Recognition of the Rights of the Victims of Climate Change under Public International Law: A Study

In recent years, climate change is emerging as a major environmental disaster. The impact of such disasters has been the rise in global temperature and flooding of coastal zone communities, frequent droughts and disruptions in rainfall pattern. This has resulted in the increase in the number of environmental refugees. Climate change disasters constitute a major reason for displacement of population than war and persecution. Climate induced migration is a highly complex issue. The status of climate refugees is not recognized in the international framework. The non recognition of these victims in international and national legislations has not only deprived them of their basic human rights but has also raised crucial questions relating to their existence and identity. This paper tries to bring out the lacunae in the present policy and legal framework relating to environmental refugees with reference to the non-refoulement principle. Further, the paper emphasizes on the need to include climate refugees under the term „refugee‟ as laid down in the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, 1951and provides suggestions for improving the condition and protection of this hitherto neglected population

An investigation on prevalence of Anemia in relation to BMI and nutrient intake among adult rural population of West Bengal, India

Background: Anemia is now globally recognized major public health problem. The present study was undertaken to investigate the prevalence of anemia and interrelationship of anemia with BMI among adult rural population of West Bengal state, India. Method: Anthropometric measures, nutritional parameters, heart rate and hemoglobin were measured from 310 adult subjects by using standard technique. Results: The prevalence of anemia was high among both sexes and more than the global prevalence. The anemic individuals consumed nutritionally deficient diet than the non-anemic individuals. The prevalence of anemia was significantly high in underweight and normal groups. The Odds ratios became significantly higher in underweight group than normal and overweight/obese groups of both sexes. Conclusions: The prevalence of anemia in the adult rural population might be related to dietary deficiency and poor dietary patterns. The present study was hypothesized that the subjects with low BMI would have a higher risk of anemia compared to normal or overweight subjects

Connecting the ends: signaling via receptor tyrosine kinases and cytoskeletal degradation in neurodegeneration

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) are known to perform versatile roles in disease landscapes, which determine the fate of the cell. Although much has been discussed from the perspective of proliferation, this review focuses on the impact of RTK-mediated signaling and its role in cytoskeletal degradation, the penultimate stage of cellular degeneration. In the case of degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Huntington’s disease (HD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s disease (PD), age-related macular degeneration (AMD), and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), RTK signaling has been reported to be perturbed in several studies. The implications of downstream signaling via these receptors through canonical and noncanonical pathways alter the status of actin filaments that provide structural integrity to cells. Degenerative signaling leads to the altered status of rat sarcoma (Ras), Ras homologous (Rho), Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate (Rac), and cell division control protein 42 (Cdc42), the best-characterized components of the cytoskeleton remodeling machinery. RTKs, along with their diverse adaptor partners and other membrane receptors, affect the functionality of Rho family guanosine triphosphate hydrolases (GTPases), which are discussed in this review. To conclude, this review focuses on therapeutic strategies targeting RTKs and Rho GTPase-mediated pathways that can be more effective due to their combined multifactorial impact on neurodegenerative cascades

1,3-Dipolar cycloadditions: Part nt-Cyc1oaddition of 1-pyrroline 1-oxide to 1-cinnamoyl piperidine and 1-(4'-chlorocinnamoyl) piperidine

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Hysteresis models and fragility assessments of reinforced concrete structural components

