88 research outputs found
International peace activist Supriya Vani talks about her book "Battling injustice"
No full textSupriya Vani, international peace activist and author of "Battling injustice: the stories of 16 women Nobel Peace Laureates," delivers a talk about her book. Vani describes each of the women's accomplishments that made them worthy of winning a Nobel Peace Prize and specifically how they each furthered gender equality and women's rights. Vani also discusses her experiences interviewing the living award recipients and the overall research that went into her book. Vani answers questions from the audience
Maximizing the health benefits of lycopene isomers
No full textLycopene is an acyclic C40 non polar carotenoid found in tomatoes. In nature, the predominant form is the all-trans isomeric form which represents 80-97% of lycopene in tomato and tomato related products. However on consumption of tomato products, >50% of the lycopene is found in the cis isomeric form in the body, thereby implying that the cis isomeric form is the more bioavailable /bioactive form in the human body.
The major objective of our study was to validate the bioactivity of lycopene isomers. Three approaches were used to achieve this goal. 1). An ab initio computational model to study the structure of isomers. 2). Develop a method to isolate isomers. 3). Study antioxidant activity and cellular proliferation activity of isomers in in- vitro condition.
Computational modeling studies showed that lycopene isomers differ in their electronic distribution on the molecules. Cellular Antioxidant Activity (CAA) method showed that cis isomers have higher CAA compared to all-trans isomers.
The cellular proliferation assay known as the MTT assay indicated larger decrease in proliferation of cis isomer treated prostate cancer cells. The anti-inflammatory assay (measures the amount of nitric oxide (NO) produced by mouse macrophages (RAW 264.7)) showed marginal difference in activity between control and isomer treated cells.
Non-thermal processing techniques like High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP) processing and Pulse Electric Field (PEF) were used to increase the yield of beneficial cis lycopene isomer in the processed product. The results showed an qualitative increase in cis isomer after non-thermal processing.
This study helps us get deeper insights on the activity of cis and all-trans lycopene isomers at a basic molecular level, which correlates to the activity at a chemical and biological level. Non-thermal processing methods like High Hydrostatic Pressure processing and Pulse Electric Field processing methods can cause lycopene isomerization. These can be used as alternative means of processing to get tomato products that can yield health benefits to the consumers.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesby Supriya Varm
The Middle Ground: Spatial Planning Under Uncertainty
No full textConventional spatial planning deals with hazards by bouncing back to the pre-existing situation. Intensifying manifestations of climate risk lead to unforeseen cascading effects that often surpass the level of protection offered by this type of approach (e.g. Hurricane Katrina) . In this thesis. spatial planning approach is developed that embraces uncertainties, including potential cascading effects. It provides the potential to bounce forward in space to better cope with a disaster.Critical infrastructure networks (transport, water, energy lines) are interdependent and embedded in space. The proposal spatially understands recovery patterns offered by these networks during a crisis to inform long term growth trajectories of the urban system that can ‘grow with risk’. The principal objective is mainstreaming the role of spatial planning for risk reduction.The research and design draws from quantitative conclusions of engineering, transport and seismic studies in the context of resilience planning. A spatial disaster event chain is proposed based on theories of complex networks and cascading effects. Risks are projected in space to simulate evacuation behavior on road networks using ArcGIS Network Analyst. With spatial reconfiguration as a central aim, ‘urban design’ iterations form a principal research component for an aggregate understanding of risks in space. The test case utilized in the San Francisco Bay which is at risk of a sea level rise by 2100 and is a hotbed of seismic activity.Understanding recovery patterns due to incremental risk on infrastructure helps derive the gradient of spatial vulnerability. This informs the ‘critical web’ of the urban region to reconfigure land management and density distribution. A coherent spatial assessment framework is established to identify the ‘middle ground’ that absorbs intensive growth and vulnerable sites that must transition for better adaptivity.The research highlights lack of cohesion in planning practice to pursue long term implementation strategies such as resilience in land use management, looking beyond building back’ and investing in incremental gain models that grow with risk .It aims to address this vital knowledge gap between engineering simulations and planning in the real world and how we can build a framework to sync them for long range risk reduction.In conclusion, the project acknowledges risk in space and finds ways to sustain life in the light of urgencies.San Francisco Bay-Resilience By Desig
After socialism and dirigisme : which way?
