1,736,950 research outputs found
Simran Sethi
No full textOverview: In partnership with the Sustainable Living Festival, Simran Sethi shares her wisdom on food, sustainability and climate change with the Wheeler Centre.
The good news for the human among us (i.e. everyone) is that her approach is both passionate and imperfect. For example, she eats – and ‘loves’ – meat, despite her status as a high-profile environmental journalist and educator. She believes we’re trapped in a poisonous cycle of judgement, when we should be putting our energy into doing our individual best, whether that’s reflected in our supermarket shopping or the way we eat and cook at home. It’s not just up to the big corporations to create change, she says: we all contributed to the environmental catastrophe we face, and it’s on all of us to do something about it.
This is a chance to get ideas on we can each do our part, in ways that are eminently manageable, to combat climate change and promote sustainability – in our everyday lives.
 
The Sethi merchants' havelis in Peshawar, 1800-1910: form, identity and status
No full textThis study of the Sethi merchants' havelis of Peshawar was undertaken with the premise that domestic architecture provides an alternative and compelling narrative about historical and cultural changes undergone by Indian society. The Sethi havelis constructed over a period of a hundred years (1800-1910) combined residential, business and communal spaces to form sprawling urban estates that dominated the physical environment as well as signalling a distinct identity for the clan. The Sethi havelis are important markers of the rise and peak of the merchant class of India that replaced the Mughal umrah from the 19th century. The havelis are indicative of not only the physical but the social space in society appropriated by the merchants.
The study of these havelis was carried out through documentary research and close investigation of the fabric of the buildings (making detailed survey drawings of plans, elevations and sections). The study has been set in the larger context of the analysis of regional and trans-regional trade, the development of the city of Peshawar in the various historic eras and the wider transformation of Indian society in the colonial era. This thesis looks at Peshawar not as an isolated city, but located within a larger and vibrant regional and national framework to understand the multilayered fabric of the city. This provided the
unique environment for the construction and development of the Sethi havelis.
Havelis were vital channels of indigenous patronage of architecture, and retained an alternative spatial culture to that of the colonial sponsored bungalows. Although they lost their appeal for many anglicised Indians who moved to the suburban bungalows, havelis continued to be inhabited by old aristocratic families who equated this lifestyle with 'holding on to family honour'. The haveli was a flexible typology which housed a traditional lifestyle developed around purdah, but was able to absorb the cultural changes of the early 20th century and facilitated transitions between the traditional and the modern. The haveli could also incorporate changes on its facade, becoming more extroverted in the 20th century, easily mixing stucco decorations, naqqashi and Shah-Jehani columns with stained glass, wrought iron balconies and gothic windows.
The Sethis became eminent merchant-bankers by successfully building relationships with the British in India and Amir Abdur-Rahman in Afghanistan, who allowed them a large share in the trade of the era. This financial success was expressed through the construction of the palatial havelis in the heart of the city as well as through the sponsorship of a large body of philanthropic works including mosques, gardens, wells, orphanages and serais. The identity of the Sethis was sustained through the building and occupation of these havelis. They indicate that architecture can be seen as proxy for its patron: while the Mughal Serai Jehan-Ara expressed the economic power of the Mughals(1526-1738), the continued occupation of the serai by the Sikh and British authorities
signalled their desire to be associated with this power. The construction of umrah havelis and later the Sethi havelis close to the power centre of the serai expressed similar aspirations. More importantly, the Sethi merchant havelis were important examples of indigenous architecture within the physical landscape which had been shaped by colonial interventions. As such they contested the physical landscape of colonial monuments(Cunningham clock tower and Hastings' Monument) on the Bazaar-e-Kalan as counternarratives.
