Spatial adhocism of the urban territory: sketches from a squatter settlement in Kolkata

Urban margins in the postcolonial context represent a specific form of urban territory in which the state maintains heterogeneous relationships with the political society. I define these relationships as spatial adhocism, quasi-permanent arrangements where the legality of space and rights are ambivalent. This paper elucidates this framework by drawing on the ethnographic study of eviction in squatter settlements of Salt Lake, Kolkata. The ethnography shows that the political society and the state enter a condition of ongoing temporary occupation to practice various forms of conflict politics with each other. These practices are ad hoc because they manifest spatially in semi-permanent ways. Furthermore, the paper highlights two purposes that spatial adhocism serves. On the one hand, it enables the state to accumulate capital subtly and promotes a selective allowance of rights for the political society. On the other hand, it allows political society to counter certain state practices by resisting eviction. The paper also argues how urban territories can be theorised as heterogeneous relationships between the postcolonial state and political society. In doing so, this paper offers an alternative framework to understand territory through the concept of spatial adhocism, thus establishing how urban territory is an incomplete category

Spatial Adhocism as Practice for Conflict Politics: Theorising Urban Politics in Kolkata

This thesis critically examines how people at the urban margins of Kolkata form various kinds of political relationships with the postcolonial state to exert rights in the city. It considers these relationships as conflict politics and analyses its spatial manifestations through the notion of ‘spatial adhocism’. Spatial adhocism refers to the quasi-permanent state-political society relations for the mobilisation of resources outside legality. The thesis expands upon existing literature to provide new analytical and empirical insights into the discursive socio-spatial subjectivities of postcolonial cities. It does so, by examining how the practices of conflict politics and spatial adhocism are deployed by the postcolonial state and the political society. The thesis also contributes to the understanding of adhoc geographies which exist in postcolonial urbanism. The empirical evidence underpinning this thesis is collected from three illustrative case studies from Kolkata, namely Loomtex jute mill worker’s movement, Salt Lake anti-eviction movement and Bhangar anti-power-grid movement. Methodologically, this thesis adopts an ethnographic approach, particularly semi-structured interviews, document analysis, participant observation. In terms of comparison, this thesis utilises the experimental comparison method of analysing differential patterns of conflict politics and interconnected trajectories of spatial adhocism. The central findings of the thesis are that the relationships between the state and political society are heterogeneous and that spatial adhocism is omnipresent in postcolonial urbanism. Firstly, the thesis challenges the binary relation of dominance and resistance between the state and the political society and establishes the relation as various forms of engagements. Secondly, it shows that spatial adhocism enables political society to practice various forms of conflict politics with the state to alter hegemonic socio-spatial relations. For the postcolonial state adhoc practices limit conflict politics and help it to maintain an ambiguous relationship with people at the urban margins. This ambiguity serves a two-fold aim. It helps the state to promote capital accumulation in a contingent way, and it also promotes a selective allowance of rights for the people at the margins of the state. Overall the thesis claims that postcolonial urbanism can be theorised through an understanding of the heterogeneity of discursive political practices and their spatial manifestations

Spatial Adhocism as Practice for Conflict Politics: Theorising Urban Politics in Kolkata

