Mutability, mobility, worlding: appropriate infrastructure and urban sociotechnical change in Ahmedabad, Gujarat

This thesis investigates the relationship between urban infrastructure and sociotechnical change. Drawing on 10 months of field research in the city of Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, the study provides an account of relations between infrastructural undertakings and their contexts, and how these shape subsequent patterns of continuity and change. This connection, I argue, is particularly apparent in the urban milieu, where planners have to contend with existing infrastructure as part of the built environment. Supplementing this interpretive account, the study draws on post-war writings on appropriate technology, working to update and evaluate the utility of ‘appropriateness’ as a criterion for evaluating infrastructure projects, particularly those implemented in an urban or postcolonial setting. Identifying infrastructure as a slippery, opaque, and often invisible research subject—something exceeding representational writing and the single, clearly-bounded field site—the study adopts a research methodology inspired by practices of flânerie, deploying observational techniques, practices of urban walking, and performative modes of writing to trace the configuration of specific infrastructure projects and processes of urban change. Drawing on recent work on infrastructure from anthropology, STS, urban geography, and policy studies, the study mobilises a range of concepts to further illuminate the status of objects and events encountered in the city, and situating them in relation to broader processes of change and transformation. In developing this account, and moving from description to theory, the thesis addresses three sets of relational dynamics—mutability, mobility, and worlding. The first of these dynamics looks at the mutability of a given system or artefact, its capacity for adaptive modification, or, conversely, its resistance to change. The second addresses how infrastructures are transferred from one setting to another, paying attention to the pressures of new or unforeseen contexts of use. The third examines how understandings of context are enacted through the ‘worlding’ of infrastructure and urban technology—exploring situations where different actors’ worldings compete or exist in tension with one another. As observed in Ahmedabad, a postcolonial ‘mega-city’ and home to a new, emerging urban middle class, these dynamics complicate the relationship between infrastructure and its contexts—interactions shaped by crosscutting obdurate and fluid materialities (‘mutability’), enmeshed in global circuits of transport and exchange (‘mobility’), and materialising various forms of identity and affiliation (‘worlding’). Mobilising ‘appropriateness’ as a norm and evaluative criteria, and reflecting on the likely characteristics of ‘appropriate infrastructure’, is, I conclude, an effective way to foreground these neglected dimensions, and, in doing so, contribute to future work on urban transformations and infrastructural change

The Political Ecology of COVID-19 and Compounded Uncertainties in Marginal Environments

In this paper, we use a political ecology lens to look at how COVID-19 adds to a set of existing uncertainties and challenges faced by vulnerable people in the marginal environments of coastal India. Over the last few decades, local people have been systematically dispossessed from resource commons in the name of industrial, urban and infrastructure development or conservation efforts, leading to livelihood loss. We build on our current research in the TAPESTRY (https://tapestry-project.org/) project in coastal Kutch and Mumbai to demonstrate how the pandemic has laid bare structural inequalities and unequal access to public goods and natural resources. The impacts of COVID-19 have intersected with ongoing food, water and climate crises in these marginal environments, threatening already fragile livelihoods, and compounding uncertainties and vulnerabilities

