Transcending Borders: The Evolution of the Refugee Diaspora in ‘Bounded’ and ‘Moebius ’ Space

<p>The emergence of ‘transnational refugee theory’ and the rubric of the ‘refugee diaspora’ have reignited refugee studies, and elicited an exciting theoretical vantage-point from which to explore refugee communities. This paper seeks to disentangle the core precepts of transnational refugee theory and, drawing upon compelling empirical evidence strengthen our understanding of the dynamic interaction between the refugee diaspora and the environment within which it evolves – in particular how the entrenched international refugee regime ontology impacts directly the effective functioning of the refugee community. Echoing Giddens’ Structuration Theory, what is proposed is that the refugee community exists within a ‘middle space’ – a synthesis of endogenous and exogenous factors that together establish the ‘boundaries’ that shape the diaspora space, and ultimately support or undermine the activities of those communities located within it. Accordingly, a refugee ‘middle space model’ is outlined, which defines a core set of economic, political and socio-cultural activities, and the endogenous and exogenous factors that shape their realisation in situ. This theoretical construct is applied to two case studies. Firstly, the ‘bounded’ space of Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya is shown to not only disregard but also actively undermine the transnational character of refugee displacement. Moreover, while the refugee community remains active in circumventing these boundaries, there remains an inherent ambiguity in this transnational activism, giving rise to a perversion or ‘transmutation’ of the bounded refugee space. In stark contrast, the Free Movement Protocols of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) are establishing a fluid ‘moebius’ space that both acknowledges and facilitates the transnational foundations of the refugee diaspora – as both a ‘bottom-up’ (endogenous) and ‘top-down’ (exogenous) process. However, the nascent UNHCR-ECOWAS partnership remains mired in an incoherent demarcation of responsibilities and a dearth of cohesive regional processes. Notwithstanding these limitations, the moebius middle space clearly offers an invigorating alternative to the prevailing UNHCR containment model – providing a truly ‘durable solution’ for those transnational communities dispersed across the refugee diaspora.</p>

Transcending Borders: The Evolution of the Refugee Diaspora in ‘Bounded’ and ‘Moebius ’ Space

<p>The emergence of ‘transnational refugee theory’ and the rubric of the ‘refugee diaspora’ have reignited refugee studies, and elicited an exciting theoretical vantage-point from which to explore refugee communities. This paper seeks to disentangle the core precepts of transnational refugee theory and, drawing upon compelling empirical evidence strengthen our understanding of the dynamic interaction between the refugee diaspora and the environment within which it evolves – in particular how the entrenched international refugee regime ontology impacts directly the effective functioning of the refugee community. Echoing Giddens’ Structuration Theory, what is proposed is that the refugee community exists within a ‘middle space’ – a synthesis of endogenous and exogenous factors that together establish the ‘boundaries’ that shape the diaspora space, and ultimately support or undermine the activities of those communities located within it. Accordingly, a refugee ‘middle space model’ is outlined, which defines a core set of economic, political and socio-cultural activities, and the endogenous and exogenous factors that shape their realisation in situ. This theoretical construct is applied to two case studies. Firstly, the ‘bounded’ space of Dadaab and Kakuma refugee camps in Kenya is shown to not only disregard but also actively undermine the transnational character of refugee displacement. Moreover, while the refugee community remains active in circumventing these boundaries, there remains an inherent ambiguity in this transnational activism, giving rise to a perversion or ‘transmutation’ of the bounded refugee space. In stark contrast, the Free Movement Protocols of the Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) are establishing a fluid ‘moebius’ space that both acknowledges and facilitates the transnational foundations of the refugee diaspora – as both a ‘bottom-up’ (endogenous) and ‘top-down’ (exogenous) process. However, the nascent UNHCR-ECOWAS partnership remains mired in an incoherent demarcation of responsibilities and a dearth of cohesive regional processes. Notwithstanding these limitations, the moebius middle space clearly offers an invigorating alternative to the prevailing UNHCR containment model – providing a truly ‘durable solution’ for those transnational communities dispersed across the refugee diaspora.</p>

COVID-19 and Diabetes Mellitus

BACKGROUND COVID-19 id proving deadly for the people with underlying health conditions. It is important to make strategy according to the current scenario and leave some space for changes that are happening dynamically. SUMMARY COVID-19 and comorbidity are meant to prove lethal and accounts for maximum number of deaths in case fatalities induced due to COVID-19 complications. Diabetes tops the table with a quarter of fatalities are induced by it when in COVID-19 infection. Various post COVID-19 health implications are also increasing the need of awareness about preventive measures that must be followed by all the people and not by particular section. CONCLUSION More study needs to be done although present studies has already clarified about the deadly combination of COVID-19 and diabetes. Also nuanced aspects such as age wise and type wise segregation of data would serve the purpose of drawing more feasible containment model.