This thesis critically examines how people at the urban margins of Kolkata form various kinds of political relationships with the postcolonial state to exert rights in the city. It considers these relationships as conflict politics and analyses its spatial manifestations through the notion of ‘spatial adhocism’. Spatial adhocism refers to the quasi-permanent state-political society relations for the mobilisation of resources outside legality. The thesis expands upon existing literature to provide new analytical and empirical insights into the discursive socio-spatial subjectivities of postcolonial cities. It does so, by examining how the practices of conflict politics and spatial adhocism are deployed by the postcolonial state and the political society. The thesis also contributes to the understanding of adhoc geographies which exist in postcolonial urbanism. The empirical evidence underpinning this thesis is collected from three illustrative case studies from Kolkata, namely Loomtex jute mill worker’s movement, Salt Lake anti-eviction movement and Bhangar anti-power-grid movement. Methodologically, this thesis adopts an ethnographic approach, particularly semi-structured interviews, document analysis, participant observation. In terms of comparison, this thesis utilises the experimental comparison method of analysing differential patterns of conflict politics and interconnected trajectories of spatial adhocism. The central findings of the thesis are that the relationships between the state and political society are heterogeneous and that spatial adhocism is omnipresent in postcolonial urbanism. Firstly, the thesis challenges the binary relation of dominance and resistance between the state and the political society and establishes the relation as various forms of engagements. Secondly, it shows that spatial adhocism enables political society to practice various forms of conflict politics with the state to alter hegemonic socio-spatial relations. For the postcolonial state adhoc practices limit conflict politics and help it to maintain an ambiguous relationship with people at the urban margins. This ambiguity serves a two-fold aim. It helps the state to promote capital accumulation in a contingent way, and it also promotes a selective allowance of rights for the people at the margins of the state. Overall the thesis claims that postcolonial urbanism can be theorised through an understanding of the heterogeneity of discursive political practices and their spatial manifestations

The consequences of SU(3) colorsingletness, Polyakov Loop and Z(3) symmetry on a quark-gluon gas

Based on quantum statistical mechanics we show that the $SU(3)$ color singlet ensemble of a quark-gluon gas exhibits a $Z(3)$ symmetry through the normaized character in fundamental representation and also becomes equivalent, within a stationary point approximation, to the ensemble given by Polyakov Loop. Also Polyakov Loop gauge potential is obtained by considering spatial gluons along with the invariant Haar measure at each space point. The probability of the normalized character in $SU(3)$ vis-a-vis Polyakov Loop is found to be maximum at a particular value exhibiting a strong color correlation. This clearly indicates a transition from a color correlated to uncorrelated phase or vise-versa. When quarks are included to the gauge fields, a metastable state appears in the temperature range $145\le T({\rm{MeV}}) \le 170$ due to the explicit $Z(3)$ symmetry breaking in the quark-gluon system. Beyond $T\ge 170$ MeV the metastable state disappears and stable domains appear. At low temperature a dynamical recombination of ionized $Z(3)$ color charges to a color singlet $Z(3)$ confined phase is evident along with a confining background that originates due to circulation of two virtual spatial gluons but with conjugate $Z(3)$ phases in a closed loop. We also discuss other possible consequences of the center domains in the color deconfined phase at high temperature.Comment: Version published in J. Phys.

From Smart Agriculture to Smart Economy: Case of Vijayawada City Region

Smart City, as this chapter proves, is the one that adapts to its dynamic structural changes in the economy within a shortest possible time without causing pitfalls. Vijayawada–Guntur–Mangalagiri–Tenali (VGTM) area, which has been identified as the capital region of the newly created state of Andhra Pradesh with its capital Amaravati in Guntur District, is fast adjusting to this structural change and plans to bring in technology to boost its economic dynamism. From that of a ‘rice bowl’, the region is transforming itself into a major service sector region, servicing not only the region, but is emerging as a major node in the eastern coast

Conformational Effect of Catechol-Terephthalonitrile Emitters Leading to Ambient Violet Phosphorescence

Organic ambient violet phosphorescent (AVP) materials are of great interest due to their involvement of high energy and longer-lived triplet excitons. Here, we show three fused ring functionalized donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D/D–A–D′) emitters (BPT1–BPT3), in which two catechol-based donors (3,4-dihydroxybenzophenone, catechol, or 3,5-ditert-butylcatechol) are covalently fused to the terephthalonitrile acceptor via four O–C single bonds. Spectroscopic analysis revealed that all the molecules show AVP (∼390–394 nm, τAVP = 73–101 μs) with phosphorescence quantum yields (ϕP) of 1.8–27.4% due to low singlet–triplet gaps (0.036–0.046 eV) and conformational effects. BPT3 with bulky tert-butyl groups increases AVP (ϕP = 27.4%). Quantum chemistry calculations reveal flat (F1) and twisted (F2) conformers (ground state) with a low energy difference (∼4–5 kcal/mol) for all molecules; the F1 conformer is responsible for efficient AVP, while weak blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence with longer-lived delayed components is realized from the F2 conformer. This approach may provide important clues for the design of high-energy organic phosphorescent materials

