A ‘burning opportunity’ for human rights: Using human rights as a catalyst for policies to mitigate the health risk of household air pollution

With over 3 billion people dependent on traditional cooking and heating technologies, efforts to address the health burden of exposure to household air pollution (HAP), as well as other sociodemographic impacts associated with energy poverty, are central to sustainable development objectives. Yet despite overwhelming scientific consensus on the health burden of HAP exposure, particularly harms to impoverished women and children in developing countries, advocates currently lack a human rights framework to mitigate HAP exposure through improved access to cleaner household energy systems. This article examines the role of human rights in framing state obligations to mitigate HAP exposure, supporting environmental health for the most vulnerable through intersectional obligations across the human right to health, the collective right to development, and women’s and children’s rights. Drawing from human rights advocacy employed in confronting the public health harms of tobacco, we argue that rights-based civil society advocacy can structure the multisectoral policies necessary to address the impacts of HAP exposure and energy poverty, facilitating accountability for human rights implementation through international treaty bodies, national judicial challenges and local political advocacy. We conclude that there is a pressing need to build civil society capacity for a rightsbased approach to cleaner household energy policy as a means to alleviate the environmental health effects of energy poverty

Structural and magnetization behaviors of Ni substituted Li-Mg ferrites

Magnetization behaviors of Ni-substituted LixMg0.5Ni0.5-2xFe2+xO4 ferrites, where x = 0.25, 0.20, 0.15, 0.10 and 0.00 synthesized by standard ceramic technology sintered at 1300°C in air for 5 hours has been presented in the present study. The bulk density and lattice constants of the samples found to be decreased with the increase in the Ni-content for the x values from 0.25 to 0.00. DC electrical resistivity has found to show highest magnitude at room temperature and decreases with further increase in temperature. Magnetization of the samples has been measured as a function of the field using hysteresis loop tracer at 30°C. It was observed that addition of nickel in polycrystalline Li-Mg ferrites plays an important role in modification of structural and magnetization characteristics

Extraction of Scandium (III) from acidic solutions using organo-phosphoric acid reagents: A comparative study

Comparative and synergistic solvent extraction of Sc(III) using two phosphoric acidic reagents such as di-(2-ethyhexyl) phosphoric acid and 2,4,4,tri-methyl,pentyl-phosphinic acid was investigated. Slope analysis method suggests a cation exchange reaction of Sc(III) with both extractants at a molar ratio of extractant: Sc(III) = 2.5:1 at equilibrium pH< 1.5. The plot of log D vs. log [Extractant] yield the slope (n) value as low as 1.2-1.3 and as high as n=7 at low and high extrcatant concentration level, respectively. Extraction isotherm study predicted the need of 2 stages at A: O=1:4 and A: O=1:3 using 0.1 M D2EHPA and 0.1 M Cyanex 272, respectively. Stripping of Sc (III) was carried out at varied NaOH concentration to ascertain the optimum stripping condition for effective enrichment of metal. The predicted stripping condition (2)-stages with A: O=1:3 and 1:4 for D2EHPA and Cyanex 272, respectively) obtained from Mc-Cabe Thiele plot was further validated by 6-cycles CCS study. An actual leach solution of Mg-Sc alloy bearing 1.0 g/L of Sc (III), 2.5 g/L of Mg and 0.2 M HCl was subjected for selective separation of Sc at the optimum condition. The counter current simulation (CCS) study for both extraction and stripping of actual solution resulted quantitative separation of Sc with ∼12 fold enrichment. The organic phase before and after loading of Sc (III) along with the diluents was characterized by FTIR to ascertain the phase transportation of Sc (III)

T-Cell Receptor γδ Bearing Cells in Normal Human Skin

T-cell antigen receptors (TCR) are divided into common αβ and less common γδ types. In the murine skin, TCR γδ+ cells have been reported to form the great majority of epidermal T lymphocytes. We have examined the relative contribution of TCR αβ+ and TCR γδ+ cells to the T-cell population in normal human skin. Serial sections of freshly frozen skin specimens were acetone fixed, incubated with anti-CD3, βF 1 (anti-TCR αβ, anti-TCR γδ-1 and anti-TCR δ1 (anti-TCR γδ) monoclonal antibodies (MoAb), and stained with a highly sensitive method. Over 90% of the T cells of normal human skin are localized around the postcapillary venules of the dermis, while less than 5% are present within the epidermis. In papillary dermis, TCR γδ+ cells formed on average 7% (anti-TCR γδ-1) or 9% (anti-TCR γ1) of the total number of CD3+ cells, while TCR αβ+ cells constituted up to 80%. In epidermis, these percentages were 18% and 29% for TCR γδ+ cells, and up to 60% for TCR γδ+ cells. It is concluded that there is no preferential immigration or in situ expansion of TCR γδ+T cells in normal human skin, because the relative percentages found for the TCR and TCR αβ+ populations in skin are comparable to those found in lymphoid organs and peripheral blood. However, the percentage of TCR γδ+ cells in epidermis seemed on average higher than in papillary dermis. Therefore, there may still be a difference in migration patterns of TCR γδ+ v TCR γβ+ cells, but this does not result in their preferential localization in human epidermis. The hypothesis that TCR γδ+ T cells have a specialized function in immunosurveillance of epithelia may thus not be valid for human epidermis

