Caste and Waste: A Study on Socio-spatial Inequality in Kodungaiyur Garbage Dump, North Chennai

The aim of the study was to determine the association of lipid profile with high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), obese, hypertensive in type 2 diabetes in north Chennai area, Tamil Nadu, India. Nearly 300 blood sample were collected from patients in JPM diagnostic centre, north Chennai, Tamil Nadu and grouped them into diabetic (n=150) and non diabetic (n=150). Behavioral characters were calculated by using the data from the questionnaire like age, sex, height, weight, food habits, obesity, blood pressure (BP), family history, alcohol and smoking habits were correlated for interpretation. The systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured by using standard mercury sphygmomanometer. Hypertension was diagnosed as per the criteria provided by the WHO (1959&1978). The body weight was calculated by taking weight in kg and height was measured in cms. The body mass index was calculated from the formula BMI = weight in kg/(height in meters) 2 Patients were taken as obese if their body mass index was 29.9. All biochemical analyses were done on a semi autoanalyser (RA 50). hs-CRP levels were measured with Elisa reader (Star Fax 325). The lipid concentration level was significantly higher in diabetic patients compared with non diabetic patients, serum total cholesterol mean ± SD 209.57±26.56 (P<0.001), serum triglycerides mean ± SD 184.78±49.10 (P<0.001), serum LDL - cholesterol mean ± SD 165.27±29.43,(P<0.001) and decrease in serum HDL-cholesterol levels mean ± SD 42.30±7.12, (P<0.001), and total cholesterol/HDL ratio, mean ± SD 5.13±1.27 (P<.001), Regression analysis revealed obese to be strongly associated with diabetes observed. BMI mean±SD 26.93-3.10 (P<0.001). hs-CRP values increased with increase of obese mean ± SD 6.71±2.78 (ANOVA P<0.001) and HbA1c mean± SD 8.54±1.07 (ANOVA P<0.001). Lipid concentration is elevated in hypertensive with diabetes serum total cholesterol mean ± SD 211.61±26.21 (P<0.001) and compared with hypertensive with non diabetic subjects. Lipid concentration level increased (Total cholesterol, LDL, TGL&VLDL) and decreased (HDL) in diabetes subjects. Lipoprotein particles significantly higher in diabetic female, compared to diabetic male. hs-CRP, increased in obese diabetes when compared with non obese diabetics, and obese non diabetics. hs-CRP strongly associated in obese with diabetes. Lipid concentration elevated in hypertensive with diabetes. The risk factors such as obesity, smoking, alcohol consumption, hypertension, food habits and family history were found to promote the development of type 2 diabetes.

Aims: The aim was to evaluate the prevalence of dental caries and gingivitis among corporation school-going children and their treatment needs in Chennai city. Subjects and Methods: The present descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted among 3–19-year-old corporation school-going children of Chennai city. It was conducted for a period of 2 months from August 20, 2018, to October 20, 2018. A sample size of 20,007 children (9707 males and 10,300 females) was examined. Oral health status with emphasis on dental caries, gingivitis, and treatment needs was recorded. Statistical Analysis Used: The obtained data was analysed using SPSS 21.0 (IBM, USA). Results: The prevalence of dental caries in the participants examined was 34.72% (6946). About 1663 (23.94%) participants had dental caries involving single tooth, 293 (4.22%) had dental caries involving two teeth, and 4 (0.06%) had dental caries involving >2 teeth. Clinical pulpal involvement with pain on percussion was found in 4067 (58.55%) participants. Nine hundred and nineteen (13.23%) participants exhibited grossly decayed tooth advised for extraction. The prevalence of gingivitis in the participants examined was 8259 (41.28%). About 2672 (32.35%) participants had mild gingival inflammation, 5563 (67.36%) had moderate gingival inflammation, and 24 (0.29%) had severe gingival inflammation based on Loe and Silness gingival index scoring. On the basis of treatment needs, 59.5% of the participants were in need of treatment. Almost 34.3% of the screened participants were in need of primary care, whereas 25.1% of the screened participants were in need of advanced care. Conclusions: The present study reveals the current oral health status of corporation school-going children in Chennai corporation. The results obtained demand a special attention toward these children of less effluent families for the promotion of oral health by regular conduct of treatment camps by corporation and other agencies.

