Madhuri Dixit

This is a book review of Nandana Bose, Madhuri Dixit (Bloomsbury, 2019)

The Art of Disruption. Creative learning and disruption in the higher education sector

In an operating environment dominated by rapid technological change, the temptation to call this disruptive is even greater. In this paper, we draw on the disruption literature and the imagery from this, to view and understand significant changes shaping the current UK higher education sector. In particular, we note the way in which the main institutions in society are changing and note the new business models that have emerged relating to fees and commercialisation in universities. We also note however, the new possibilities for universities arising from market demand for new technologies and concomitantly, new job roles in the labour market, all of which require new responses from universities. Focusing on the creative industries, where change has been marked, the ecologies have become crowded, and where incessant skill needs go hand-in-hand with changing student and worker characteristics, universities are faced with an acute pressure point. We argue here that this pressure point is such that the opportunity cost of not responding through disruption will be too great and will lead inevitably to a loss of market position. In this first in a series of think pieces, we look to challenge conventional thinking by considering what disruption might mean in the context of universities, and what sort of transformation is needed to secure universities’ provision and role in the creative economy

Trends in Technical Progress in India .Analysis of Input-Output Tables from 1968 to 2003

The paper is based on the 8 Input . Output (I-O) tables for the Indian economy available over a period of 36 years from 1968-69 to 2003-04. The technical progress (TP) in the context of the I-O tables is based on the concept of a production function defining the relationship between gross output and material inputs as well as value added at the disaggregated sectoral level. The paper attempts to answer the following questions: (i) Was the TP substantial and continuous throughout the period?; (ii) Was the rate of TP during the inward looking and outward looking growth strategy phases of the economy the same?; and (iii) Was the rate of TP at the disaggregated sectoral level almost constant over time? In order to measure the rate of TP, the available eight national I-O tables in India are first made compatible for the number, scope and definitions of sectors as well as for prices by converting them at constant 1993-94 prices. Chenery-Watanabe coefficient is used for measuring the rate of TP for different sectors across the 8 I-O tables.

Use of expert systems in harmonizing international accounting reports

A significant problem in international accounting is the presence of a variety of accounting and disclosure standards that have been adopted by various countries as they match their national information needs to specific formats. Efforts at harmonization of world-wide financial statements have been less than successful. The needs in the 1990s suggest the need for an expedient solution to this problem. The current paper addresses this problem and suggests an information systems approach—a new approach—namely the development of an expert system which would be capable of translating disclosure in a particular country standard to one that meets internationally acceptable accounting standards or from one country standards to another country standards. The authors accept ^that the lack of adequate data may be the impediment to the development of the expert system and suggest a solution from database management to alleviate the harmonization dilemma

PRESERVATION OF ETDs ON NDLTD Version 1.0

Theses and dissertations published at a university are important research resources. ETDs (Electronic Theses and Dissertations) are simply the theses and dissertations published in electronic form (e.g., in PDF). Many universities are implementing a requirement that theses and dissertations be submitted in electronic form, thus making it easier for other people to access these works. These ETDs typically are archived on a server at each local university. We have developed a mirroring system which will store additional copies of remote ETDs, and thus will preserve and enhance access to them. The local archive of ETDs will be updated regularly. If someday the university (Publisher) fails to provide access to one of its ETDs or an ETD copy is corrupted, the user will still have access to another copy of ETD. The above system will be used for NDLTD (Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations). NDLTD is an initiative to encourage the creation of ETDs by student authors, and to make ETDs easily accessible to students via World Wide Web, thus improving graduate education. There are currently over 150 members in NDLTD. Users can browse or search ETDs through the NDLTD website. The NDLTD website also provides a union catalog to search for ETDs. The Open Archives Initiative (OAI) is dedicated to solving problems of digital library interoperability. OAI has developed a metadata harvesting protocol to support streaming of metadata from one repository to another, ultimately to a provider of user services such as browsing, searching, or annotation. An OAI harvester implements the OAI protocol for metadata harvesting. We use an OAI harvester to harvest metadata about ETDs and then a simple web crawler is used to get the actual data and store it on a local machine. This ensures that we have a local copy of data even if the publisher of data is somehow unable to provide us with data. Our OAI harvester harvests metadata, which was not harvested since the last time it was run. Hence, updating the mirror site is easily accomplished. This is a very effective scheme, which can be used to mirror any collection of data, provided the collection has an associated OAI server

Local anaesthetics as antibacterial agents

Local anaesthetics as antibacterial agent

Hybrid Deep Neural Network for Data Driven Missile Guidance with Maneuvering Target

Missile guidance, owing to highly complex and non-linear relative movement between the missile and its target, is a challenging problem. This is further aggravated in case of a maneuvering target which changes its own flight path while attempting to escape the incoming missile. In this study, to achieve computationally superior and accurate missile guidance, a deep learning is employed to propose a self-tuning technique for a fractional-order proportional integral derivative (FOPID) controller of a radar-guided missile chasing an intelligently maneuvering target. A multi-layer two-dimensional architecture is proposed for a deep neural network that combines the prediction feature of recurrent neural networks and estimation feature of feed-forward artificial neural networks. The proposed deep learning based missile guidance scheme is non-intrusive, data-based, and model-free wherein the parameters are optimized on-the-run while predicting the target’s maneuvering tactics to correct for processing time and loop delays of the system. Using deep learning for online optimization with minimal computational burden is the core feature of the proposed technique. Dual-core parallel simulations of missile-target dynamics and the control system were performed to demonstrate superiority of the proposed scheme in feasibility, adaptability, and the ability to effectively minimize the miss-distance in comparison with traditional and neural offline-tuned PID and FOPID based techniques. Compared to state-of-the-art offline-tuned neural control, the miss-distance was reduced by 68.42% for randomly maneuvering targets. Furthermore, a minimum miss-distance of 0.97 m was achieved for intelligently maneuvering targets for which the state-of-the-art method failed to hit the target. Overall, the proposed technique offers a novel approach for addressing the challenges of missile guidance in a computationally efficient and effective manner

Applicability of an 'uptake wave' energy transition concept in Indian households

Abstract Reliable, secure, and affordable energy services are essential to ensuring sustainable economic and social development in the rapidly growing cities of the Global South, yet in India over 30 percent of urban households are still reliant on traditional fuels such as biomass and kerosene for some portion of their energy needs. Understanding the factors that influence energy transitions at a household level, is essential for successful strategies to promote the uptake of cleaner fuels and deliver associated socio-economic benefits. Such fast-growing cities often display intra-urban inequalities of considerable magnitude which can condition individual access to resources and impact the effectiveness of energy provision strategies for individual city districts. In this paper we will use the results of a survey of 500 households in Bangalore, India and explore how this data compares with the ‘wave concept’ model of energy transition. This ‘wave concept’ view of energy transitions focuses on appliance ownership as a proxy for energy services and conceptualises the uptake of appliances as a wave with early and late adopters rather than an income-based step change, and as a result better accounts for the role of non-income factors. The wards targeted by the survey cover a range of low-income ward typologies characterised by factors including income, livelihoods, building construction, socio-cultural factors, access to fuels, and reliability of supply. Validating an appropriate model for the uptake of new energy technologies and fuels in households, can better inform policy makers, entrepreneurs, and engineers on the influence of non-income barriers to energy transition across different districts of a city. By understanding how households use energy, and what limits the adoption of more efficient technologies at a local level, city planners and engineers can develop targeted sustainable strategies for adoption of cleaner more efficient fuels and appliances in households.</jats:p