Bempedoic Acid and Its Role in Contemporary Management of Hyperlipidemia in Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerotic heart disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in the USA. Low density lipoprotein (LDL) has been the target for many hypolipidemic agents to modify atherosclerotic risk. Bempedoic acid is a novel hypolipidemic drug that inhibits the enzymatic activity of ATP citrate lyase in the cholesterol synthesis pathway. CLEAR Harmony, CLEAR Wisdom, CLEAR Tranquillity and CLEAR Serenity have shown safety and efficacy associated with long term administration of this drug. Studies have shown effectiveness in reducing LDL-C in both statin intolerant patients and in patients on maximally tolerated doses of statin. The fixed drug combination of bempedoic acid and ezetimibe in a recent phase III showed significant reduction in LDL compared with placebo, which might be a promising future for LDL reduction among statin intolerant patients. Bempedoic acid also reduced inflammatory markers like hs-CRP. Given these results, bempedoic acid alone and in combination with ezetimibe received the USA FDA approval for adults with heterozygous familial hypercholesterolaemia or established atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. We present a comprehensive review exploring the underlying mechanism, pre-clinical studies, and clinical trials of bempedoic acid and discuss the potential future role of the drug in treating hyperlipidaemia

Novel Emerging Therapies in Atherosclerosis Targeting Lipid Metabolism

INTRODUCTION: Recent years have brought significant developments in lipid and atherosclerosis research. Although statins are a cornerstone in hyperlipidemia management, new non-statin therapies have had an impact. The reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) further translates into the lowering of cardiovascular mortality. Additionally, lipid research has progressed beyond LDL-C reduction and this has brought triglyceride (TG) and other apoprotein-B containing lipids into focus. AREAS COVERED: Inclisiran and pemafibrate, with expected approval soon, come under the spotlight. We discuss other therapeutics such as lomitapide, mipomersen, volanesorsen, and evinacumab and newly approved non-statin-based therapies such as ezetimibe, icosapent ethyl (IPE), and bempedoic acid. EXPERT OPINION: New options now exist for the prevention of atherosclerosis in patients that are not optimized on statin therapy. Multiple guidelines endorse ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, bempedoic, and IPE as add-on therapy. Recently approved bempedoic acid/ezetimibe combination might gain popularity among clinicians. Inclisiran and pemafibrate show promise in the reduction of LDL-C and TG, respectively, and results are pending in cardiovascular outcome trials. Combination strategies could improve outcomes, but the challenge will be balancing cost and selecting the correct patient population for each treatment modality to maximize benefit with the fewest medications

Novel emerging therapies in atherosclerosis targeting lipid metabolism

Introduction: Recent years have brought significant developments in lipid and atherosclerosis research. Although statins are a cornerstone in hyperlipidemia management, new non-statin therapies have had an impact. The reduction of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) further translates into the lowering of cardiovascular mortality. Additionally, lipid research has progressed beyond LDL-C reduction and this has brought triglyceride (TG) and other apoprotein-B containing lipids into focus.Areas covered: Inclisiran and pemafibrate, with expected approval soon, come under the spotlight. We discuss other therapeutics such as lomitapide, mipomersen, volanesorsen, and evinacumab and newly approved non-statin-based therapies such as ezetimibe, icosapent ethyl (IPE), and bempedoic acid.Expert opinion: New options now exist for the prevention of atherosclerosis in patients that are not optimized on statin therapy. Multiple guidelines endorse ezetimibe, PCSK9 inhibitors, bempedoic, and IPE as add-on therapy. Recently approved bempedoic acid/ezetimibe combination might gain popularity among clinicians. Inclisiran and pemafibrate show promise in the reduction of LDL-C and TG, respectively, and results are pending in cardiovascular outcome trials. Combination strategies could improve outcomes, but the challenge will be balancing cost and selecting the correct patient population for each treatment modality to maximize benefit with the fewest medications