Since the late 1890s, two-thirds of the population of Ahmedabad was economically engaged around the textile industry. An entire subeconomy grew around the scrap thrown out by mills. Big traders purchased these discarded cut pieces and end strips of mill cloth and sent them through a chain of contractors to Muslim women in slums, who stitched them into garments and quilts in their homes. Iron and wood scraps were sold, also through subcontractors, to Marwari women junksmiths to tum into buckets, kitchen racks, cooking stoves, and small items of furniture. The main consumers of these recycled products were poor urban families. The lowest in the hierarchy of scraps went to the dalit women, who picked over the floor sweepings of mills, factories and shops, and salvaged any useable waste thrown out on the streets. These waste pickers are like self-appointed recycling agents-visiting every worksite, roadside, and garbage dump in search for anything of value-newspapersandwhite paper, glass bottles, plastic bags, bottle tops, bits of broken machinery, iron nails and steel filings, discarded hair, and pieces of wood.

Context:The city of Chennai is one of the largest metropolitan cities in India where apart from a large traditional population, there has been a continuous migration from rural areas and growing sophistication in lifestyle. Twinning rates trend in the present world would be interesting to study.Aims:The aim of the present study was to analyse the twinning rate in the city of Chennai, the distribution amongst various city zones and the present trends in the co-relation between the maternal age of the twins with the zygosity.Settings and Design:A population-based study was conducted on twin births in various corporation Zones in the Chennai Metropolitan, between 2010 and 2012. As per the Chennai corporation and Health Department register, there were a total of 2,32,884 births registered in the city of which 4,500 were twin births over the 3 years. Only 1371 pairs were found residing in Chennai at the time of study, and hence, a study was conducted on this population only.Satistical Analysis Used:The data were analysed with Epiinfo software.Results:A twining rate of 19.3 per 1000 births was observed as per Corporation records. In the present study, the sample of 150 pairs, 34 pairs (22.6%) comprised of monozygotic (MZ) twins and 116 pairs (77.3%) comprised of dizygotic twins giving a ratio of 1:3. The maternal age groups 25–30 and 30–35 years comprised of the maximum twinning rates. Most twin births were of the first order. An analysis of Weinberg’s Differential Rule method to determine zygosity showed a significant difference compared to the Questionnaire method.Conclusions:The twinning rate observed in Chennai in the present study is interestingly very high, compared to the overall twinning rate reported in the past in the state of Tamilnadu. The Wienberg’s Differential method for zygosity determination is again found to be questionable. The zygosity proportion, maternal age and parity relations are not very different from previously available data.

Provided that produced biogas is effectively collected, landfills are important sinks for organic carbon compensating for emissions of CO2 from burning of fossil fuels. Sequestrating of long-lived organic carbon in the landfill itself is the most pronounced factor, but also other processes during landfill management will increase the capture and binding of CO2.. Compost produced in connection to the landfills and applied as soil improvement, is another important sink for organic carbon.The landfills in the World have been estimated to accumulate around 100 x 106 metric tons of C. Normally about 25-40 percent of the total carbon content in the waste can be converted into biogas in traditional landfills. During landfilling most of the organic carbon in fossil derived products, like plastics, synthetic rubber, textiles and other synthetic materials, As these products take part in the methane gas production, the landfill gas (biogas) can be regarded as a true biofuel. In contrast to incineration, high moisture content in the waste will not decrease the yield of energy per ton of waste. In a reactor landfill treating approximately 100 000 tons of waste per year, a longlived organic fraction corresponding to about 45 000 metric tons of carbon dioxide is longterm accumulated each year. This compensates for the annual carbon dioxide emissions from about 15 000 – 20 000 cars, provided that each one runs 15 000 km per year with fossil fuel. The technique for effective collection of landfill gas, and new techniques to upgrade and liquefy the biogas, have decreased the risk for emissions to the atmosphere. Modern bioreactor landfills have been estimated to have less than 10% diffuse biogas emissions to the atmosphere. Also in Sweden (Helsingborg), plants are built to convert landfill gas to upgraded, liquefied motor fuel. This will lead to strongly reduced diffuse emissions of landfill gas to the atmosphere. The utilization of leachates as forest fertilizer results in an improved biomass production and increased accumulation of soil organic matter. Increased tree and field layer productivity also means that the potential for water evaporation (eg. evapotranspiration) increase, reducing the costs for waste-water treatment or the risk for diffuse ground water pollution. Also in the mineral soil, increased long-lived fractions of humus normally are found. This should be added to the carbon accumulating effect of the landfill itself, where long-lived organic matter, mainly derived from lignin and from fossil fractions as plastics and synthetic textiles is long-term accumulated. In this respect the landfill system has similar effects compared to natural peatlands and lake and sea sediments, Ifproduced biogas is collected effectively, the landfill thus can be an important factor to counteract the “green-house effect” and climate change.