Get PDFThe author identifies fundamental economic changes in the last 20 years that have influenced the emergence of a new paradigm on economic reform. The new orthodoxy on economic reform emphasizes smaller government, trade liberalization, business deregulation and privatization, macroeconomic austerity, and the role of free markets for resource allocation and growth. After describing diverse country experiences in economic reform, the author summarizes his findings on key aspects of the design of economic reform programs. Shock treatment (as opposed to the gradual approach) requires a strong government with broad social support, as the costs of the policies are paid upfront and the benefits may take time to accrue. If the program involves protracted social hardship, political support will begin to evaporate and pressure will build for a reversal of reform. Important choices must be made about the sequence of macroeconomic adjustment and consolidation and structural reform. Implementing tax reform and converting quotas to tariffs improve the fiscal budget, so they contribute to macroeconomic stabilization. But premature financial liberalization, before the budget is balanced and real interest rates are at a reasonable level, may lead to financial crisis, as happened in Chile in 1982-83. Massive privatization of large-scale firms can have both stabilizing and destabilizing macroeconomic effects, for example. If it means getting rid of loss-making public enterprises, it could save scarce government resources. But if the resulting output and unemployment costs are socially unsustainable, pressure may mount for the government to come to the enterprises'rescue. The shift from an economy with controlled prices to one in which most prices are market-determined generally involves a big hike in price levels. Chile and Mexico illustrate the stubbornness of the inflation that may follow. China, Korea, and Chile represent countries that carried out economic reform under authoritarian governments that postponed political reform to gain political legitimacy from the fruits of consolidated economic reform. In countries where economic and political reform are pursued simultaneously (as in Eastern Europe and Russia), fragile democracies with a fragmented party system and weak social institutions and governments do not provide the most favorable political environment for implementing and consolidating complex and painful economic reforms. Under these conditions, governments are bound to face the dilemma of either postponing economic reform to avert a political crisis or to backslide in democratization to apply painful economic policies - both unsavory choices.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Inequality,Achieving Shared Growth
Political models of macroeconomic policy and fiscal reform
Get PDFThe author explains how recent developments in political economics improve our understanding of macroeconomic policy - especially the timing, design, and likelihood of stabilization's success through monetary and fiscal reform. The author reviews the literature on political business cycles and emphasizes several issues involving the relationship between the timing of elections and the timing of macroeconomic policies and outcomes. He also addresses how models can be useful in studying non-democratic systems. Two forces are crucial factors in both democratic and dictatorial systems, although they may manifest themselves differently: (1) the policymakers'incentive to retain power; and (2) society's polarization and the degree of social conflict. The author then analyzes why economic stabilization is delayed, even when it is obvious that sooner or later a stabilization program will have to be adopted. Some points made in the paper follow. Certain institutional characteristics make quick and successful stabilization more or less likely. The more unequal the distribution of stabilization's costs, the more likely that stabilization will be delayed. An increase in the cost of postponing stabilization reduces the delay. Political institutions that make it easier for small interest groups to veto legislation make delay more likely. If political and economic resources are unequally distributed, and it is obvious which group is stronger and has resources to wait longer, a war of attrition ends immediately, as there is no uncertainty about who will win it. Delay is more likely when information about who will bear the cost of delays is uncertain or unevenly distributed. Delay is also more likely when there is agreement about the need for fiscal change but a political stalemate about distribution - about how the burden of higher taxes or spending cuts should be allocated. Stabilization usually occurs when there is political consolidation. The burden of stabilization is sometimes unequal, with the politically weaker group (often the lower classes) bearing a larger burden (often regressive measures). If it is in the interest of the current government to do nothing for fear of failure because of government incompetence, the public may have no incentive to vote for the opposition because the opposition may also do nothing; the crucial factor here is how aware the government is of its own incompetence and thus its reasons for not attempting reform. Successful stabilization usually comes after several failed attempts, and the successful program is often very much like one that failed.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,National Governance,ICT Policy and Strategies,Health Economics&Finance
Preferential hydrodynamic, geomorphological, and vegetation ecology conditions for turtle nesting: Al Wajh Bank, Saudi Arabia
No full textSea turtles are a popular tourist attraction that offers travelers a unique nature experience. As a part of Saudi Arabia’s 2030 vision, an unprecedented amount of tourism development is being carried out under the ‘Red Sea Development Project’. The aim is to develop hyper-luxury islands in a sustainable and ecologically friendly way by closely following ‘Building with Nature’ principles. The tourism development site at Al Wajh Bank encompasses an archipelago of more than 90 islands and some of the sandy islands provide nesting grounds for Hawksbill and Green turtles. The thesis is a component of a broad study on investigating the preferential conditions for sea turtle nesting and conservation where TU Delft is collaborating with NIOZ and KAUST. The present study makes a preliminary assessment of the preferential conditions for sea turtle nesting of wave hydrodynamics and geomorphological conditions based on available data and numerical wave model simulations. The study is expected to provide information and guidance for future research for the conservation of sea turtle nesting at Al Wajh Bank.The coral reefs provide breeding grounds for sea turtles in the gently sloping sandy beaches along the raised islands where the sand has ideal conditions of moisture, temperature, and distribution of sediment size for successful nesting and hatching of eggs at an optimum distance from the highwater line to avoid inundation by wave runup. In general, the foreshore at the turtle nesting site has a fore reef with a steep slope followed by a wide and shallow reef flat having high bottom roughness for dissipation of wave energy. The Al Wajh Bank spread over an area of 2880 km^2 has a very large and complex barrier reef system at the outer edge in the deep sea enclosing a massive lagoon with several islands. These islands have sandy beaches on the up wave (windward) side and mudflats with sand and vegetation in the sheltered zones. The vegetation is dominated by mangroves in the mudflats and seagrass in the shallow lagoon beds.The study used the Delft3D WAVE stand-alone phase averaging spectral wave model for transforming waves from offshore to nearshore and to examine the energy dissipation characteristics of the reef system. The high-resolution bathymetry data for the Al Wajh Banks was obtained from GCC and relatively coarse resolution data for the offshore from GEBCO. The model simulated offshore wind and wave data validated using satellite altimetry, SAR, and Buoy measurements was obtained from BMT ARGOSS online services website “waveclimate.com”. The normal and extreme wave conditions were derived using this data. The data on GPS coordinates at the location of turtle nesting sites was provided by a survey undertaken by KAUST. A limited data on sediment size distribution at four islands south of Al Wajh Bank was made available by KAUST collected by ALS Arabia. The data on beach slopes, the distance of nests from HWL, geomorphology, vegetation was derived from secondary sources or in an indirect manner using bathymetry data.The wave model results were analyzed for the nearshore wave heights and distribution of energy density at the fore reef and inside the lagoon. The wave model results revealed that the extensive barrier reef on the seaward side of the Al Wajh Bank is able to completely prevent and dissipate the energy of the offshore waves providing ideal conditions for turtle nesting at seaside islands. Further, the results show that the offshore waves do not have any role in the production and dissipation of wave energy inside the lagoon. The study confirmed that the waves inside the lagoon are exclusively local wind-generated waves. The wave climate inside the lagoon during storm conditions is only influenced by the prevailing strong winds and not dependent on the storm-generated extreme waves from offshore.Most of the sea turtle nests have been found on the up wave or windward side of beaches with flat and wide reefs or fringing reefs between the reef crest and the high-water line. The wave model demonstrated the large energy dissipation rates under these geo-morphological conditions. In the absence of relevant data on sediments for the nesting and non-nesting beaches, no specific conclusions could be drawn. The beach slopes where sea turtle nests were abundant had slopes in the range of 1:10 and 1:20. The study indicated that the non-nesting sites inside the lagoon are in the sheltered zones of inner reef shelfs and behind the islands where mudflats with mangroves and other vegetation are abundant.The wave runup is estimated using the HyCReWW metamodel at the nesting and non-nesting sites. The metamodel estimates indicated that the wave runup is of comparable magnitude both for the nesting and non-nesting sites. The comparison of runup distance along the beach indicated that the turtle nesting sites are located sufficiently away from the runup computed for 1 in 100-year wave heightA satellite imagery-based global shoreline data source (Shoreline Monitor, Deltares/TUDelft) was used to examine the erosion and accretion trends at Al Wajh Bank. The data identified two of the islands as having chronic erosion which have a small percentage of nesting sites. The analysis of the data identified that the turtle nesting sites are located on beaches with stable erosion/accretion rates.The study confirmed the limitations of the Delft3D WAVE (SWAN) model used in simulating IG waves. Due to the very large domain and the course grid adopted in the present study the wave setup aspects have not been covered. The present study was useful in providing a range of information and guidance for further hydrodynamic and geomorphological data inputs at a regional scale and application of models like X-Beach or SWASH for a more comprehensive and detailed analysis on the influence of the surf and swash zone dynamics including IG waves on the sea turtle nesting sites. A systematic data acquisition on geomorphological and sediment characteristics will be useful for logistic regression analysis to study the dominant factors influencing the turtle nesting and non-nesting sites.Civil Engineering | Hydraulic Engineerin