The study fills a significant gap in the literature through its close consideration and analysis of the domestic architecture of Sethi merchants of Peshawar, thus contributing to the overall cultural history of the pre-colonial and colonial periods in the city's history. The thesis concludes that historical accounts that focus only on the study and descriptions of monumental architecture present an incomplete picture, which may be completed through the study of the domestic architecture of the eras (19th and 20th centuries)
Sarab Sethi: Soundscape Monitoring in Malaysian Borneo
No full text<p>In this radio episode, we speak to Dr Sarab Sethi, Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Cambridge Conservation Initiative at the University of Cambridge. Sarab discusses building hardware for acoustic soundscape monitoring in the <a href="https://atlas.smartforests.net/en/logbooks/safe-project/">SAFE project</a> in Malaysian Borneo, and the challenges of interdisciplinary work between ecology and computer science.</p>
Viscoelastic gels of guar and xanthan gum mixtures provide long-term stabilization of iron micro- and nanoparticles
No full textIron micro- and nanoparticles used for groundwater remediation and medical applications are prone to fast aggregation and sedimentation. Diluted single biopolymer water solutions of guar gum (GG) or xanthan gum (XG) can stabilize these particles for few hours providing steric repulsion and by increasing the viscosity of the suspension. The goal of the study is to demonstrate that amending GG solutions with small amounts of XG (XG/GG weight ratio 1:19; 3 g/L of total biopolymer concentration) can significantly improve the capability of the biopolymer to stabilize highly concentrated iron micro- and nanoparticle suspensions. The synergistic effect between GG and XG generates a viscoelastic gel that can maintain 20 g/L iron particles suspended for over 24 h. This is attributed to (i) an increase in the static viscosity, (ii) a combined polymer structure the yield stress of which contrasts the downward stress exerted by the iron particles, and (iii) the adsorption of the polymers to the iron surface having an anchoring effect on the particles. The XG/GG viscoelastic gel is characterized by a marked shear thinning behavior. This property, coupled with the low biopolymer concentration, determines small viscosity values at high shear rates, facilitating the injection in porous media. Furthermore, the thermosensitivity of the soft elastic polymeric network promotes higher stability and longer storage times at low temperatures and rapid decrease of viscosity at higher temperatures. This feature can be exploited in order to improve the flowability and the delivery of the suspensions to the target as well as to effectively tune and control the release of the iron particle
Re-orientalism and Representation: Aman Sethi Talks About Delhi
No full textIn the (re)presentation of India by Indian authors writing in English there is an overlooked, long-standing tradition of sterling commentaries produced by social analysts. In the best of that tradition which blurs the divide between the literary and journalistic, Aman Sethi, in A Free Man (2012), crosses significant class boundaries to represent Delhi with disconcerting rawness through stories of its itinerant labourers. This article investigates whether Sethi’s innovative methods of data collection and modes of representation used to deconstruct the alterity of subaltern representation are able to resist re-orientalism and address the crisis of authenticity in Indian writing in English (IWE); or whether re-orientalism is inexorably reiterated as a result of the distance and difference in positionality between author and subject. Focusing on representation via the form of non-fiction narrative, it discusses the extent to which form and authorial intention to avoid strategic exoticism and staged marginality can circumvent the pitfalls of re-orientalism when representing the subaltern
SETHI: The Flying Lab
No full textSETHI: The Flying Lab
This paper presents the new-generation test bench SETHI, developed by ONERA, the French Aerospace Lab. SETHI is a medium range platform dedicated to environmental, scientific and security applications. The first part of this paper describes the system architecture, the development state and the future capabilities. A set of recent significant results are presented: these results cover various applications, such as high spatial resolution imaging, change detection between two acquisitions, biomass measurement in the rain forest, bistatic imaging and innovative measurements, such as air-to-air imaging or circular imaging.</jats:p
Biogeochemical characterization of zerovalent iron reactive barriers
No full textIn this study, we have investigated the geochemical processes taking place within a Fe0 barrier at the field installation of Avigliana, near the city of Turin in Italy, which represents the first full-scale application of this technology in Italy (Di Molfetta & Sethi, 2005
Transport in porous media of iron-based bioslurries for groundwater remediation