इन-फोकस (एक झलक): कोविड-19, भारत में अनिश्चितता, वल्नरबिलीटी और रिकवरी

This paper addresses COVID-19 in India, looking at how the interplay of inequality, vulnerability, and the pandemic has compounded uncertainties for poor and marginalised groups, leading to insecurity, stigma and a severe loss of livelihoods. A strict government lockdown destroyed the incomes of farmers and urban informal workers and triggered an exodus of migrant workers from Indian cities, a mass movement which placed additional pressures on the country's rural communities. Elsewhere in the country, lockdown restrictions and pandemic response have coincided with heatwaves, floods and cyclones, impeding disaster response and relief. At the same time, the pandemic has been politicised to target minority groups (such as Muslims, Dalits), suppress dissent, and undermine constitutional values. The paper focuses on how COVID-19 has intersected with and multiplied existing uncertainties faced by different vulnerable groups and communities in India who have remained largely invisible in India's development story. With the biggest challenge for government now being to mitigate the further fall of millions of people into extreme poverty, the brief also reflects on pathways for recovery and transformation, including opportunities for rural revival, inclusive welfare, and community response. This brief is based on a review of existing published and grey literature, and 23 interviews with experts and practitioners from 12 states in India, including representation from domestic and international NGOs, and local civil society organisations. It was developed for the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP) by Justin Pickard, Shilpi Srivastava, Lyla Mehta (IDS), and Mihir R. Bhatt. Some of the cases draw on ongoing research of the TAPESTRY project, which explores bottom-up transformations in marginal environments across India and Bangladesh.ભારતમાં અસમાનતા, અસહાયતા અને કોરોના મહામારીના સંયોજનને પરિણામે ગરીબો અને સીમાન્તીકૃત જૂથો (vulnerable communities) માટે અનિશ્ચિતતા વધી છે, પરિણામે અસલામતી, કલંક (stigma) અને જીવનનિર્વાહમાં ભારે હાનિ ઊભાં થયાં છે. સરકારના કડક લોકડાઉનને લીધે ખેડૂતોએ અને શહેરોના અસંગઠિત કામદારોએ આવક ગુમાવી તેમ જ ભારતનાં શહેરોમાંથી સ્થળાંતરિત કામદારોની હિજરત પણ ઉદ્ભવી. દેશમાં અન્ય સ્થાનોએ લોકડાઉનનાં નિયંત્રણોની સાથે સાથે ગરમીનું મોજું, પૂર અને વાવાઝોડાં આવવાને લીધે આપત્તિ સામેના મજબૂત પ્રતિભાવમાં અવરોધો ઊભા કર્યા. સાથે સાથે કોરોના મહામારીનું લઘુમતીઓને લક્ષ્યાંક બનાવવા માટે, અસંમતિને દબાવવા માટે અને બંધારણીય મૂલ્યોને નજરઅંદાજ કરવા માટે રાજકીયકરણ પણ થયું.Please note: there are accompanying infographics summarising the key points from the briefing in English, Gujurati and Hindi.भारत में असमानता, असुरक्षा और कोविड-19 महामारी के परस्पर मिले जुले प्रभाव ने गरीब और सुभैद्य समूहों (vulnerable communities) के लिए अनिश्चितताएं बढ़ा दी हैं । इससे असुरक्षा की भावना, लांछन (stigma) लगा और आजीविका का बहुत अधिक नुकसान हुआ है । एक सख्त सरकारी लॉकडाउन ने किसानों और शहरी अनौपचारिक अनियमित कामगारों की आय को समाप्त कर दिया । ‌भारत के शहरों से प्रवासी मजदूरों का पलायन शुरू हो गया । देश में लॉकडाउन प्रतिबंध, लू, बाढ़ और चक्रवातों के साथ शुरू हुआ था जिससे आपदा प्रबंधन और राहत कार्यो में भी बाधा उत्पन्न हुई । इसके साथ ही अल्पसंख्यकों को निशाना बनाने, असहमति को दबाने और संवैधानिक दायित्वों या मूल्यों को कमजोर करने के लिए इस महामारी का राजनीतिकरण भी हुआ हैWellcome TrustFCD

Growth arrest-specific transcript 5 associated snoRNA levels are related to p53 expression and DNA damage in colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND The growth arrest-specific transcript 5 gene (GAS5) encodes a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) and hosts a number of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) that have recently been implicated in multiple cellular processes and cancer. Here, we investigate the relationship between DNA damage, p53, and the GAS5 snoRNAs to gain further insight into the potential role of this locus in cell survival and oncogenesis both in vivo and in vitro. METHODS We used quantitative techniques to analyse the effect of DNA damage on GAS5 snoRNA expression and to assess the relationship between p53 and the GAS5 snoRNAs in cancer cell lines and in normal, pre-malignant, and malignant human colorectal tissue and used biological techniques to suggest potential roles for these snoRNAs in the DNA damage response. RESULTS GAS5-derived snoRNA expression was induced by DNA damage in a p53-dependent manner in colorectal cancer cell lines and their levels were not affected by DICER. Furthermore, p53 levels strongly correlated with GAS5-derived snoRNA expression in colorectal tissue. CONCLUSIONS In aggregate, these data suggest that the GAS5-derived snoRNAs are under control of p53 and that they have an important role in mediating the p53 response to DNA damage, which may not relate to their function in the ribosome. We suggest that these snoRNAs are not processed by DICER to form smaller snoRNA-derived RNAs with microRNA (miRNA)-like functions, but their precise role requires further evaluation. Furthermore, since GAS5 host snoRNAs are often used as endogenous controls in qPCR quantifications we show that their use as housekeeping genes in DNA damage experiments can lead to inaccurate results

Investigating the Distribution and Diversity of Leptosphaeria maculans in Northern Idaho

This abstract has not been completedmasters, M.S., Plant, Soil and Entomological Sciences -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2018-1

Political and Constitutional Transitions in North Africa: Actors and Factors

The transformations which are taking place in the Arab world are dynamic processes characterised by a number of variables that one can refer to as actors and factors. The implications of the Arab uprisings are important for the world at large; the Arab world’s successes, and failures, at this crucial moment may well serve as a model for other nations. Political and Constitutional Transitions in North Africa focuses on five Northern African countries- Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco, Libya and Algeria- examining specific institutions and actors participating in the political upheavals in North Africa since 2011, and placing them in a comparative perspective in order to better understand the processes at work. This book addresses issues pertinent to North African and Middle Eastern Studies, comparative constitutional law, political science and transitional studies and it contains contributions by experts in all these fields. Providing a significant contribution to the understanding of events that followed the immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, this book is a valuable contribution to North African Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Comparative Constitutional Law and Transitional Studies

Mapping traumatic axonal injury using diffusion tensor imaging: correlations with functional outcome.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Ameliorating the neurocognitive and physical deficits that accompany traumatic brain injury would be of substantial benefit, but the mechanisms that underlie them are poorly characterized. This study aimed to use diffusion tensor imaging to relate clinical outcome to the burden of white matter injury. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Sixty-eight patients, categorized by the Glasgow Outcome Score, underwent magnetic resonance imaging at a median of 11.8 months (range 6.6 months to 3.7 years) years post injury. Control data were obtained from 36 age-matched healthy volunteers. Mean fractional anisotropy, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), and eigenvalues were obtained for regions of interest commonly affected in traumatic brain injury. In a subset of patients where conventional magnetic resonance imaging was completely normal, diffusion tensor imaging was able to detect clear abnormalities. Significant trends of increasing ADC with worse outcome were noted in all regions of interest. In the white matter regions of interest worse clinical outcome corresponded with significant trends of decreasing fractional anisotropy. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: This study found that clinical outcome was related to the burden of white matter injury, quantified by diffusivity parameters late after traumatic brain injury. These differences were seen even in patients with the best outcomes and patients in whom conventional magnetic resonance imaging was normal, suggesting that diffusion tensor imaging can detect subtle injury missed by other techniques. An improved in vivo understanding of the pathology of traumatic brain injury, including its distribution and extent, may enhance outcome evaluation and help to provide a mechanistic basis for deficits that remain unexplained by other approaches

Impact of gut colonization with butyrate-producing microbiota on respiratory viral infection following allo-HCT

Respiratory viral infections are frequent in patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) and can potentially progress to lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI). The intestinal microbiota contributes to resistance against viral and bacterial pathogens in the lung. However, whether intestinal microbiota composition and associated changes in microbe-derived metabolites contribute to the risk of LRTI following upper respiratory tract viral infection remains unexplored in the setting of allo-HCT. Fecal samples from 360 allo-HCT patients were collected at the time of stem cell engraftment and subjected to deep, 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing to determine microbiota composition, and short-chain fatty acid levels were determined in a nested subset of fecal samples. The development of respiratory viral infections and LRTI was determined for 180 days following allo-HCT. Clinical and microbiota risk factors for LRTI were subsequently evaluated using survival analysis. Respiratory viral infection occurred in 149 (41.4%) patients. Of those, 47 (31.5%) developed LRTI. Patients with higher abundances of butyrate-producing bacteria were fivefold less likely to develop viral LRTI, independent of other factors (adjusted hazard ratio 5 0.22, 95% confidence interval 0.04-0.69). Higher representation of butyrate-producing bacteria in the fecal microbiota is associated with increased resistance against respiratory viral infection with LRTI in allo-HCT patients