Short-Range Interactions and Scaling Near Integer Quantum Hall Transitions

We study the influence of short-range electron-electron interactions on scaling behavior near the integer quantum Hall plateau transitions. Short-range interactions are known to be irrelevant at the renormalization group fixed point which represents the transition in the non-interacting system. We find, nevertheless, that transport properties change discontinuously when interactions are introduced. Most importantly, in the thermodynamic limit the conductivity at finite temperature is zero without interactions, but non-zero in the presence of arbitrarily weak interactions. In addition, scaling as a function of frequency, $\omega$, and temperature, $T$, is determined by the scaling variable $\omega/T^p$ (where $p$ is the exponent for the temperature dependence of the inelastic scattering rate) and not by $\omega/T$, as it would be at a conventional quantum phase transition described by an interacting fixed point. We express the inelastic exponent, $p$, and the thermal exponent, $z_T$, in terms of the scaling dimension, $-\alpha < 0$, of the interaction strength and the dynamical exponent $z$ (which has the value $z=2$), obtaining $p=1+2\alpha/z$ and $z_T=2/p$.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Spin Diffusion and Relaxation in Solid State Spin Quantum Computer

The processes of spin diffusion and relaxation are studied theoretically and numerically for quantum computation applications. Two possible realizations of a spin quantum computer (SQC) are analyzed: (i) a boundary spin chain in a 2D spin array and (ii) an isolated spin chain. In both cases, spin diffusion and relaxation are caused by a fast relaxing spin located outside the SQC. We have shown that in both cases the relaxation can be suppressed by an external non-uniform magnetic field. In the second case, our computer simulations have revealed various types of relaxation processes including the excitation of a random distribution of magnetic moments and the formation of stationary and moving domain walls. The region of optimal parameters for suppression of rapid spin relaxation is discussed.Comment: 15 pages uncluding 23 figure

Gibbs' paradox and black-hole entropy

In statistical mechanics Gibbs' paradox is avoided if the particles of a gas are assumed to be indistinguishable. The resulting entropy then agrees with the empirically tested thermodynamic entropy up to a term proportional to the logarithm of the particle number. We discuss here how analogous situations arise in the statistical foundation of black-hole entropy. Depending on the underlying approach to quantum gravity, the fundamental objects to be counted have to be assumed indistinguishable or not in order to arrive at the Bekenstein--Hawking entropy. We also show that the logarithmic corrections to this entropy, including their signs, can be understood along the lines of standard statistical mechanics. We illustrate the general concepts within the area quantization model of Bekenstein and Mukhanov.Comment: Contribution to Mashhoon festschrift, 13 pages, 4 figure

Monte Carlo Methods for Estimating Interfacial Free Energies and Line Tensions

Excess contributions to the free energy due to interfaces occur for many problems encountered in the statistical physics of condensed matter when coexistence between different phases is possible (e.g. wetting phenomena, nucleation, crystal growth, etc.). This article reviews two methods to estimate both interfacial free energies and line tensions by Monte Carlo simulations of simple models, (e.g. the Ising model, a symmetrical binary Lennard-Jones fluid exhibiting a miscibility gap, and a simple Lennard-Jones fluid). One method is based on thermodynamic integration. This method is useful to study flat and inclined interfaces for Ising lattices, allowing also the estimation of line tensions of three-phase contact lines, when the interfaces meet walls (where "surface fields" may act). A generalization to off-lattice systems is described as well. The second method is based on the sampling of the order parameter distribution of the system throughout the two-phase coexistence region of the model. Both the interface free energies of flat interfaces and of (spherical or cylindrical) droplets (or bubbles) can be estimated, including also systems with walls, where sphere-cap shaped wall-attached droplets occur. The curvature-dependence of the interfacial free energy is discussed, and estimates for the line tensions are compared to results from the thermodynamic integration method. Basic limitations of all these methods are critically discussed, and an outlook on other approaches is given

The interaction of dark matter cusp with the baryon component in disk galaxies

In this paper we examine the effect of the formation and evolution of the disk galaxy on the distribution of dark halo matter. We have made simulations of isolated dark matter (DM) halo and two component (DM + baryons). N-body technique was used for stellar and DM particles and TVD MUSCL scheme for gas-dynamic simulations. The simulations include the processes of star formation, stellar feedback, heating and cooling of the interstellar medium. The results of numerical experiments with high spatial resolution let us to conclude in two main findings. First, accounting of star formation and supernova feedback resolves the so-called problem of cusp in distribution of dark matter predicted by cosmological simulations. Second, the interaction of dark matter with dynamic substructures of stellar and gaseous galactic disk (e.g., spiral waves, bar) has an impact on the shape of the dark halo. In particular, the in-plane distribution of dark matter is more symmetric in runs, where the baryonic component was taken into account.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure