507 research outputs found
How do variations in Urban Heat Islands in space and time influence household water use? The case of Phoenix, Arizona
No full textabstract: This paper explores how urbanization, through its role in the evolution of Urban Heat Island (UHI), affects residential water consumption. Using longitudinal data and drawing on a mesoscale atmospheric model, we examine how variations in surface temperature at the census tract level have affected water use in single family residences in Phoenix, Arizona. Results show that each Fahrenheit rise in nighttime temperature increases water consumption by 1.4%. This temperature effect is found to vary significantly with lot size and pool size. The study provides insights into the links between urban form and water use, through the dynamics of UHI.Corresponding Author:
Rimjhim M. Aggarwal
Arizona State University
[email protected]
Problems, limitations and implementational failures in public interest environmental litigation through an analysis of the Kanpur tanneries Ganga pollution …
No full textThe field of environmental law has seen an influx of litigation, especially public interest litigation, in cases where the government policy or the institutional machinery of Pollution Control Boards has failed to bring redressal. Dereliction becomes a matter of grave public concern - big enough to allow an individual to seek the Court's directions to avoid any further harm to the environment, and ultimately protect human rights. One such case has been that of MC Mehta v. Union of India,1 that is, the Kanpur TanneriesGanga Pollution case, wherein a citizen in his own capacity looked to prevent tanneries situated in Kanpur from polluting and discharging their trade affluents in Ganga. 2 The matter was raised after steps were not taken by industries and the concerned lawful authorities to control this act of public nuisanc
Caste, religion and power: an Indian case study
No full textReviews the book "Caste, Religion and Power: An Indian Case Study," by Pratap C. Aggarwal.; Reviews the book "Caste, Religion and Power: An Indian Case Study," by Pratap C. Aggarwal
Data mining : the textbook / Charu C. Aggarwal.
No full textcomputer bookfair2016Includes bibliographical references and index.xxix, 734 pages
Decoding "Public authority" under the RTI act: a comment on Subhash Chandra Aggarwal v. Indian national congress
No full textThe June, 2013 order of the Central Information Commission ("CIC") in Subhash Chandra Aggarwal v. Indian National Congress which brought political parties within the scope of the Right to Information ("RTI") Act, has highlighted some issues regarding the drafting and interpretation of the RTI Act. The CIC held that the six national political parties which were respondents
in the case, have the ingredients that qualify them as "public authorities" within the meaning of section 2(h) of the RTI Act. In this comment the author argues that the reasoning for holding what constitutes substantial financing that makes a body a "public authority" is not clear and the interpretation of the definition of "public authority" is inconsisten
Accretion rates and radiative efficiencies of Sagittarius A* and nearby supermassive black holes estimated using empirical relations: Implications for accretion models
No full textThe Bondi accretion rate of black holes in our and nearby galaxies Messier
87, NGC 3115, NGC 1600, and Cygnus A have been determined or constrained using
Chandra or other observations. It, however, remains unknown how much mass from
the Bondi radius reaches each black hole and how much is accreted. We determine
the accretion rate and radiative efficiency for each black hole using two
well-tested empirical relations: one relates a black hole's accretion rate to
its mass and redshift, and the other relates the radiative efficiency to the
Eddington ratio and redshift. We get an accretion rate of ~0.00002 solar mass
per year and radiative efficiency of ~0.9 for Sagittarius A* and an accretion
rate of ~0.09 solar masses per year and radiative efficiency of ~0.68 for NGC
1600; and values in between these extremes for the rest. The derived mass
inflow rate onto each black hole (not the accretion rate) essentially matches
the reported Bondi accretion rate. Thus, the results do not support the ADIOS
and CDAF models, but whether the dissipated energy not reflected in a black
hole's observed luminosity is advected as in the ADAF model remains uncertain.
Furthermore, contrary to current model expectations, the derived radiative
efficiencies are orders of magnitude higher and radiative efficiency increases
as the accretion rate decreases and a BH ages. A physical basis is found
relating the empirical formulation of accretion rate to Bondi accretion.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, i tabl
Impact of tariff reduction on exports: A quantitative assessment of Indian exports to US
No full textThis paper quantitatively assesses likely changes in market access opportunities for Indian exports owing to tariff reductions by the USA. The study identifies particular products for India at the ISIC 4-digit level of disaggregation, which could be considered tariff sensitive. Regression analysis of the relationship between MFN tariff rates and India's exports to the US was used to assess in quantitative terms the likely impact of tariff reduction that may be agreed in the Doha Round. This analysis suggests that tariff cuts are not expected to benefit India's exports to the US in a major way. With the full implementation of the Chairman's formula for tariff cuts, increase in India's exports to the US would amount to 1.2 or 0.6 depending on the value of the B coefficient in theChairman's formula. These findings are in all likelihood substantially due to the tariff diversion effect of NAFTA preferences in favour of suppliers in Mexico, which is a competing country in many traditional items. It is expected that reduction of MFN tariff would alleviate the trade diversion effect of the NAFTA.The study has also attempted to decompose changes in India's total exports due to tariff reductions in the US into the competitive and market effects. The analysis suggests that the increase in India's exports would be mainly due to the competitive effect. This leads the author to conclude that it is crucial for India to improve its competitiveness vis-a-vis its competitors in different markets.
Pathways to Social Transformation: Delhi and the Human Right to Housing
No full textabstract: The objective of this study was to better understand promising pathways to realizing human rights norms in the context of rapidly developing cities, and the role that the courts play in this process. Scholars have already started to ask these larger questions of social transformation; however, there continues to be a need for further research since the answers are vast and context-dependent. In order to contribute to these larger conversations, this project examined a key social right in Delhi \u2014 the right to housing. This study relied on interviews with key actors in Delhi's housing sector as well as a review of housing rights cases in the Delhi High Court in order to understand what mechanisms various actors utilize in the context of Delhi to realize the human right to housing on the ground. These two types of data were compared and contrasted to past research on human rights scholarship, law and social literature, and studies on urbanization. Two frameworks from these bodies of knowledge, the MAPs framework developed by Haglund and Aggarwal (2011) and the triangular framework created by Gauri and Brinks (2008), were utilized in particular to analyze interview and court data. Overall, this study found that the courts in India are advocates for housing rights, but that their advocacy is often limited, cautious, and influenced by a pattern of bias against populations without legal title to land. This study also found that communities and their allies are often more successful in realizing the right to housing when they combine litigation with other non-legal social change mechanisms. Consequently, it appears that the role of the courts in realizing ESR in Delhi is both complicated and limited, which means that pathways toward ESR realization are more promising when they incorporate non-legal mechanisms alongside court action
- …
