Information technology, innovation and human development: hospital information systems in an Indian State

This paper addresses the topic of how innovation based on information and communication technologies (ICTs) can contribute to human development. A theoretical framework is developed in two stages. Firstly, ICT-based innovation is conceptualized as involving technological, social and institutional innovations. Secondly, Sen’s capability approach is drawn on to theorize how such innovations can contribute to human development. The theoretical framework is used as a basis to explore a rich case study of the development and use of a hospital information system within the public sector of the State of Himachal Pradesh in India. The paper analyses both the potential that the system has to promote positive development outcomes in the State, but also the challenges which constrain that impact. Three human development themes are identified and discussed: strengthening processes to include the disadvantaged; empowering the patient and making communal voices count. Finally, it is argued that the theoretical approach in the paper may have applicability in other contexts where ICT-based innovations are aiming to support human development outcomes

On The Phase Structure and Thermodynamic Geometry of R-Charged Black Holes

We study the phase structure and equilibrium state space geometry of R-charged black holes in $D = 5$, 4 and 7 and the corresponding rotating $D3$, $M2$ and $M5$ branes. For various charge configurations of the compact black holes in the canonical ensemble we demonstrate new liquid-gas like phase coexistence behaviour culminating in second order critical points. The critical exponents turn out to be the same as that of four dimensional asymptotically AdS black holes in Einstein Maxwell theory. We further establish that the regions of stability for R-charged black holes are, in some cases, more constrained than is currently believed, due to properties of some of the response coefficients. The equilibrium state space scalar curvature is calculated for various charge configurations, both for the case of compact as well as flat horizons and its asymptotic behaviour with temperature is established.Comment: 1 + 33 pages, LaTeX, 25 figures. References adde

How Potent are Evasion Attacks for Poisoning Federated Learning-Based Signal Classifiers?

There has been recent interest in leveraging federated learning (FL) for radio signal classification tasks. In FL, model parameters are periodically communicated from participating devices, training on their own local datasets, to a central server which aggregates them into a global model. While FL has privacy/security advantages due to raw data not leaving the devices, it is still susceptible to several adversarial attacks. In this work, we reveal the susceptibility of FL-based signal classifiers to model poisoning attacks, which compromise the training process despite not observing data transmissions. In this capacity, we develop an attack framework in which compromised FL devices perturb their local datasets using adversarial evasion attacks. As a result, the training process of the global model significantly degrades on in-distribution signals (i.e., signals received over channels with identical distributions at each edge device). We compare our work to previously proposed FL attacks and reveal that as few as one adversarial device operating with a low-powered perturbation under our attack framework can induce the potent model poisoning attack to the global classifier. Moreover, we find that more devices partaking in adversarial poisoning will proportionally degrade the classification performance.Comment: 6 pages, Accepted to IEEE ICC 202

Combining Ability Studies in Cowpea for Dual Purpose Types

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L) Walp.) is widely grown all over India more particularly in central and peninsular regions. Grains are consumed as food and the haulms are fed to livestock as a nutritious fodder. Cowpea is is equally important as nutritious fodder for livestock. The use of cowpea as a dual-purpose crop is attractive in mixed crop/livestock systems where land and feed are becoming increasingly scarce (Tarawali et al., 1997) especially in the dry season. Efforts at global level (IITA & ILRI) focused to develop medium-maturing (85-95 days), semi-erect, dual-purpose varieties with higher grain and fodder yields and with enhanced fodder quality

Defending Adversarial Attacks on Deep Learning Based Power Allocation in Massive MIMO Using Denoising Autoencoders

Recent work has advocated for the use of deep learning to perform power allocation in the downlink of massive MIMO (maMIMO) networks. Yet, such deep learning models are vulnerable to adversarial attacks. In the context of maMIMO power allocation, adversarial attacks refer to the injection of subtle perturbations into the deep learning model's input, during inference (i.e., the adversarial perturbation is injected into inputs during deployment after the model has been trained) that are specifically crafted to force the trained regression model to output an infeasible power allocation solution. In this work, we develop an autoencoder-based mitigation technique, which allows deep learning-based power allocation models to operate in the presence of adversaries without requiring retraining. Specifically, we develop a denoising autoencoder (DAE), which learns a mapping between potentially perturbed data and its corresponding unperturbed input. We test our defense across multiple attacks and in multiple threat models and demonstrate its ability to (i) mitigate the effects of adversarial attacks on power allocation networks using two common precoding schemes, (ii) outperform previously proposed benchmarks for mitigating regression-based adversarial attacks on maMIMO networks, (iii) retain accurate performance in the absence of an attack, and (iv) operate with low computational overhead.Comment: This work is currently under review for publicatio