The increased prominence of the petroleum industry in Manali at North Chennai has given rise to a concomitant upsurge of ecological disturbances together with groundwater pollution. Ten representative groundwater samples were collected from various parts of the industrial region in the monsoon, winter and summer seasons during 2006-2007 and those water samples were analysed by standard analytic methods. As many as twenty water quality parameters were taken into account in the correlation analysis. Some parameters were found within and some parameters beyond the permissible limit. Correlation coefficients (r) between different pairs of parameters were computed. Significant positive correlation was found to exist between the pairs of parameters; turbidity-alkalinity, turbidity-iron, ECNa, TDS-EC, TDS-TH, EC-TH, TH-K and CODBOD. It is also observed that, some of the parameters were found to have weak correlation and some parameters have negative correlation.

The goal of this research was to learn more about heavy metal pollution in groundwater in North Chennai during the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon seasons. The total no. of 108 groundwater samples were utilized for this study retrieved from both dug and bore wells. The analytical results indicate that all the determined trace metals show wide spatial and temporal variations. Spatial variation is mainly due to the different sources of contamination, and temporal variation is mainly due to the influence of rainfall and the associated changes in the hydrogeochemical conditions. The abundance order of trace elements based on average ionic concentration in pre-monsoon is Iron (Fe)> Manganese (Mn)> Chromium (Cr)> Copper (Cu)> Lead (Pb)> Nickel (Ni)> Zinc (Zn) and during post-monsoon Fe>Mn>Pb>Zn>Cr>Cu>Ni. Nemerow’s pollution index (NPI) gives an idea about the range of pollution for individual water quality parameters concerning a standard value. Our result showed that North Chennai city is polluted by Lead in both seasons.

Abstract: A growing amount of medical waste needs to be physically segregated. We are recommending a medical waste segregation device for it. The primary goal of this project is to suggest the segregation of waste in municipal offices of India, where the majority of debris is separated using rag pickers which primarily separate the trash from hospitals, which are harmful and dangerous containers made up of toxic metals, by hand. Unfavourable linger leads to health properties such as tuberculosis, tumour, and poisoning metals, which may result in a lower standard of living, decreased longevity, and other side effects. An automated medical waste segregation device is being offered to solve this issue. In medical facilities like hospitals and clinics, this is helpful. India generates 62 million metric tons of waste each year, of which 45 million are disposed of in ways that are dangerous to the environment and human health. Waste management must be effective in intelligent cities. The study proposes an Internet of Things (IoT)-based garbage system that separates waste from various streams, including wet and dry, plastic, paper, metal, and glass. Establish a management system that will improve the chances of recovery and subsequent recycling. The process is simple to control because the system uses an Arduino microcontroller. This separation system's phases include an infrared sensor, an inductive proximity sensor, a raindrop sensor, a photoelectric sensor, and a separation bin. The sensor on each piece of waste detects it and directs it to a specific container for additional processing. The isolated data status will be available in the cloud for monitoring and management

The resettlement of development-induced migrants is a complex socioeconomic and cultural process. The levels of place identity among migrants may profoundly affect their long-term stability and sustainable development in host communities. For long-distance displaced migrants, their social relations undergo drastic changes, and the extent of social-relations reconstruction determines their place identity in the resettlement area. Previous studies mainly concentrated on migrant compensation schemes, housing, and land allocation, and livelihood restoration. However, insufficient attention has been paid to the mechanism by which social-relations reconstruction shapes place identity. Drawing on sample survey data collected during 2022–2023 from migrants displaced from the Three Gorges Dam (TGD) in China to various other provinces, this study conceptualizes place identity in three dimensions: group identity, permanent settlement intention, and expectations for children. A structural equation model (SEM) was employed to investigate how social relations, categorized as geographical, home-tied, and carried-over relations, mediate the influence of multiple factors on place identity. The findings are that: (1) among development-induced migrants, social relations exerted significant positive effects on place identity, along with personal characteristics, socioeconomic characteristics, land, and housing factors. Moreover, family features, socioeconomic characteristics, and land and housing factors all had a significantly positive impact on social relations; (2) social relations acted as a full mediator between family features and place identity, and a partial mediator between socioeconomic characteristics/land and housing factors and place identity; (3) among geographical, home-tied, and carried-over social relations, geographical social relations had the largest effect on place identity, followed by carried-over relations. However, continuous dependence on home-tied social relations negatively affected the migrants’ development of place identity in new resettlement areas. This study elucidates the role of social relations in the socioeconomic and cultural reconstruction during migrant resettlement, offering insight for improving resettlement policies and promoting sustainable community integration.

