Infrastructure and non-human life: A wider ontology

This article develops a wider ontology of infrastructure. It argues that infrastructures not only hasten the flow of materials but produce non-human mobilities and immobilities that radically alter the dynamics of life. Infrastructures become a medium of life as natural and infrastructural ecologies meld, reorienting notions of design, architecture, planning and governance. Non-human life itself can be cast as infrastructure, with biopolitical implications for anticipating and managing the future. An infrastructural ontology moving beyond anthropocentric familiars generates new analytics and critical openings for the politics of governing human and non-human life. European Research Council Horizon 2020 Starting Grant Urban ecologies: governing nonhuman life in global cities (uEcologies; Grant No. 759239)

Animal Work: Metabolic, Ecological, Affective

What work does the naturalization of work do? What are its political-economic implications? Trajectories of bringing nature into the ambit of capitalist accumulation have been a longstanding concern in the social sciences. Yet how might one explain capitalist logics of accumulation without placing nature’s forces and potentials squarely on the side of capital—as political-economic straightjackets tend to do? After all, these are potentials that capital presupposes but does not itself produce. I address these questions by focusing on concepts of animal work and nonhuman labor (Barua 2017; see also Blanchette 2015; Porcher 2015) that offer crucial insights into how nature is constitutive of political-economic organization

Study Of Reactive Power Compensation Using STATCOM

The study of shunt connected FACTS devices is a connected field with the problem of reactive power compensation and better mitigation of transmission related problems in today’s world. In this paper we study the shunt operation of FACTS controller, the STATCOM, and how it helps in the better utilization of a network operating under normal conditions. First we carry out a literature review of many papers related to FACTS and STATCOM, along with reactive power control. Then we look at the various devices being used for both series and shunt compensation. The study of STATCOM and its principles of operation and control, including phase angle control and PWM techniques, are carried out. We also delve into the load flow equations which are necessary for any power system solution and carry out a comprehensive study of the Newton Raphson method of load flow. Apart from this, we also carry out a study of the transient stability of power systems, and how it is useful in determining the behavior of the system under a fault. As an example, a six bus system is studied using the load flow equations and solving them. First this is done without the STATCOM and then the STATCOM is implemented and the characteristics of the rotor angle graph along with faults at various buses are seen. In this thesis, it is tried to show the application of STATCOM to a bus system and its effect on the voltage and angle of the buses. Next the graphs depicting the implemented STATCOM bus are analyzed and it is shown that the plots of the rotor angles show a changed characteristic under the influence of the STATCOM

Poverty and affordable housing : comparing the attitudes and beliefs of social work students in the United States to those of social work students in the Netherlands

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on August 30, 2012).The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file.Dissertation advisor: Dr. Colleen GalambosIncludes bibliographical references.Vita.Ph. D. University of Missouri--Columbia 2012."May 2012"This cross-national exploratory study examines the influence of social structure and educational level on the attitudes and beliefs of social work students. Respondents were students enrolled in a social work program in one of two countries, the United States and the Netherlands. A cross-sectional survey research design was used to elicit information regarding student attitudes and beliefs as they relate to poverty and affordable housing. Data was collected using three research instruments; these include a demographic survey, the Poverty and Housing Scale (PHS), and a second scale that was designed to measure beliefs regarding the causes of poverty (COP). The final sample consisted of 456 student responses. Three hypotheses were tested using independent samples t-tests and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Findings of this study indicate that while social work students from both countries had a more structural view of poverty and affordable housing, students from the Netherlands had a significantly more cultural/individualistic view when compared to students from the USA. These were not the anticipated results. There were no significant differences found when comparing the attitudes of graduate and undergraduate social work students. Structuration Theory (Giddens) is used as a conceptual foundation and in discussion of the results. Implications for social work education, policy, and practice are discussed. Future research is suggested.Includes bibliographical reference

Error exponent of amplify and forward relay networks in presence of I.I.D. interferers

© 2014 IEEE. In this paper, we derive the random coding error exponent of amplify-and-forward (AF) relay networks in presence of arbitrary number of independent and identically distributed (i.i.d.) interferers both at the relay and the destination. Multiuser networks are common examples of interference limited networks. We derive the ergodic capacity of the network and present simulation results on the performance of the network where we compare the capacity and error exponent performance of interference limited networks with noise limited networks. Numerical results show that noise limited networks outperform interference limited networks even when only a very few interferers exist in the network

Animals’ atmospheres

This article introduces the concept of animals’ atmospheres, as a contribution to work in animal and atmospheric geographies. It defines the concept and identifies the key factors that shape an animals’ atmosphere. These offer a framework for future comparative research. The second section focuses on methodological and epistemic challenges of knowing and representing animal atmospheres. The third section examines engineering of animals’ atmospheres, in context of the biopolitics of managing animal life in the Anthropocene. In conclusion, the article highlights its contributions. Illustrations are drawn from the atmospheres of dogs and wolves

INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF NF-κB, COX-1, COX-2, COMT, IL-10, IL-6 AND TNF-α IN MODULATING ANTI-NOCICEPTIVE ACTIVITY OF METHANOLIC EXTRACT OF ENTADA PHASEOLOIDES

Objective: To investigate the analgesic activity of methanolic extract of Entada phaseoloides (MEEP) along with its molecular mechanistic pathway. Methods: Swiss albino female mice and Wistar rats of either sex were administered orally with MEEP extracts (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) and pentazocine, tramadol and diclofenac sodium, as standard drugs. Following administration, anti-nociceptive activity was evaluated using an acetic acid-induced writhing test, Eddy’s hot plate, and hot water immersion test. Serum was collected for molecular expression of various proteins and genes using Reverse Transcriptase PCR and Western Blotting. Results: Acetic acid writhing test, a frequently used method to assess peripheral analgesic activity, revealed that MEEP reduced peripherally induced pain in a dose-dependent manner. Likewise, Eddy’s hot plate and hot water immersion methods, often implicated for testing central analgesic activities, showed that MEEP is bestowed with the capability to counteract analgesia in a dose and time-dependent manner. Pro-inflammatory cytokines and factors like COX-2, IL-6, TNF-α, and NF-κB that cause inflammatory responses and pain were significantly reduced, suggesting its analgesic and anti-inflammatory potential. This analgesic and the anti-inflammatory role played by MEEP is also supported by the up-regulation of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 and COMT and COX-1 enzyme demonstrated no significant difference between the groups. Conclusion: The study revealed the weak peripheral and potent central analgesic property MEEP by modulating pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory pathways

STUDY OF BINDING INTERACTIONS OF HUMAN CARBONIC ANHYDRASE XII

Objective: The present study was carried out to study the binding interactions of different N'-(substituted phenyl sulfonyl)-pyridine-2-carbohydrazide derivatives and N'-(substituted phenyl sulfonyl)-thiophene-2-carbohydrazide derivatives which were synthesized by senior students from research laboratory, with objective to explore the suitability of selected ligands for their binding affinity for the selected target.Methods: Binding interactions of the selected ligands were studied using glide module of Schrodinger software using Maestro 10.1 interface. At the end of molecular docking studies, docking scores along with 2D and 3D binding interactions of these ligands were studied to evaluate the potency of ligands to act as selective human carbonic anhydrase (hCAXII) inhibitors in comparison with standard inhibitor Acetazolamide (AZA).Results: Docking study on the ligands exhibited very similar conformation and binding interactions with hCAXII as that of standard. This suggests that selected ligands might possess significant binding affinity for hCAXII.Conclusion: It can be concluded that the selected ligands have the potential to act as inhibitors of hCAXII