'Slippage' : The Bane of Rural Drinking Water Sector (A Study of Extent and Causes in Andhra Pradesh)

Slippage is one of the main bottlenecks of achieving full coverage of water and sanitation services in India. Slippage is the term often used to reflect unsustainable service delivery of water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services, especially in rural areas. Off late slippage is attracting attention at the policy level though slippage is as old as the coverage of water supply services. This paper makes an attempt to identify the causes of slippage in a systematic manner. The broad objectives of the paper include : i) assess the extent of slippage at the national and state level; ii) identify the causes of slippage at various levels; and iii) provide some pointers for policy based on the analysis. The extent of slippage is quite substantial even at the aggregate level. The situation is alarming in some of the states where the extent of slippage is as high as 60 percent. Our analysis at the national, state and habitation levels suggests strongly that policy makers should look beyond the often repeated supply sided strategies. As evident from the experience of Andhra Pradesh, the demand side and governance factors play an equally, if not more, important role in addressing the sustainability issues. So far the experiences are that large investments in water sector would not automatically lead to increase in coverage. The sector also needs a sound policy and capacity so that money is spent effectively and leads to increased water security. The policy should also address resource sustainability and behavioural change goals instead of relying upon a one-sided target driven approach. These aspects are highlighted in the proposed guidelines and their effective implementation needs to be ensured.slippage, India, supply side strategies, policy

The dynamics and control of large flexible space structures-V

A general survey of the progress made in the areas of mathematical modelling of the system dynamics, structural analysis, development of control algorithms, and simulation of environmental disturbances is presented. The use of graph theory techniques is employed to examine the effects of inherent damping associated with LSST systems on the number and locations of the required control actuators. A mathematical model of the forces and moments induced on a flexible orbiting beam due to solar radiation pressure is developed and typical steady state open loop responses obtained for the case when rotations and vibrations are limited to occur within the orbit plane. A preliminary controls analysis based on a truncated (13 mode) finite element model of the 122m. Hoop/Column antenna indicates that a minimum of six appropriately placed actuators is required for controllability. An algorithm to evaluate the coefficients which describe coupling between the rigid rotational and flexible modes and also intramodal coupling was developed and numerical evaluation based on the finite element model of Hoop/Column system is currently in progress

The dynamics and control of large flexible space structures-IV

The effects of solar radiation pressure as the main environmental disturbance torque were incorporated into the model of the rigid orbiting shallow shell and computer simulation results indicate that within the linear range the rigid modal amplitudes are excited in proportion to the area to mass ratio. The effect of higher order terms in the gravity-gradient torque expressions previously neglected was evaluated and found to be negligible for the size structures under consideration. A graph theory approach was employed for calculating the eigenvalues of a large flexible system by reducing the system (stiffness) matrix to lower ordered submatrices. The related reachability matrix and term rank concepts are used to verify controllability and can be more effective than the alternate numerical rank tests. Control laws were developed for the shape and orientation control of the orbiting flexible shallow shell and numerical results presented

Interference mitigation in wireless mesh networks through radio co-location aware conflict graphs

Wireless Mesh Networks (WMNs) have evolved into a wireless communication technology of immense interest. But technological advancements in WMNs have inadvertently spawned a plethora of network performance bottlenecks, caused primarily by the rise in prevalent interference. Conflict Graphs are indispensable tools used to theoretically represent and estimate the interference in wireless networks. We propose a generic algorithm to generate conflict graphs which is independent of the underlying interference model. Further, we propose the notion of radio co-location interference, which is caused and experienced by spatially co-located radios in multi-radio multi-channel WMNs. We experimentally validate the concept, and propose a new all-encompassing algorithm to create a radio co-location aware conflict graph. Our novel conflict graph generation algorithm is demonstrated to be significantly superior and more efficient than the conventional approach, through theoretical interference estimates and comprehensive experiments. The results of an extensive set of ns-3 simulations run on the IEEE 802.11g platform strongly indicate that the radio co-location aware conflict graphs are a marked improvement over their conventional counterparts. We also question the use of total interference degree as a reliable metric to predict the performance of a Channel Assignment scheme in a given WMN deployment

Experimental Evidence of Time Delay Induced Death in Coupled Limit Cycle Oscillators

