récepteur AT1 et des protéines Gqα et PLCβ1, des niveaux intracellulaires d’anions superoxide (O2-), de l’activité de la NADPH (de l’anglais nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate) oxydase, ainsi que l’expression des protéines Nox4 et de p47phox dans les CMLVs des RSH. En outre, le C-ANP4-23 a réduit l’activation des récepteurs à L’EGF (de l’anglais epidermal growth factor), au PDGF (de l’anglais platelet-derived growth factor), et à l’IGF-1 (de l’anglais insulin-like growth factor 1). Le C-ANP4-23 a également atténué la phosphorylation des ERK1/2 (de l’anglais extracellular regulated kinase1/2), AKT et c-Src. Ces résultats indiquent que l’activation du NPR-C par C-ANP4-23 a atténué l’hypertrophie des CMLVs par sa capacité à diminuer la surexpression du récepteur AT1, l’expression élevée des protéines Gqα/PLCβ1, le stress oxydatif accru, l’activation augmentée des facteurs de croissance et l’augmentation de la phosphorylation des voies de signalisation MAPK/AKT. Ainsi, ces travaux suggèrent que le C-ANP4-23 peut être utilisé comme agent thérapeutique pour le traitement des complications vasculaires associées à l’hypertension et à l’athérosclérose.Hypertension is associated with vascular remodelling due to hyperproliferation and hypertrophy of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). We earlier showed the implication of enhanced expression of Gqα and PLCβ1 proteins in VSMCs from 16- week-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The present study was undertaken to investigate whether C-ANP4-23, a natriuretic peptide receptor-C (NPR-C) agonist that has been shown to inhibit vasoactive peptide-induced enhanced protein synthesis in VSMCs, could attenuate VSMC hypertrophy in rat models of cardiac hypertrophy and to explore the underlying mechanisms contributing to this inhibition. For these studies, aortic VSMCs from 16-week-old SHR were used. The protein synthesis, a marker of hypertrophy, was determined by (3H)leucine incorporation and the expression of proteins was determined by Western blotting. Cell volume was determined by three-dimensional confocal imaging. The protein synthesis was significantly enhanced in VSMC from SHR as compared to WKY and C-ANP4-23 treatment attenuated the enhanced protein synthesis to WKY control levels. In addition, the enhanced expression of the AT1 receptor as well as Gqα and PLCβ1 proteins, enhanced levels of superoxide anion (O2 -), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase activity, as well as the increased expressions of NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4) and p47phox exhibited by VSMC from SHR were all attenuated by C-ANP4-23 treatment. Furthermore, C-ANP4-23 also attenuated the enhanced activation of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R), platelet-derived growth factor receptor (PDGF-R), insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF-1R) and the enhanced phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2), AKT and c-Src. These results indicate that C-ANP4-23, via the activation of NPR-C, attenuates VSMC hypertrophy through its ability to decrease the overexpression of the AT1 receptor and Gqα/PLCβ1 proteins, the enhanced oxidative stress, the increased activation of growth factors and the enhanced phosphorylation of the MAPK/AKT signalling pathway. Thus, it can be suggested that C-ANP4-23, an activator of NPR-C, may be used as a therapeutic agent for the treatment of vascular complications associated with hypertension and atherosclerosis

Anticonvulsant effects of nimodipine alone and combination with phenytoin on MES induced seizures

Background: To evaluate the anticonvulsant activity of Nimodipine alone and in combination with Phenytoin, in MES induced seizures.Methods: The study was conducted in mice and MES seizure was induced by Techno electroconvulsometer. In first part of study, animals were treated with Nimodipine (20mg/kg i.p. and 40mg/kg i.p.) and Phenytoin (0.5 mg/100g i.p. and 1.0mg/100g i.p.), MES was induced and durations of various phases were noted. Duration of Tonic hind limb extension (THLE) was taken as index for antiepileptic activity. In second part, the animals were treated with combination of sub effective doses of Nimodipine (20mg/kg i.p.) and Phenytoin (0.5mg/100g i.p.), MES was induced and durations of various phases were noted.Results: Nimodipine produced significant antiepileptic activity, in dose dependent manner. Phenytoin produced significant antiepileptic effect in dose of 1.0mg/100g but failed to produce any such effect in dose of 0.5mg/100g, when administered alone. But when sub effective doses.Of Nimodipine and Phenytoin were combined, a synergistic effect was seen.Conclusions: Nimodipine possess significant antiepileptic activity, alone, as well as it potentiates the antiepileptic effect of Phenytoin, suggesting the novel application of already proven safe and efficacious calcium channel blockers

