Misleading Estimation of Backwardness through NITI Aayog SDG index: A study to find loopholes and construction of alternative index with the help of Artificial Intelligence

UNDP Rio +20 summit in 2012 evolved a set of indicators to realise the targets of SDGs within a deadline. Measurement of the performances under these goals has followed the methodology as developed by UNDP which is nothing but the simple average of performances of the indicators under different domains. This work concludes that this methodology to measure the goal-wise as well as the composite performances is suffering from major shortcomings and proposes an alternative using the ideas of artificial intelligence. Here it is accepted that the indicators under different goals are inter-related and hence constructing index through simple average is misleading. Moreover the methodologies under the existing indices have failed to assign weights to different indicators. This work is based on secondary data and the goal-wise indices have been determined through normalised sigmoid functions. These goal-wise indices are plotted on a radar and the area of the radar is treated as measure under composite SDG performance. The whole work is presented through an artificial neural network. Observed that the goal-wise index as developed and tested here has shown that the UNDP as well as NITI Aayog index has delivered exaggerated values of goal-wise as well as composite performances

Euler Number and Percolation Threshold on a Square Lattice with Diagonal Connection Probability and Revisiting the Island-Mainland Transition

We report some novel properties of a square lattice filled with white sites, randomly occupied by black sites (with probability $p$). We consider connections up to second nearest neighbours, according to the following rule. Edge-sharing sites, i.e. nearest neighbours of similar type are always considered to belong to the same cluster. A pair of black corner-sharing sites, i.e. second nearest neighbours may form a 'cross-connection' with a pair of white corner-sharing sites. In this case assigning connected status to both pairs simultaneously, makes the system quasi-three dimensional, with intertwined black and white clusters. The two-dimensional character of the system is preserved by considering the black diagonal pair to be connected with a probability $q$, in which case the crossing white pair of sites are deemed disjoint. If the black pair is disjoint, the white pair is considered connected. In this scenario we investigate (i) the variation of the Euler number $\chi(p) \ [=N_B(p)-N_W(p)]$ versus $p$ graph for varying $q$, (ii) variation of the site percolation threshold with $q$ and (iii) size distribution of the black clusters for varying $p$, when $q=0.5$. Here $N_B$ is the number of black clusters and $N_W$ is the number of white clusters, at a certain probability $p$. We also discuss the earlier proposed 'Island-Mainland' transition (Khatun, T., Dutta, T. & Tarafdar, S. Eur. Phys. J. B (2017) 90: 213) and show mathematically that the proposed transition is not, in fact, a critical phase transition and does not survive finite size scaling. It is also explained mathematically why clusters of size 1 are always the most numerous

Decomposition of intra-household disparity sensitive fuzzy multi-dimensional poverty index: A study of vulnerability through Machine Learning

The traditional multi-dimensional measures have failed to properly project the vulnerability of human-beings towards poverty. Some of the reasons behind this inability may be the failure of the existing measures to recognise the graduality inside the concept of poverty and the disparities within the household in wealth distribution. So this work wants to develop a measure to estimate the vulnerability of households in becoming poor in a multidimensional perspective through incorporating the intra-household disparities and graduality within the causal factors. Dimensional decomposition of the developed vulnerability measure is also under the purview of this work. To estimate the vulnerability and dimensional influences with the help of artificial intelligence an integrated mathematical framework is developed

Social Exclusion from Development Programmes: A study on different castes of West Bengal