Residential segregation and social and spatial disparities are prevailing features among many European and American cities. These phenomena belong to social and spatial segregation, which is characterized by the differential distribution of groups within areal units and by the possibilities of various interactions between individuals who belong to similar or different groups. Social and spatial segregation can thus produce discrimination, which the present chapter addresses as an emerging question, while taking into account its institutional factors and psychological impacts. More precisely, this chapter focuses on the ways in which individuals, who live in discriminated residential places, perceive this discrimination, identify with their dwelling place and appropriate it. Our aim is also to investigate two psychological effects of perceived discrimination, namely self-esteem and well-being. Thus, we first argue that identification with one’s place of residence is a fundamental process in the individual’s relationship with such a place. Drawing on the psychosocial models of place identification, we then show how social and spatial discrimination can be experienced by the inhabitants of stigmatized neighborhoods and how spatial inequalities can influence the levels of residential satisfaction and quality of life. Lastly, we describe the ways in which discriminated individuals resort to several adaptive strategies so as to maintain a certain level of self-esteem, and, ultimately, of well-being.

El desafío que enfrenta la humanidad es romper con los esquemas, dejar a un lado las conductas tradicionales e iniciar a tomar acciones sanas que involucren todos los aspectos del entorno. La gestión de los residuos y enfáticamente la reutilización de los materiales de desecho, es una de las estrategias que poco a poco toman fuerza en esta sociedad que a golpes está viendo el daño que provocan cada una de sus actuaciones, el consumismo desmedido de recursos naturales, las industrias, las urbes y en general la cotidianidad de una humanidad irresponsable, cosas que evidencia y piden un cambio. El manejo inadecuado de los residuos es uno de esos alaridos que a nivel global constituye una de las principales problemáticas medioambientales de gran magnitud, y aún más en los contextos urbanos, el impacto en el ambiente, el económico y la salud. Anualmente a nivel mundial se están generando alrededor de 7.000 y 10.000 millones de toneladas de residuos y esto incrementa año tras año aproximadamente 1.900 millones de toneladas en el planeta. Además 3.500 millones de personas carecen del servicio o instalaciones del control y manejo de los residuos, y de no tomarse medidas concretas y destinar recursos para combatir esta realidad, se incrementaría esta cifra alarmante, para el 2050 está estimada en 5.300 millones de personas que no tendrían acceso a los servicios de gestión de residuos. Aspectos que incrementan esta situación, son como por ejemplo los registros que se tienen en donde se evidencian que el 70% de los residuos son arrogados a los vertederos y solo un 19% es aquel que se recicla, convirtiéndose en algo muy común que en ciertos países existan lugares en donde muchos elementos piden a grito herido una segunda oportunidad. los vertederos, botaderos y/o basureros, son espacios a cielo abierto, que no cumplen con las debidas especificaciones técnicas; donde se continúa con la práctica de recolección sin clasificación y/o separación de los desechos desde el origen, una tendencia obsoleta para tratar el manejo de los residuos, que debe ser más allá de la recolección y disposición final y pasar al manejo eficiente; recolección, almacenamiento, clasificación, tratamiento, aprovechamiento y disposición final de los residuos, pensando hacia la sostenibilidad. Un término complejo, esquivo para muchos pero muy popular por estos días, pero que aplicada de una manera honesta y verdadera es la solución para esta situación crítica que demanda a todos los sectores a trabajar en estrategias para ser amigables con el medio ambiente y satisfacer al mismo tiempo sus necesidades o demandas, la responsabilidad social y medioambiental tiene que estar presente en cada acción y pensamiento que se conciba, no es un capricho, no es moda ni vanidad es una imperiosa necesidad, el planeta no se puede dar el lujo de continuar en el mismo camino hacia la autodestrucción. La usabilidad de los desechos en el campo de la arquitectura, construcción, urbanismo y diseño es una de las estrategias para mitigar el alto índice de consumo e impacto que le generan estas actividades al medio ambiente, además de ser algo que beneficia desde otros puntos de vistas como es el económico y el energético, apostarle a la transformación y reutilización es un reto ambicioso pero realista.