Municipal Solid Waste Management Study and Strategy in Aligarh City, Uttar Pradesh India”

ndia is a religious country with ancient civilization and having population diverse in religious and cultural belief. The International standards of sanitation and cleanliness point out the poor sanitation condition in our nation. The Mahatma Gandhi had a dream of clean India. He played a great role for making Indian clean and green. Moreover, the Government of India has followed hisfoot prints and launched a Mission named “Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” The Mission was started byHon’ble Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Damodardas Modi on 2nd of October, 2014 on the occasion of 145th Birth anniversary of Mahatama Ghandhi at Rajghat, New Delhi with an aim to make clean India. The Mission aims to provide upliftment to the maintenance of adequate disposal system of domestic sewage, cleanliness in rural and urban development, availability of safe and clean drinking water to all the citizens. Mission aim to complete sanitary India dream through“Swachh Bharat Abhiyan” by the year 2019. Some of the ministries involved in mission for the sanitary India are Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Urban Development, Ministry of Drinking water and Sanitation, Public Sector Undertaking, Corporations, National Government Organizations, State Governments, Defence Research and Development Organisation etc. However, it has been clearly declared that the campaign is not only the duty of the government alone but each and every citizen of the country is equally responsible to keep the nation clean and green.So lets make mission for sanitary india for the Aligarh city in Uttar Pradesh and problems encountered in the accomplishment of goal. This paper gives current scenario of India with respect to case study of municipal solid waste quantity, quality and its management strategy

Design to Cost-Imperatives to Industry Today

Product design decides the product cost. While the world markets have opened ways of development of modern manufacturing technologies at a rapid rate like flexible, agile, intelligent, etc, the cost remains the common denominator in all the efforts. The paper discusses the key areas of design to cost and touches on product cost optimization through exploration of content, design optimization manufacturing and purchasing costs. The paper discusses, bench marking needs and highlights why DTC is imperative for industry. The paper also coves cost saving ideas, enterprise networking for costs, life cycle costing and future research areas that will become more significant in future. Keywords: Competition, operations, Design, Cost, Technical, Functional, Standard, Life Cycle Cost, Customer, Ideas, Systematic, Feedbac

ANTICONVULSANT EFFECTS OF NIFEDIPINE ON MES INDUCED SEIZURES

Objective: To evaluate the anticonvulsant activity of Nifedipine against MES induced seizures.Methods: The study was induced by techno electroconvulsometer. The animals were treated with Nifedipine (100 μg/100 g i. p. and 200 μg/100 g i. p.) and MES was induced 2 h after the administration of the drug, and duration of various phases was noted. Duration of THLE was taken as an index for antiepileptic activity.Results: Nifedipine when administered in a dose of 100 μg/100 g ip, did not produce any changes in any phases of the MES induced seizure. But in a dose of 200 μg/100 g ip, it significantly reduced the duration of THLE.Conclusion: Nifedipine has a significant action against MES induced seizures suggesting an important role of CCBs as future, promising antiepileptic drug

Amlodepine induced gingival enlargement - presentation of a clinical case series

Objectives: Gingival enlargement as an adverse effects of drugs has been found to be long associated with the use of anticonvulsants; phenytoin, anti-hypertensives; calcium channel blockers and immunosuppressants; cyclosporine. Nifedepine was found to cause gingival overgrowth with an incidence ranging from 15-85%. However, Amlodepine a relatively newer agent of the same group which is being routinely and vastly prescribed either alone or as part of combination therapy to middle to older aged adults has also been found to exhibit this adverse effect with very few cases reported till date. The effect of the dose of amlodepine on the severity of gingival enlargement needs to be assessed. Study design: A clinical presentation of a series of five cases in the age range of 45-65 yrs with gingival over-growth as a side effect of therapy with amlodepine is presented with prescription of variable doses of 2.5 mg, 5 mg and 10 mg per day. A brief review on the pathogenesis of this condition, commonly associated etiological mechanisms and sequence of periodontal therapy rendered have also been included. Conclusion: Irrespective of the dose of amlodepine administered, gingival enlargement continues to be a predominant side effect in all of the five cases presented. The accentuated gingival contours accumulate plaque leading further to the destruction of the underlying periodontium. Dental professionals need to identify and then guide the patient to seek necessary medical interventio