Indian society is characterized by multiple forms of exclusion associated with group identities. This work wants to examine the nature and dimensions of social exclusion from development programmes in the Indian state of West Bengal on the basis of various castes and to analyze the factors behind. It is tested here whether there exists any relationship between different castes and level of social exclusion, and that between intra-group heterogeneity and group social exclusion values. Both secondary and primary data have been used. Sample of 320 households was chosen through multi-stage stratified random sampling. In a three dimension exclusion space of health, education and income the household level social exclusion is measured by Normalized Euclidean Distance. Calculated value is regressed on caste characteristics of the sample households. Tukey Post Hoc study is undertaken to judge the inter-group differences. Generalized Entropy Index is used to study the intra-group concentration of the households with respect to social exclusion level within different castes. It is observed that social exclusion becomes significant for scheduled tribe (ST) community. The intensity of social exclusion of ST is significantly different from others. Among all the castes ST has the highest within group concentration with respect to household level social exclusion values. The concentration of household level social exclusion values within any caste increases with the rise in corresponding group mean social exclusion values. In West Bengal social exclusion on the basis of caste arises out of some strong historical informal norms. Indigenous culture of different communities is also one of the major reasons behind their exclusion. The strong current of global convergence has also failed to bring the excluded to a level playing field. The inverse relationship between group social exclusion value and within group heterogeneity and its implications on policy measures are unique in the discourses on social exclusion

Social Exclusion from Development Programmes: A study on different castes of West Bengal

Indian society is characterized by multiple forms of exclusion associated with group identities. This work wants to examine the nature and dimensions of social exclusion from development programmes in the Indian state of West Bengal on the basis of various castes and to analyze the factors behind. It is tested here whether there exists any relationship between different castes and level of social exclusion, and that between intra-group heterogeneity and group social exclusion values. Both secondary and primary data have been used. Sample of 320 households was chosen through multi-stage stratified random sampling. In a three dimension exclusion space of health, education and income the household level social exclusion is measured by Normalized Euclidean Distance. Calculated value is regressed on caste characteristics of the sample households. Tukey Post Hoc study is undertaken to judge the inter-group differences. Generalized Entropy Index is used to study the intra-group concentration of the households with respect to social exclusion level within different castes. It is observed that social exclusion becomes significant for scheduled tribe (ST) community. The intensity of social exclusion of ST is significantly different from others. Among all the castes ST has the highest within group concentration with respect to household level social exclusion values. The concentration of household level social exclusion values within any caste increases with the rise in corresponding group mean social exclusion values. In West Bengal social exclusion on the basis of caste arises out of some strong historical informal norms. Indigenous culture of different communities is also one of the major reasons behind their exclusion. The strong current of global convergence has also failed to bring the excluded to a level playing field. The inverse relationship between group social exclusion value and within group heterogeneity and its implications on policy measures are unique in the discourses on social exclusion

Reduced basis approximation and a posteriori error estimation for non-coercive elliptic problems : applications to acoustics

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2007.Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-261).Modern engineering problems often require accurate, reliable, and efficient evaluation of quantities of interest, evaluation of which demands the solution of a partial differential equation. We present in this thesis a general methodology for the predicition of outputs of interest of non-coercive elliptic partial differential equations. The essential ingredients are: (i) rapidly convergent reduced basis approximations - Galerkin projection onto a space WN spanned by solutions of the governing partial differential equation at N selected points in parameter-time space; (ii) a posteriori error estimation - relaxations of the error-residual equation that provide rigorous and sharp bounds for the error in specific outputs of interest; and (iii) offline-online computational procedures - in the offline stage the reduced basis approximation is generated; in the online stage, given a new parameter value, we calculate the reduced basis output and associated error bound. The operation count for the online stage depends only on N (typically small) and the parametric complexity of the problem; the method is thus ideally suited for repeated, rapid, reliable evaluation of input-output relationships in the many-query or real-time contexts. We consider the crucial ingredients for the treatment of acoustics problems(cont.) - simultaneous treatment of non-coercive (and near-resonant), non-Hermitian elliptic operators, complex-valued fields, often unbounded domains, and quadratic outputs of interest. We introduce the successive constraint approach to approximate lower bounds to the inf-sup stability constant, a key ingredient of our rigorous a posteriori output error estimator. We develop a novel expanded formulation that enables treatment of quadratic outputs as linear compliant outputs. We also build on existing ideas in domain truncation to develop a radiation boundary condition to truncate unbounded domains. We integrate the different theoretical contributions and apply our methods as proof of concept to some representative applications in acoustic filter design and characterization. In the online stage, we achieve O(10) computational economies of cost while demonstrating both the rapid convergence of the reduced basis approximation, and the sharpness of our error estimators ([approx.] O(20)). The obtained computational economies are expected to be significantly greater for problems of larger size. We thus emphasize the feasibility of our methods in the many-query contexts of optimization, characterization, and control.by Sugata Sen.Ph.D