Earthquakes represent one of the most destructive natural disasters and the extent of casualties and damage in numerous incidences is well documented over the past decades. The devastating consequences of seismic events have emphasized the significance of the structural performance assessment. Fragility function, an essential component in seismic vulnerability estimation, is defined by the conditional probability of a particular structure exceeding a certain damage state when subjected to seismic excitations. Eventually, for development of fragility functions, characterization of the structural behavior and quantification of the structural damage states during seismic events are pertinent. Hence, the present research delineates the structural hysteretic behavior and different stages of damage experienced by reinforced concrete (RC) structural components for derivation of seismic fragility functions. The basic requirement in modeling RC structural components under seismic loading is to define a constitutive load-deformation relationship capable of producing strength and stiffness degradation along with pinching at all displacement levels. This is a demanding task considering the numerous parameters contributing to the structural hysteretic behavior. The Bouc-Wen-Baber-Noori (BWBN) model, owing to its computational efficiency and mathematical tractability, is adopted as the basis of the current research and amended accordingly to simulate the hysteretic behavior of RC structural components. The Livermore Solver for ordinary Differential Equations (LSODE) is employed to solve the differential equations of the model. A database of RC beam-column joints and walls tested under quasi-static loading is compiled from the literature to determine the model parameters by a Genetic Algorithm (GA), a system identification technique and to successfully calibrate the analytical response with the experimental results. Subsequently, the sensitivity ranking of the model parameters is determined and the relationship between the model parameters and the structural features is derived by regression analysis using the existing database of the structural components. To facilitate structural analysis of RC buildings with beam-column joints and walls using the proposed analytical approach, the hysteresis model is effectively implemented as a user element in ABAQUS. For quantification of different stages of damage experienced by the structural components, the Park-Ang damage model is modified such that the range of the damage index (DI) is between zero and unity. The damage states are classified and quantified in the form of damage indices on the basis of the experimental response of the structural components. Drift ratio is selected as the engineering damage parameter (EDP) for defining the seismic demand in the structural components at any point of the loading history. On the basis of the maximum likelihood test results, a lognormal distribution is found acceptable as the theoretical distribution for fragility assessment of the structural components for all damage states. Thereafter, using incremental dynamic analysis approach, the structural models are subjected to increasing levels of scaled ground motion intensity suitable for Singapore until dynamic instability is reached. The minimum intensity of each ground motion at which the structural models exceed a certain damage state is ascertained to obtain the seismic fragility curves.Doctor of Philosophy (CEE

Hysteresis modeling of reinforced concrete structures : state of the art

Hysteresis modeling of reinforced concrete (RC) structures requires a constitutive relationship capable of producing requisite strength and stiffness degradation and pinching at all displacement levels. Moreover, the hysteresis model must be generic, computationally efficient, and mathematically tractable so as to perform satisfactorily with random input functions. Thus, development of hysteresis models with the entire prerequisites may become stringent considering the numerous parameters contributing to the structural behavior. Hence, an extensive literature review is conducted to comprehend the hysteresis models of RC structures developed by various researchers. Then, a comprehensive synopsis of the state of the art along with the substantive findings is reported in the present paper. Thereafter, a comparative study between the existing hysteresis models and the experimental results of RC structural components under quasi-static cyclic loading is conducted to evaluate the performance of the hysteresis models.Published versio

Modified Bouc–Wen model for hysteresis behavior of RC beam–column joints with limited transverse reinforcement

An analytical approach based on modified Bouc–Wen–Baber–Noori model has been proposed in this paper for predicting the hysteresis behavior of reinforced concrete beam–column joints with limited transverse reinforcement. The analytical model presented in this research is able to capture the characteristics of non-seismic detailed beam–column joints such as stiffness and strength degradation and pinching. Livermore Solver for Ordinary Differential Equations (LSODE) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) have been employed to solve the differential equations and to execute systematic estimation of the parameters associated with the model respectively. The analytical model has been calibrated with the experimental results of old fashioned interior and exterior beam–column joints obtained from the literature. In a bid to examine the influence of variation of each analytical parameter on the model, sensitivity analysis has been performed. Thereafter, an extensive parametric study has been conducted to relate the physical parameters of beam–column joints to the analytical model parameters. The upper and lower bounds of the magnitude of the analytical model parameters have been proposed subsequently with a method to identify the parameters for a specific beam–column joint depending on its physical parameters.Accepted versio

Reliability assessment of damaged RC moment-resisting frame against progressive collapse under dynamic loading conditions

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures when subjected to sudden destruction of a column by blast pressure, experience dynamic effects in its response. Hence, reliability assessment of the damaged ductile frame against progressive collapse under dynamic loading conditions is conducted in this research. This paper aims at establishing three performance functions, two of which will consider structural collapse due to lack of strength and deformation capacity respectively while the third will incorporate the shear response of structural components for the weakest collapse mechanism. Since any of the performance functions may lead to structural collapse, a global performance function of the damaged structure is developed by considering the minimum of the functions. The results are then used in conjunction with Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) to estimate the reliability of the damaged structure. A numerical example of a four storey RC frame is presented to address the applicability of the proposed approach and the effects of different structural parameters on its reliability against progressive collapse after the sudden column loss are investigated thereafter.Published versio