Optimisation of a Photovoltaic-Thermal (PV-T) panel for Desalination
No full textWater stress levels are rising due to industrialisation and the increase in population. With the freshwater supplies depleting at a rate faster than the refreshment rate, there is a need to look into unconventional and sustainable sources of water. Desalination technology is a reliable solution for the future water requirement; however, it is an energy-intensive process. Desalination is mostly powered by fossil fuels and there is a need to move away from these. For this reason, a Photovoltaic Thermal (PV-T) powered desalination plant which uses the Multi-effect Distillation (MED) coupled with Mechanical Vapour Compression (MVC) technology, is investigated. A novel design of the PV-T module is used wherein a water reservoir is attached directly to the back of a PV module.The PV-T module produces electrical and thermal energy simultaneously, which are the required inputs to a MED-MVC desalination system. To have the desalination system working efficiently, it is important to predict the output from the module with respect to its design and the location weather parameters. To predict the output water temperature with varying weather conditions, a PV-T model was built using COMSOL Multiphysics. The model was validated using experimental data from the location of Dubai. It is found that the water outlet temperature and the total efficiency of the module vary with its inclination angle and flow rate of water through it. With a sensitivity analysis for the outlet water temperature and the total efficiency with respect to tilt angle and flow rate, optimum values for these parameters are obtained for summer and winter days. A maximum water outlet temperature of 91o C in summer and 58 o C in winter is predicted from the model, for the Dubai location, for these optimum values. Using experimental and simulated results, output parameters such as water outlet temperature at a given flow rate is predicted using dimensionless numbers which characterises the PV-T design and the surrounding environment that the system is placed in. The hot water from the PV-T array which consists of 400 PV-T panels is used to produce steam using flash evaporation, for thermal input to the MED vessel. Sensitivity analysis for the temperature and quantity of the hot water produced from the array showed that a maximum amount of steam of 1782 kg can be produced on a summer day with a water outlet temperature of 85 o C. Due to lower water outlet temperature in winter, heating elements should be used to raise the water temperature to 85 o C. The maximum amount of steam produced, as a result of 85 deg C water temperature, will lead to 6058 kg of distilled water per day when used as input to the MED with 4 effects. According to water requirement, additional steam can be produced by the MVC.<br/
Between Liking and Becoming Like: A Comparative Case Study of How Academic Exchange Programs have Shaped Higher Education Reform in the Vietnam-United States Diplomatic Relationship
Get PDFThis work is embargoed by the author and will not be publicly available until May 15, 2025.Social scientists have long grappled with how to understand the impact of government-sponsored academic exchange programs. The United Nations’ inclusion in 2015 of international scholarships in its sustainable development goals for 2030 has both underscored the growing interest in such exchanges and heightened the need for greater clarity on what, if any, benefits they confer, and to whom. Using the Vietnam-U.S. diplomatic relationship as an example, this comparative case study explores the impact of U.S. university-hosted exchange programs on higher education reform in a developing country. It uses actor-network theory to trace the post-exchange experiences of 27 U.S.- educated Vietnamese exchange alumni over nearly 30 years, beginning with the 1992 launch of the U.S. Fulbright program. It first examines their individual contributions to academic teaching, research, and policymaking, then considers the longer-term impact of their actions and interactions from a critical perspective distilled through the lenses of xiii globalization, international relations, and postcolonialism. The main research question asks: What can be learned about the influence of U.S. diplomacy on higher education reform in Vietnam through a study of government-sponsored academic exchange programs? Potential outcomes are conceptualized through two sets of ideal types: One is bookended by human capital theory and Sen's human capabilities approach; the other, by empirically derived values associated with the common good in East Asian and Western cultures. The analysis reveals a tendency among exchange alumni to promote Sen's articulation of human flourishing but also suggests that alumni efforts can be undermined by market-oriented policies that are recommended by the World Bank and adopted (or adapted) by the Vietnamese government. Findings suggest a net effect on higher education in Vietnam that on one hand has raised concerns about an erosion or even perversion of traditional Vietnamese educational values and on the other has motivated exchange alumni to reframe their interpretations of those values in a way that has the potential to counter some of the effects of neoliberalism. Finally, it identifies noteworthy characteristics of U.S. programs, while also urging the U.S. government to ensure that the totality of its diplomatic efforts serves the objectives of the developing countries with which it partners.2025-05-1
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