Experimental observations of time delay induced amplitude death in a pair of coupled nonlinear electronic circuits that are individually capable of exhibiting limit cycle oscillations are described. In particular, the existence of multiply connected death islands in the parameter space of the coupling strength and the time delay parameter for coupled identical oscillators is established. The existence of such regions was predicted earlier on theoretical grounds in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5109 (1998); Physica 129D, 15 (1999)]. The experiments also reveal the occurrence of multiple frequency states, frequency suppression of oscillations with increased time delay and the onset of both in-phase and anti-phase collective oscillations.Comment: 4 aps formatted RevTeX pages; 6 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Chemical Reaction and Radiation Effects on the Hydro-Magnetic Free Convection Flow of Visco-Elastic Fluid along an Infinite Vertical Porous Plate in a Porous Medium

An unsteady hydro magnetic laminar free convection heat and mass transfer flow of a visco-elastic, dissipative fluid along an infinite vertical Porous plate through porous medium is analyzed in the presence of chemical reaction and thermal radiation.  The solution of the problem is obtained in the form of power series of  which is very small. Analytical expressions for the velocity, temperature and concentration fields are given, as well as for the skin friction, the rate of heat transfer and the rate of mass transfer coefficient at the plate.  The influence.......

Row arrangement in groundnut/pigeonpea intercropping

In field trials at Rajendranagar in 1983-84, groundnuts cv. Robout 33-1 and pigeonpeas cv. ICPL-6 were grown in pure stands with 30 and 60 cm between-row spacing, resp., or intercropped in a 3, 4, 5, 6 or 8:1, groundnut rows:pigeonpea rows ratio with 30 cm between row spacing. Within row spacing was adjusted accordingly to maintain pure stand and intercrop groundnut and soyabean plant densities of 333 000 and 60 000 plants/ha, resp. Av. groundnut pod yield ranged from 558 kg/ha (3:1 groundnuts:pigeonpeas intercrop) to 1720 kg (pure stand). Av. pigeonpea grain yield ranged from 1048 kg (8:1 intercrop) to 1619 kg/ha (3:1 intercrop); pure stand yield was 1339 kg/ha. Mean land equivalent ratios were 1.15, 1.36, 1.49, 1.48 and 1.41 for the 3:1, 4:1, 5:1, 6:1 and 8:1 ratios of groundnut rows:pigeonpea rows, resp. The economic returns from the different sowing arrangements are considered

Meissner screening mass in two-flavor quark matter at nonzero temperature

We calculate the Meissner screening mass of gluons 4--7 in two-flavor quark matter at nonzero temperature. To this end, we study the effective potential of the 2SC/g2SC phases including a vector condensate $$and calculate the Meissner mass from the potential curvature with respect to$$. We find that the Meissner mass becomes real at the critical temperature which is about the half of the chemical potential mismatch. The phase diagram of the neutral two-flavor color superconductor is presented in the plane of temperature and coupling strength. We indicate the unstable region for gluons 4--7 on the phase diagram.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, minor revisions to text, version to appear in PR

Changes in the ducts of the glands of the hard palate in reverse smokers

Three hundred fifty-nine cases of stomatitis nicotina were studied in reverse smokers of home made chuttas. One hundred thirty-five biopsies of papular unbilicated lesions of stomatitis nicotina were studied histopathologically. The biopsies were chosen after toluidine blue staining. Mild dysplastic to severe dysplastic changes were seen around the openings of the ducts of the glands. There were three cases of microinvasive carcinoma in the one hundred thirty-five biopsies. Cystic dilatation of the ducts, due to obstruction of the ducts by keratotic plugging, was not seen in stomatitis nicotina lesions but was seen in elderly women who had smoked reverse for more than 4 to 5 decades. The ducts of the glands could probably form a portal of entry for the tobacco pyrolytic products which may act as carcinogenics

Classification of Solutions of Non-homogeneous Non-linear Second Order Neutral Delay Dynamic Equations with Positive and Negative Coefficients

In this paper we have studied the non-homogeneous non-linear second order neutral delay dynamic equations with positive and negative coefficients of the form classified all solutions of this type equations and obtained conditions for the existence or non-existence of solutions into four classes and these four classes are mutually disjoint. Examples are included to illustrate the validation of the main results