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This paper examines the timing of one‐time fluctuations in births subsequent to the 1918 influenza pandemic in Madras (now Chennai), India. After seasonally decomposing key demographic aggregates, we identified abrupt one‐time fluctuations in excess births, deaths, and infant deaths. We found a contemporaneous spike in excess deaths and infant deaths and a 40‐week lag between the spike in deaths and a subsequent deficit in births. The results suggest that India experienced the same kind of short‐term postpandemic "baby bust" that was observed in the United States and other countries. Identifying the mechanisms underlying this widespread phenomenon remains an open question and an important topic for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The typification of names validated in a paper of 1803 concerning the plants encountered on a journey through what is now Tamil Nadu in southern India is reviewed. A number of name changes are necessitated. Psilotrichum patulum becomes the correct name for P. elliotii, Euphorbia glaucescens is the correct name for E. corrigioloides, Oldenlandia pusilla is the correct name for O. attenuata and Kohautia attenuata is the correct name for K. aspera. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Active land markets in the periphery of Chennai have resulted in large tracts of agricultural land being bought by non‐agricultural actors seeking returns primarily from speculation. We argue in this paper that the financialization of land and consequent spurt of agricultural land sales are central to what scholars have termed land grab. Recent literature on land grabs has focused primarily on processes of accumulation by dispossession and the coercive role of the state. Our contention is that land grabs more commonly occur due to the state underinvesting in agriculture, resulting in "dispossession by neglect" of especially marginal and small farmers. Dispossession by neglect better captures the fluid boundary between the coercive and voluntary in contemporary land grabs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies Soft Systems Methodology ( SSM) within the context of action research and Integrated Flood Management ( IFM). A case study from the Adayar watershed, Chennai, is provided as an example of how SSM can be used to understand complex situations and as a problem-solving strategy for flood management. Flat topography, uncontrolled urban development, population growth, sand bar formation at the river mouth and low tidal action render complexity to flood management in Chennai. For effective flood management, a participatory and integrated approach, which includes stakeholders in the decision-making process and an enabling institutional set-up, is essential. As part of an integrated approach, the relationship between various organizations and the public is identified. SSM is an approach for addressing fuzzy problematic situations involving human activity. In this paper, SSM techniques like 'Rich Picture Diagrams' and ' CATWOE analysis' and participatory action research tools like 'pairwise ranking' and 'force field analysis' were investigated. Two workshops were conducted to define and explore the problematic situation, the role of various actors involved in the problem, to develop the conceptual model, to rank decision-making criteria, and to analyse the forces for and against to solve the problem. The flood management approach provided in this paper can be used by government agencies and policy makers to manage floods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes a critical governmentality approach to theorize the processes through which urban elites become stakeholders in the 'world-class city'. Through a case study of public consultations for urban development plans in Chennai, India, the paper explores the technologies that produce urban actors who 'participate' in urban governance. Key to these technologies is a discourse of participation that privileges and normalizes citizens as urban stakeholders. The paper contributes to current explorations into the technologies of inclusion that are central to an emerging civic governmentality in South Asia. In Chennai this civic governmentality engages various segments of civil society in processes of urban governance through the mechanism of public consultation. It is through these public consultations that elites come to exert influence over urban plans and consolidate a vision and desire for the world-class city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we discuss a challenging water resources problem in a developing world city, Chennai, India. The goal is to reconstruct past system behavior and diagnose the causes of a major water crisis. In order to do this, we develop a hydrologic-engineering-economic model to address the complexity of urban water supply arising from consumers' dependence on multiple interconnected sources of water. We integrate different components of the urban water system: water flowing into the reservoir system; diversion and distribution by the public water utility; groundwater flow in the aquifer beneath the city; supply, demand, and prices in the informal tanker-truck-based water market; and consumer behavior. Both the economic and physical impacts of consumers' dependence on multiple sources of water are quantified. The model is calibrated over the period 2002-2006 using a range of hydrologic and socio-economic data. The model's results highlight the inadequacy of the reservoir system and the buffering role played by the urban aquifer and consumers' coping investments during multiyear droughts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groundwater extraction is rampant in many developing countries and urban areas whereas the natural recharge is decreasing due to covering of Earth's surface for various developmental activities. This leads to declining levels of groundwater and deterioration in groundwater quality. Artificial recharge with rain water harvesting techniques offers an excellent scope to arrest this degradation. This paper presents a study that analyzes the influence of rain water harvesting (RWH) on groundwater storage and quality. Chennai City, India is selected as study area, as major RWH implementation has taken place during 2002-2003 due to Government legislation. Preliminary analysis of groundwater levels were done spatially and temporally. Groundwater table contours were drawn using the GIS software for pre- (1999-2000) and post-RWH (2009-2010) periods. The groundwater levels follow a decreasing trend before implementation of RWH where as a positive increasing trend takes place after construction of RWH structures. 