Search Path Planning Algorithm Based on the Probability of Containment Model

The location of distress object in the maritime search area is difficult to determine, which has brought great difficulties to the search path planning. Aiming at this problem, a search path planning algorithm based on the probability of containment (POC) model for a distress object is proposed. This algorithm divides the area to be searched into several subareas by grid method and dynamically evaluates the POC of the distress object in each subarea using the Monte Carlo random particle method to build the POC model. On this basis, the POC is dynamically updated by employing the Bayes criterion within the constraint of the time window. Then, the sum of the POC of the object in the subareas is regarded as the weight of the search path. And the proposed algorithm dynamically executes the search path planning according to the maximum path weight. In comparison with the parallel line search path planning algorithm given in the “International Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue Manual,” the simulation results show that the search path planning algorithm based on the POC model of the distress object can effectively improve the search efficiency and the probability of search success of the distress object.

Comparison of Measured and Calculated Data for NPP Krško CILR Test

Containment is the last barrier for release of radioactive materials in the case of an accident in the nuclear power plant (NPP). Its overall integrity is tested during a containment integrated leak rate test (CILRT) at the design pressure, at regular intervals. Due to applied risk based licensing, the test intervals can be increased up to once in 10 years and beyond. Taking that into account it is important to prepare the test properly and to use obtained results to assess the real status of the containment. The test can be used to verify existing containment calculation models. There is a potential benefit of verified computer models usage for the explanation of some test results, too. NPP Krško has performed CILRT during the plant outage in 2016. The paper presents a comparison between measured data and results calculated using a multivolume GOTHIC (Generation Of Thermal Hydraulic Information For Containment) model. The test scenario was reproduced using limited available data up to the end of the pressurization phase. The depressurization phase is calculated by the code and measured leakage rate is implemented in the model. Taking into account the necessary adjustments in the model, overall prediction of the measured results (in terms of pressure, temperature and humidity) is very good. In the last phase of the test some non-physical behavior is noticed (without influence on overall test results), probably caused by the combination of air redistribution within the containment and influence of heat transfer to plant systems that were in the operation during the test. GOTHIC model was used to check sensitivity of the predicted pressure (leak rate) to different heat inputs and to investigate the influence that operation of only one reactor containment fan cooler (RCFC) train during pressurization can have on the mixing of air within the containment. In addition, the influence of currently used weighting factors (weighting of measured temperature, relative humidity and pressure data) on the used test methodology is investigated. The possible non-conservative direction of the influence (currently used weighting factors are giving lower leakage rate) was demonstrated and a new set of weighting factors is proposed too.

AP1000® Passive Cooling Containment Analysis of a Double-Ended LBLOCA With a 3D Gothic Model

In order to enhance Generation II reactors safety, Generation III+ reactors have adopted passive mechanisms for their safety systems. In particular, the AP1000® reactor uses these mechanisms to evacuate heat from the containment by means of the Passive Containment Cooling System (PCS). The PCS uses the environment atmosphere as the ultimate heat sink without the need of AC power to work properly during normal or accidental conditions. To evaluate its performance, the AP1000 PCS has been usually modeled with a Lumped Parameters (LP) approach, coupled with another LP model of the steel containment vessel to simulate the accidental sequences within the containment building. However, a 3D simulation, feasible and motivated by the current computational capabilities, may be able to produce more detailed and accurate results. In this paper, the development and verification of an integral AP1000® 3D GOTHIC containment model, taking into account the shield building, is briefly presented. The model includes all compartments inside the metallic containment liner and the external shield building. Passive safety systems, such as the In-containment Refueling Water Storage Tank (IRWST) with the Passive Residual Heat Removal (PRHR) heat exchanger and the Automatic Depressurization System (ADS), as well as the PCS, are included in the model. The model is tested against a cold leg Double Ended Guillotine Break Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (DEGB LBLOCA) sequence, taking as a conservative assumption that the PCS water tank is not available during the sequence. The results show a pressure and temperature increase in the containment in consonance with the current literature, but providing a greater detail of the local pressure and temperature in all compartments.

Numerical Analysis on Characteristic of Hydrogen Mixing and Stratification in a Containment Model

Hydrogen explosion is one of the severe threats to the integrity of containment for nuclear power plant which has drawn many experts attention to make great efforts on hydrogen related issues, espeically after the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station accident took place. However, the issue of hydrogen distribution hasn’t been closed as a result of related complex process of hydrogen transport and the particular design of each kind of facility. In the present study, CFD method has been applied to the pre-analysis on the characteristic of hydrogen mixing and stratification in a computational containment model for the sake of probable phenomena identification and instrumentaion design of experimental study in the next phase. Firstly, physical models have been verified by the experimental data from THAI HM2. Based on the determined numerical models, five typical groups of cases have been simulated, considering the effect of initial momentum, injection location, and injection direction. During the cases, only helium has been released in the vessel isothermally, on behalf of hydrogen. The results show that the backflow from the wall to the main stream in the dome and the buoyancy force may strongly dominate the helium flow, thus affacting the mixing and stratification. The eccentric injection and horizontal injection may also influence the helium distribution, in which the wall effects and rapid shifting may play important roles. However, the inference will be examined in the experiments later. All the work will be helpful for safety design and analysis of newly-built containment in China.