Experiencing space–time: the stretched lifeworlds of migrant workers in India

In the relatively rare instances when the spatialities of temporary migrant work, workers’ journeys, and labour-market negotiations have been the subject of scholarly attention, there has been little work that integrates time into the analysis. Building on a case study of low-paid and insecure migrant manual workers in the context of rapid economic growth in India, we examine both material and subjective dimensions of these workers’ spatiotemporal experiences. What does it mean to live life stretched out, multiplyattached to places across national space? What kinds of place attachments emerge for people temporarily sojourning in, rather than moving to, new places to reside and work? Our analysis of the spatiotemporalities of migrant workers’ experiences in India suggests that, over time, this group of workers use their own agency to seek to avoid the experience of humiliation and indignity in employment relations. Like David Harvey, we argue that money needs to be integrated into such analysis, along with space and time. The paper sheds light on processes of exclusion, inequality and diff erentiation, unequal power geometries, and social topographies that contrast with neoliberalist narratives of ‘Indian shining

An aggregator-based-strategy to minimize the cost of energy consumption by optimal utilization of energy resources in an apartment building

© 2019 IEEE. Buildings and transport consume two thirds of the total global energy. It is desirable to maximize the use of renewable generation in these sectors, and to optimize the use of that energy by managing diverse sources and loads. This is particularly challenging in high-density residential premises where the space for such infrastructure is limited, and storage can have significant impact on energy utilization and demand. In this paper, we have proposed an aggregator-based-strategy (ABS) to optimally utilize the available energy resources and storage in an apartment building with twenty households, each having an electric vehicle (EV), and an aggregated solar photovoltaic (PV) energy and stationary battery storage (BS) system. The strategy is flexible and can be applied to any building with EVs, solar PV and BS to minimize the cost of energy consumption without compromising the flexibility of energy usage or travel requirements. The model also accounts for the battery capacity degradation and its associated cost to make it more realistic. The model is evaluated using real data and the results show that the strategy not only reduces the cost of energy consumption but also reduces the amount of energy drawn from the grid significantly

Recent Development and Results with the MERLIN Tracking Code

MERLIN is a high performance accelerator simulation code which is used for modelling the collimation system at the LHC. It is written in extensible object-oriented C++ so new physics processes can be easily added. In this article we present recent developments needed for the Hi-Lumi LHC and future high energy colliders including FCC, such as hollow electron lenses and composite materials. We also give an overview of recent simulation work, validation against LHC data from run 1 and 2, and loss maps for Hi-Lumi LHC

Novel Carbyne Filled Carbon Nanotube – Polymer Nanocomposites

The availability of carbyne in carbon nanotubes (CNTs) induces intrinsic stiffening and strengthening of CNTs, and is exploited for the very first time in this report to process epoxy nanocomposites with improved mechanical and electrical properties. The existence of encapsulated carbyne in double wall CNTs (DWNTs) was confirmed using High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy (HR-TEM). The intrinsic stiffening of carbyne reinforced DWNTs (c-DWNTs) in epoxy matrix was visually confirmed by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM). In comparison to raw DWNTs reinforced epoxy nanocomposites, c-DWNTS imparted modest but improved tensile strength (5.6%), elastic modulus (9.7%), failure strain (9.9%) and fracture toughness (13%) to their respective epoxy nanocomposites. This inaugural study on carbyne-filled polymer composites also reports a minor but distinct increase (an order of magnitude) in the electrical conductivity for c-DWNTs filled epoxy nanocomposites compared to DWNT filled epoxy nanocomposites

Prognostic Value of E/E′ Ratio in Patients With Unoperated Severe Aortic Stenosis

