Can affirmative action improve gender parity in India? The case of mukhiyapatis in Bihar

Apurv Chauhan argues that patriarchal expectations undermine the political empowerment of women at the local government level in Bihar

Using Mobile-Based Technology to Screen for Atrial Fibrillation in India

As part of the mini-symposium entitled Interdiscipllinary Mobile Health and Sensing Research, this presentation discusses use of a novel smartphone app for cardiovascular screening in rural India

Design of Fairing for Human Powered Vehicles Considering Aerodynamics & Aesthetics

The increasing environmental concerns mostly due to the depletion of fossil fuels and a great deal of airborne pollution have been the prime topics of interest for the researchers. This has led to the development of new transportation alternatives which are in line with the "Go Green" manifesto. One such development is the concept of human powered vehicles (HPVs), transportation machines that use human power as the source of its energy for locomotion. Further development has led to inclusion of ergonomics and aesthetics into their design, which aim at higher value and efficiency. Aerodynamic drag is a major element of obstruction in the efficiency of these vehicles which mostly run by pedalling. The major area of research in this present work will therefore be the optimised design of the fairing, an element of the HPV that contributes heavily to its aerodynamics since it determines the exterior shape of the vehicle. Taking vehicle performance as the major topic of concern, aerodynamic aspects can sometimes turn out to be a greater deciding factor than the mechanical aspects of an HPV because of the immense magnitude of drag experienced by a moving vehicle. This drag reduces the motion to the power transferred ratio, which in turn indicates a drop in efficiency. This raises the requirement of a study which is specially focussed on the aerodynamics of such a vehicle. This would help enhance the comfort for the driver and also aid in pulling up the efficiency of the vehicle. Fairing being the external cover also plays a pivotal role in enhancing its aesthetics. The study conducted was used for fabrication of the vehicles presented in the Human Powered Vehicle Challenge India'14 (HPVC) organised at New Delhi and later the results obtained from the competition were used for the new vehicle, which participated in HPVC East’14 organised at University of Central Florida, USA

Leprosy: An Overview (World Leprosy Day Guest Comment)

World Leprosy Day Guest Editorial by Dr. Aayushi Manocha and Dr. Apurv Manoch

Vesicoureteral Reflux, a Scarred kidney, and Minimal Proteinuria: An Unusual Cause of Adult Secondary Hypertension

Hypertension affects about 65 million individuals in the United States. In adult patients, primary aldosteronism and renovascular causes are described as most prevalent. Vesicoureteral reflux as a cause of hypertension, while commonly described in pediatric populations, is less prevalent in the adult population especially in the absence of proteinuria. We present the case of a 31-year-old female presenting with early onset hypertension. Workup for renovascular hypertension was unrevealing. She was found to have right-sided vesicoureteral reflux with a unilateral scarred kidney. Patient underwent a nephrectomy with marked improvement in blood pressure control

Variance-Aware Optimal Power Flow: addressing the trade-off between cost, security and variability

Recent work has studied modifications to DC-OPF computations so as to better account for risk arising as a result of stochastic variation in the output of renewable sources. Typically such modifications rely on mathematical constructs such as chance-constraints that can still yield convex formulations. However, numerical simulations show that the computed policies can translate into power flow patterns with high variance. We introduce a number of convex variants of OPF that trade-off variance and cost minimization, describe practical algorithms for the solution of such problems, and present numerical experiments