No full textColloidal suspensions of engineered nanoparticles have been studied in recent years for waste water and in-situ groundwater remediation. Zero-valent iron particles represent a promising technology for groundwater remediation via abiotic reduction. However, due to strong magnetic particle-particle attraction (in the case of nano-sized particles) and to gravitational settling (in the case of nano-sized particles), iron colloids dispersed in pure water are not stable. Therefore, solutions of green biopolymers (e.g. starch, guar gum, xanthan gum), characterized by viscous - shear thinning - properties, have been recently studied as dispersants and stabilizers for iron slurries, thus enhancing stability against sedimentation and increasing particles mobility in saturated porous media (Tiraferri et al. 2008, Tiraferri and Sethi 2009). Therefore, contaminant degradation is first achieved via rapid chemical reduction (provided by the iron particles), and then by long-term biological processes, enhanced by the degradation of the biopolymers used to stabilize the slurry. In this work, co-funded by European Union project AQUAREHAB (FP7 - Grant Agreement Nr. 226565), a modelling approach is described to simulate the transport in porous media of nanoscale iron bioslurries. Colloid transport in saturated porous media is controlled by particle-particle and particle-collector interactions. In case of highly concentrated suspensions of iron particles, the hydrodynamic parameters (porosity, hydraulic conductivity) and fluid properties (e.g. viscosity) cannot be considered independent on the concentration of deposed and suspended colloids (Mays and Hunt 2005, Tiraferri and Sethi 2009). None of the colloid transport models previously reported in the literature could simulate the non-Newtonian nature of the carrier fluid, nor the influence of the concentration of suspended colloids on the fluid properties. Consequently, a numerical model (E-MNM1D, Enhanced Micro-and Nanoparticle transport Model in porous media in 1D geometry) was developed to simulate the transport of the iron bioslurries. The complex, non-Newtonian rheological properties of the suspensions are accounted for through a variable apparent viscosity, function of polymer and suspended iron particle concentrations. The transport of iron particles is modelled using a dual-site approach accounting for straining and physico-chemical deposition/release phenomena (Tosco and Sethi 2010). The progressive clogging of the porous medium, due to deposition and filtration of a relevant mass of particles and aggregates, is modelled including changes in pore velocity, viscosity, density and porosity due to the progressive deposition of iron particles, and to highly viscosity of the carrier fluid. A general formulation for reversible deposition is also proposed, that includes all commonly applied dynamics (linear attachment, blocking, ripening). Clogging of the porous medium due to deposition of iron particles is modelled by tying porosity and permeability to deposited iron particles. E-MNM1D, implemented in a Matlab environment with an Excel input/output interface, can be downloaded at www.polito.itngroundwaternsoftware
Transport of Non-Newtonian Suspensions of Highly Concentrated Micro- And Nanoscale Iron Particles in Porous Media: A Modeling Approach
No full textThe use of zerovalent iron micro- and nanoparticles (MZVI and NZVI) for groundwater remediation is hindered by colloidal instability, causing aggregation (for NZVI) and sedimentation (for MZVI) of the particles. Transportability of MZVI and NZVI in porous media was previously shown to be significantly increased if viscous shear-thinning fluids (xanthan gum solutions) are used as carrier fluids. In this work, a novel modeling approach is proposed and applied for the simulation of 1D flow and transport of highly concentrated (20 g/L) non- Newtonian suspensions of MZVI and NZVI, amended with xanthan gum (3 g/L). The coupled model is able to simulate the flow of a shear thinning fluid including the variable apparent viscosity arising from changes in xanthan and suspended iron particle concentrations. The transport of iron particles is modeled using a dual-site approach accounting for straining and physicochemical deposition/release phenomena. A general formulation for reversible deposition is herein proposed, that includes all commonly applied dynamics (linear attachment, blocking, ripening). Clogging of the porous medium due to deposition of iron particles is modeled by tying porosity and permeability to deposited iron particles. The numerical model proved to adequately fit the transport tests conducted using both MZVI and NZVI and can develop into a powerful tool for the design and the implementation of full scale zerovalent iron application
“the struggle to be free”: A Conversation with Aman Sethi
No full textInternational audienceAman Sethi is an Indian journalist and the author of A Free Man (2011), a literary reportage on the lives of homeless daily wage workers in an Old Delhi labour market. In the following interview, Sethi looks back on A Free Man, a book he views as an attempt to try and capture the workers’ “struggle to be free” in an oppressive world, eleven years after its publication. He also reflects on his journalistic and creative practice both in this book and in earlier and later pieces. He insists on his keenness to experiment with new techniques for writing non-fiction and on the necessity to project oneself into spaces that differ from one’s own.Aman Sethi est un journaliste indien et l’auteur de A Free Man (2011), un reportage littéraire sur la vie de travailleurs journaliers sans-abri d’un marché de Old Delhi. Dans l’entretien qui suit, Sethi revient sur A Free Man, ouvrage dans lequel il tente de saisir la « lutte des travailleurs pour la liberté » au sein d’un monde d’oppression, onze années après sa publication. Il s’interroge également sur sa pratique journalistique et créative à la fois dans ce livre et dans des articles antérieurs et postérieurs. Il insiste sur sa volonté d’expérimenter et de développer de nouvelles techniques d’écriture non-fictionnelle et sur la nécessité de se projeter dans des espaces différents du sien
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