The municipal waste management system of the region of Irkutsk is described and a life cycle assessment (LCA) performed to assess the environmental performance of the system. Annually about 500 000 tons of waste are managed. The waste originates from three sources: household waste (27%), commercial waste (23%) and office & institutional waste (44%). Other waste of unknown composition constitutes 6%. Only 3% of the waste is recycled; 97% of the municipal waste is disposed of at the old Alexandrovsky landfill. The environmental impact from the current system is dominated by the landfill, which has no gas or leachate collection system. The global warming contribution is due to the emission of methane of the order of 420 000 tons CO2-equivalents per year. Collection and transport of the waste are insignificant compared with impacts from the landfill. As the old landfill runs out of capacity in a few years, the LCA modelling showed that introduction of a new and modern landfill with gas and leachate collection could improve the performance of the waste management system significantly. Collection of landfill gas and utilization for 30 years for electricity production (gas turbine) would reduce the global warming completely and result in a net saving of 100 000 CO2-equivalents per year due to storage of biogenic carbon in the landfill beyond 100 years. Considering other first-order degradation rates for the landfilled organic matter did not overtly affect the results, while assumptions about the top cover oxidation of methane significantly affected the results. This shows the importance of controlling the gas escape from the landfill.

In this study, the characterisation of the solid waste and the effect of the leachate from the major dumping site in Perungudi, Chennai city, on groundwater is investigated. Various physical and chemical parameters were estimated: this includes pH, total hardness, electrical conductivity, and total dissolved solids, major cations such as Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, and K+, major anions such as NO32−, Cl−, and SO42− and heavy metals such as Pb, Cu, Mn, Cd, Cr and Zn. Perungudi dumping site receives 1650 tonnes of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) daily from the Chennai Corporation. The leachate is a result of anaerobic decomposition of MSW. The results of the analysis of the groundwater samples showed that dumping site leachates constitute a serious threat to the local aquifers.

This article presents the territorial origins of ethnic groups in different regions and their customary land tenure in Cameroon. Between laws and realities, the social and cultural analysis of each group shows the connection between customary land allocation mechanisms to rural development stakeholders’ activities and, the injustice during land allocation which results in discrimination always towards women. These modes of allocation, that is, referred to as ancient ethno-social norms are evolving in each group in Cameroon. With the current demographic context which is increasing (at a rate of 3% per annum), land has become rents by notabilities. This land discrimination against women practiced by the co-heirs of land is part of a strategy to challenge public authorities on their mission to ensure the promotion of social equality in collaboration with traditional leaders in order to reduce this injustice. Agricultural spatial justice is about economic efficiency and productivity, of course, but also about social peace between genders. Keywords: Agriculture, Cameroon, Ethnicity, Spatial Injustice, Land Tenure Systems, Land.

Spatial justice requires equitable construction land allocation to realize disadvantaged regions’ development rights. Construction land reduction (CLR) in economically developed areas is a complex and multi-dimensional process of land spatial optimization. While optimizing the allocation of land resources, this process may also lead to challenges in spatial justice. This study assessed spatial injustice using construction land data from W-district, Shanghai, based on spatial simulation. Planning documents indicated that some areas had a net resident outflow; the simulation showed that promoting CLR decreased mixed land use in these areas. Control of construction land decreased industrial and mining storage and rural residential land; urban residential, commercial, and other construction land increased. Bottom-line planning thinking reduced spatial injustice by approximately 0.0393 overall (the reduction rate was nearly 14.05%). Under territorial spatial planning, construction land stock quotas were optimized; CLR quotas were transferred, creating significant differences in construction land internal structures. Weighted Gini coefficients suggested unfair distribution between urban residential and commercial land, with the latter being more concentrated. Industrial and mining storage, other construction, and urban residential land contribute to spatial injustice. Industrial and mining storage and urban residential land have positive marginal effects; those of commercial, rural residential, and other construction land are negative. Promoting centralized residences has consolidated scattered rural residential land; decreasing rural residential land inhibits spatial injustice reduction. Construction land and the population can be agglomerated simultaneously to reduce construction land inequality.