'Groundwater Estimation Committee (GEC)' norms of Government of India were used to estimate the change in storage during pre- and post-RWH periods, which are found to be 1.76 × 106 and 32.77 × 106 m3, respectively. The results show that the implementation of RWH has increased the groundwater storage considerably. Also, the influence of RWH on groundwater quality is found to be encouraging in some parts of the studied area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sprawl comprising densely populated slums over South Asian cities yields copious amounts of soot and black carbon from archaic cooking methods involving cow dung cakes and firewood, which remain afloat for over 10–12 h, enabling them to age in a sulphur rich environment. Not only are there toxicological concerns arising out of improper ventilation mechanisms, but there are also other concerns impacting the local microclimate. These emissions mix with other aerosol particles and, when conditions are favourable, are rendered partially soluble, enabling them to activate into cloud condensation nuclei. This study first yields a quantification of the soluble mass fraction and subsequently shows how aerosols from this local area source mix with background aerosol modes to perturb the local cloud microphysics over Chennai, a megacity in Southern India. On‐site sampling was undertaken to find the mass concentrations of the collected deposits separately from cow dung and firewood fuel. Additional micro‐physical attributes, including the morphological indentations that served as a receptacle to contain the accreted sulphate along with the particle size distribution were ascertained through Scanning Electron Microscopy. It is shown that accreted sulphate on carbonaceous particles facilitates CCN activation over the city. We show through large‐eddy simulations (LES) that extensive slum emissions over the study region contribute to the observed local cloud cover and enhanced rain amounts over a densely built‐up area housing the city's most vulnerable citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: India has a large youth population whose mental health needs must be addressed. This includes promotion of positive mental health, with early detection and effective intervention for mental health disorders. Understanding the perspectives of community stakeholders working with youth is pivotal to this effort. Current study aimed to bring together a group of community stakeholders (eg, parents, teachers, policy makers) to understand their perspectives on youth mental health problems, challenges in provision of care, and to provide recommendations to address these concerns at national level. Materials and methods: The study was conducted across two sites in India: Chennai and New Delhi. Three group meetings were conducted involving 52 participants, including governmental, non‐governmental and community representatives working with youth. The proceedings were manually recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis method. Results: Many youth mental health problems were similar across the two sites. The commonest drivers of mental health problems were reported to be academic pressure, substance use and problematic internet/social media use. Stigma and lack of awareness were identified as the most important challenges acting as barriers to seeking mental health help by youth. Prioritizing youth mental health as a national programmes along with strong political will were the major recommendations suggested by the stakeholders. Conclusion: Initial findings suggest that prioritizing youth mental health programmes in India would be advantageous. Inclusive and collaborative approach, involving community stakeholders working with youth in providing services that promote mental health and early access to care will help in developing healthy young citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The catastrophic floods over southeast peninsular India during 2015 northeast monsoon season (NEM, October–December) avowed 400 lives, affected more than 4 million people and reported a loss of property worth 3 billion US dollars. In the present study, an attempt has been made to understand the mechanism of occurrence of heavy rainfall events over southeast peninsular India during NEM, with a special emphasize on 2015 heavy rainfall events. In presence of strong El Niño, basin‐wide warming and low‐level easterly winds were observed over tropical Indian Ocean during NEM‐2015. It is noted that dominant easterly wave (EW) activity aided the intensification of already developing synoptic systems over Bay of Bengal (BoB) and led to occurrence of heavy rainfall events. This finding encouraged us to explore the association of El Niño, EW activity and heavy rainfall occurrences over southeast peninsular India during NEM for the period 1951–2015. It is noticed that ~43% of the heavy rainfall events during NEM are associated with El Niño, ~31% with La Niña and ~26% with neutral years, respectively. A 3–7‐day band‐pass filter is applied to the daily global reanalysis fields to elucidate the role of EW activity on heavy rainfall occurrences over the region during El Niño–Southern Oscillations (ENSO). Results indicate that EW activity over Indian Ocean plays a seminal role in occurrence of the heavy rainfall events during positive phase of the ENSO (El Niño), while it is found to be weak during negative (La Niña) and neutral phase. It is also revealed that significant above‐normal sea surface temperature (SST) over BoB, strong west–east SST gradient between southwest BoB and tropical western Pacific Ocean and anomalous strong low‐level easterly flow over tropical Indian Ocean during El Niño years offer favourable conditions for the initiation and westwards propagation of EWs. Time evolution of the 3–7‐day filtered composite anomalies of 700 hPa wind and relative vorticity (×10−5 S−1, shaded) for El Niño years in which heavy rainfall occurred from Day −5 to Day 0 (day of occurrence of heavy rainfall). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slums pose a persistent challenge for fast growing urban areas in the global South, despite several decades of policy intervention. While Chennai has adopted several strategies ranging from upgrading to reconstruction, the city has been unable to deliver its target of ‘clearing’ slum settlements. Through an analysis of four enumeration reports and a look at the evolving political contexts and subsequent practices, we illustrate the evolution of slum policy approaches in Chennai since the 1970s. The analysis shows slum practices in Chennai continue to be characterized by an underlying continuity, with relocation as the dominant mode of operation since the nineties. However, approaches to slums have also evolved from paternalistic socialism with in‐situ development in the seventies, to approaches characterized by affordability and cost recovery in the eighties, to the aesthetics of global cities in the nineties, to the technology driven, to slum‐free ‘smart city’ discourse currently in vogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the peri-urban dynamics in developing cities using a theoretical examination of the metropolis as the new urban condition. Although a western conceptualization, the notion of the metropolis, and particularly metropolitan planning, was exported to the developing world to address its urbanization problems. Metropolitan development authorities were established for wider city regions and accorded legislative powers to prepare master plans for the metropolitan areas. However, in most instances, their planning strategies resulted in a conflation of the urban–rural interface into a more complex peri-urban condition, marked by heterogeneity and fragmentation. The article illustrates this through an empirical investigation in the Indian city of Chennai, where socio-spatial transformations of two borderland neighbourhoods on its southern periphery are assessed mainly in terms of metropolitan planning decisions over the decades. In outlining their metamorphosis, the study is careful not to perceive such conflicts as simple forms of polarization between the rich and the poor. Rather, it sets the class conflicts against the politico-economic dynamics yielding newer forms of polarization in the peri-urban spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India, with its huge population and limited mental health resources, must find alternative ways of delivering its mental healthcare services. Telepsychiatry seems to be a promising option even with no regulatory authority in place or specific laws in India that deal with telemedicine practice, there has been a mushrooming of telemedicine services in India. Healthy cooperation between government organizations such as the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and institutions in the non-government and private sectors is another key feature in India. The experience of the Schizophrenia Research Foundation (SCARF), at Chennai, in South India, in running and establishing a telepsychiatry network is presented in this article. We identified the following tasks as essential to ensure an efficient intervention using telemedicine: identifying a suitable technology, a suitable location, and a local collaborator; providing training and creating awareness; establishing peripheral telepsychiatry centers and ensuring case documentation; and accountability. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to assess the influence of physical activity on the components of metabolic syndrome (MS) in an urban south Indian population in Chennai. The Chennai Urban Population Study (CUPS) is an epidemiological study involving two residential areas in Chennai in South India. Of the total of 1399 eligible subjects (age ≥ 20 years), 1262 individuals participated in the study. MS was diagnosed based on modified Adult Treatment Panel (ATP) III guidelines. Details about the physical activity were collected using questionnaire, which included job-related and leisure-time activities, and specific questions on exercise. Study individuals were then graded as light, moderate and heavy using a scoring system. We assessed the relationship between the grades of physical activity and the components of MS and coronary artery disease (CAD). Insulin resistance was calculated using the homeostasis assessment model (HOMA-IR). Prevalence of most of the components of MS (diabetes P < 0.001, obesity P = 0.003, abdominal obesity P < 0.001 and hypertension P < 0.001) and MS per se ( P < 0.001) increased significantly with decrease in physical activity. Among non-diabetic subjects, HOMA-IR was significantly higher in subjects who did light-grade activity compared with heavy-grade activity ( P = 0.041). Logistic regression analysis revealed physical activity to be significantly associated with MS [heavy activity: reference, moderate activity, odds ratio (OR) 1.639, ( P = 0.017); light activity: OR 2.289, ( P < 0.001)]. Subjects in the light-grade activity group also had higher odds of CAD (OR 2.42, 95% confidence interval 1.40, 4.24, P = 0.011), compared with the heavy-grade activity group. Physical inactivity is associated with the components of MS and CAD in this urban south-Indian population. Lifestyle changes focusing on increasing physical activity could help to prevent the exploding epidemic of MS and CAD in India. Diabet. Med. 22, 1206 –1211 (2005) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Madras, India, 312 soil samples were collected from different habitats and screened for the presence of keratinophilic fungi especially those belonging to the Microsporum gypseum complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the 6th international meeting of the Asian Pacific Society of Periodontology held in Chennai, India. It was participated with numerous delegates and speakers around the region. It covered several issues including the gap in the Asian Pacific Region in terms of periodontics and cardiology.