On the Thermodynamic Geometry and Critical Phenomena of AdS Black Holes

In this paper, we study various aspects of the equilibrium thermodynamic state space geometry of AdS black holes. We first examine the Reissner-Nordstrom-AdS (RN-AdS) and the Kerr-AdS black holes. In this context, the state space scalar curvature of these black holes is analysed in various regions of their thermodynamic parameter space. This provides important new insights into the structure and significance of the scalar curvature. We further investigate critical phenomena, and the behaviour of the scalar curvature near criticality, for KN-AdS black holes in two mixed ensembles, introduced and elucidated in our earlier work arXiv:1002.2538 [hep-th]. The critical exponents are identical to those in the RN-AdS and Kerr-AdS cases in the canonical ensemble. This suggests an universality in the scaling behaviour near critical points of AdS black holes. Our results further highlight qualitative differences in the thermodynamic state space geometry for electric charge and angular momentum fluctuations of these.Comment: 1 + 37 Pages, LaTeX, includes 31 figures. A figure and a clarification added

Conservation of wild silkworm genetic resources through cryopreservation: Standardization of sperm processing

Conservation of the invaluable sericigenous genetic resources is of prime importance with respect to their utilization and improvement for wider exploitation. Conservation of wild silkworms and its applicability in hybridization have limitations due to incompatibility, less amenability, change of behaviour under ex situ conditions, non-synchronization of moth eclosion and difficulties in mating between variables. In view of this, the newer technologies such as cryopreservation and artificial insemination are offering better strategies for preservation of biologically active samples like semen at sub-zero temperature (-196º C) conditions for longer duration. In this context, under standardization of sperms preservation from wild silkworms, two methods of semen collection were scrutinized for obtaining active and viable sperm for cryopreservation and further artificial insemination. Semen collection from the seminal vesicle of freshly emerged male moth and the other from the bursa copulatrix (BC) and spermatheca of the female moth after mating. The sperms in the semen collected from seminal vesicle are in the form of bundles known as eupyrene sperm bundles and apyrene sperms. The morphology and behaviour of these sperm bundles were recorded through microscopic examination. To study the density and motility behaviour of the sperms, sperm bundles were treated with proteolytic enzyme (~2-3µg/ml) to digest the membrane and release the sperms. The density and motility behaviour of sperms in the semen recovered from the BC and spermatheca of female moth after mating were higher compared to those released after digestion of sperm bundles from seminal vesicle of the male moth

Kerr-Newman Black Hole Thermodynamical State Space: Blockwise Coordinates

A coordinate system that blockwise-simplifies the Kerr-Newman black hole's thermodynamical state space Ruppeiner metric geometry is constructed, with discussion of the limiting cases corresponding to simpler black holes. It is deduced that one of the three conformal Killing vectors of the Reissner-Nordstrom and Kerr cases (whose thermodynamical state space metrics are 2 by 2 and conformally flat) survives generalization to the Kerr-Newman case's 3 by 3 thermodynamical state space metric.Comment: 4 pages incl 2 figs. Accepted by Gen. Rel. Grav. Replaced with Accepted version (minor corrections

Phase transition and scaling behavior of topological charged black holes in Horava-Lifshitz gravity

Gravity can be thought as an emergent phenomenon and it has a nice "thermodynamic" structure. In this context, it is then possible to study the thermodynamics without knowing the details of the underlying microscopic degrees of freedom. Here, based on the ordinary thermodynamics, we investigate the phase transition of the static, spherically symmetric charged black hole solution with arbitrary scalar curvature $2k$ in Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz gravity at the Lifshitz point $z=3$. The analysis is done using the canonical ensemble frame work; i.e. the charge is kept fixed. We find (a) for both $k=0$ and $k=1$, there is no phase transition, (b) while $k=-1$ case exhibits the second order phase transition within the {\it physical region} of the black hole. The critical point of second order phase transition is obtained by the divergence of the heat capacity at constant charge. Near the critical point, we find the various critical exponents. It is also observed that they satisfy the usual thermodynamic scaling laws.Comment: Minor corrections, refs. added, to appear in Class. Quant. Grav. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1111.0973 by other author