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the value of clinical and echo-Doppler parameters for the prognosis of unoperated severe aortic stenosis (AS).BackgroundApproximately one-third of severe, symptomatic AS patients are denied surgery. Risk stratification of unoperated AS is important to determine eligibility for percutaneous aortic valve replacement, an evolving treatment option for AS patients deemed suboptimal for surgical aortic valve replacement.MethodsWe retrospectively compared clinical and echo-Doppler parameters between survivors and nonsurvivors of 125 patients with unoperated severe AS.ResultsThe 1-year survival rate was 62.4%. In univariate analysis, survivors compared with nonsurvivors were younger (80.0 ± 10.9 years vs. 84.9 ± 11.1 years, p = 0.02), had a greater left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (55 ± 15% vs. 50 ± 16%, p = 0.042), a higher left ventricular stroke volume (63 ± 19 ml vs. 56 ± 13 ml, p = 0.015), a lower E/E′ ratio (12.19 ± 5.7 vs. 16.87 ± 7.43, p < 0.001), and a lower prevalence of E/E′ >15 (20% vs. 55%, p < 0.001). Symptomatic status was nonsignificantly different between survivors and nonsurvivors. In patients with an LVEF ≥50%, the subgroup with E/E′ ≤15 and with E/E′ >15 had a 73.8% and 47.8% 1-year survival rate, respectively (p = 0.027). In the patients with an LVEF <50%, the patients with E/E′ ≤15 and those with E/E′ >15 demonstrated a 70.6% and 22.3% 1-year survival rate, respectively (p = 0.003). In multivariate analysis, significant predictors of mortality were E/E′ >15 and a combination of E/E′ >15 and B-type natriuretic peptide >300 ng/ml: adjusted mortality risk 2.34 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.27 to 4.33, p = 0.0072) and 2.59 (95% CI 1.21 to 5.55, p = 0.014), respectively.ConclusionsThe E/E′ ratio is the single most predictive clinical and echo-Doppler parameter in the assessment of overall prognosis in patients with unoperated severe AS. LVEF was a significant predictor of survival only in the univariate analysis. B-type natriuretic peptide alone was not a predictor of prognosis in the study population. However, the combination of E/E′ and B-type natriuretic peptide is even more predictive of the 1-year prognosis

Electrospray Deposition of PEDOT:PSS on Carbon Yarn Electrodes for Solid-State Flexible Supercapacitors

Funding Information: This work was financed by national funds from FCT─Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, I.P., in the scope of the All-FIBRE project with the reference PTDC/CTM-CTM/1571/2020, and the projects LA/P/0037/2020, UIDP/50025/2020, and UIDB/50025/2020 of the Associate Laboratory Institute of Nanostructures, Nanomodelling, and Nanofabrication─i3N. This work was also supported by ERC-CoG-2014, CapTherPV, 647596. The authors would like to thank Professor Daniela Gomes from CENIMAT for the SEM images. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.The increasing demand for flexible electronic devices has risen due to the high interest in electronic textiles (e-textiles). Consequently, the urge to power e-textiles has sparked enormous interest in flexible energy storage devices. One-dimensional (1D) configuration supercapacitors are the most promising technology for textile applications, but often their production involves complex synthesis techniques and expensive materials. This work unveils the use of the novel electrospray deposition (ESD) technique for the deposition of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrene sulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS). This deposition methodology on conductive carbon yarns creates flexible electrodes with a high surface area. The deposition conditions of PEDOT:PSS were optimized, and their influence on the electrochemical performance of a 1D symmetric supercapacitor with a cellulose-based gel as an electrolyte and a separator was evaluated. The tests herein reported show that these capacitors exhibited a high specific capacitance of 72 mF g-1, an excellent cyclability of more than 85% capacitance retention after 1500 cycles, and an outstanding capability of bending.publishersversionpublishe

Impact of initiating carvedilol before angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor therapy on cardiac function in newly diagnosed heart failure

ObjectivesThe purpose of this research was to evaluate the therapeutic value of initiating a beta-blocker before an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) in the treatment of heart failure.BackgroundAlthough ACEI and carvedilol produce benefits in heart failure, whether the order of initiation of therapy determines the impact on left ventricular (LV) function and New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA FC) has not been determined.MethodsA single-center, prospective, randomized, open-label study was performed. We evaluated whether initiation of therapy with carvedilol either before (n = 38) or after (n = 40) perindopril therapy in newly diagnosed patients in NYHA FC II to III heart failure with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, with the addition of the alternative agent after six months, determined subsequent changes in NYHA FC and LV function (echocardiography and radionuclide ventriculography). Study drugs were titrated to maximum tolerable doses.ResultsThere were no differences in baseline characteristics between the study groups. After 12 months 11 patients died (6 in the group where the ACEI was initiated). At 12 months the group receiving carvedilol as initial therapy achieved a higher tolerable dose of carvedilol (43 ± 17 mg vs. 33 ± 18 mg, p = 0.03); a lower dose of furosemide (p &lt; 0.05); and better improvements in symptoms (NYHA FC, p &lt; 0.002), LV ejection fraction (radionuclide: 15 ± 16% vs. 6 ± 13%, p &lt; 0.05; echocardiographic, p &lt; 0.01), and plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide concentrations (p &lt; 0.02).ConclusionsAs opposed to the conventional sequence of drug use in the treatment of heart failure, initiation of therapy with carvedilol before an ACEI results in higher tolerable doses of carvedilol and better improvements in FC and LV function