Globally dispersed project teams : interaction space management

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 104-107).by Sugata Sen.S.M

Neo-liberal globalization and caste based exclusion in India – Nature, Dimension and Policy : A Study through Genetic Algorithm and Bio-informatics

Exclusion arising out of caste is one of the major instances of social exclusion in India. Historical facts have shown that caste has appeared as a tool of political economy to deprive a large section of the Indian society from their due returns. This study wants to know the historical sequence of political economy to develop caste as a major tool of exploitation. Determining the nature of caste-based exclusion in India is another aim of this work. This study also wants to develop the optimum policy measures to eradicate the menace of caste based exclusion. Examining the feasibility of the development path towards inclusive growth under neo-liberal globalization is also under the purview of this study. Sample has been chosen from 16 Indian villages through multistage stratified sampling. As exclusion can be explained as capability deprivation this study has taken into consideration health, education and income as the domains of exclusion. The idea of Genetic Algorithm has been applied to substantiate the existence of exclusion due to genetic divergence. The idea of Hamming distance is applied to find the inter-group and inter-optima distances in the exclusion space. To determine the optimum policy mix to achieve inclusive growth the techniques of Knapsack Optimisation has been used. It is observed that different social groups on the basis of caste have different outcomes. These differences are the results of a strong historical process of subordination. Brahmanical social order has been used in this process as a tool of exploitation. The complementarity between hierarchical social system and political economy under the Hindu philosophy helped to sustain this exploitation through the name of genetic divergence. Here Genetic Algorithm substantiates that the backwardness of the lagging ethnic groups appeared due to Brahmanical social order. Estimated Hamming distances show that the inter caste distances in the exclusion space are substantial. But Knapsack Optimisation has found that the different policy mix can minimise these distances and improve the level of inclusion, but complete eradication of exclusion is not possible in a limited resource economy. At the same time it is also observed that the development of bourgeoisie and the emergence of capital intensive skill-based market economy though the current form of globalization have broadened the process of further marginalization of the lagging ethnic groups

Neo-liberal globalization and caste based exclusion in India – Nature, Dimension and Policy : A Study through Genetic Algorithm and Bio-informatics

Exclusion arising out of caste is one of the major instances of social exclusion in India. Historical facts have shown that caste has appeared as a tool of political economy to deprive a large section of the Indian society from their due returns. This study wants to know the historical sequence of political economy to develop caste as a major tool of exploitation. Determining the nature of caste-based exclusion in India is another aim of this work. This study also wants to develop the optimum policy measures to eradicate the menace of caste based exclusion. Examining the feasibility of the development path towards inclusive growth under neo-liberal globalization is also under the purview of this study. Sample has been chosen from 16 Indian villages through multistage stratified sampling. As exclusion can be explained as capability deprivation this study has taken into consideration health, education and income as the domains of exclusion. The idea of Genetic Algorithm has been applied to substantiate the existence of exclusion due to genetic divergence. The idea of Hamming distance is applied to find the inter-group and inter-optima distances in the exclusion space. To determine the optimum policy mix to achieve inclusive growth the techniques of Knapsack Optimisation has been used. It is observed that different social groups on the basis of caste have different outcomes. These differences are the results of a strong historical process of subordination. Brahmanical social order has been used in this process as a tool of exploitation. The complementarity between hierarchical social system and political economy under the Hindu philosophy helped to sustain this exploitation through the name of genetic divergence. Here Genetic Algorithm substantiates that the backwardness of the lagging ethnic groups appeared due to Brahmanical social order. Estimated Hamming distances show that the inter caste distances in the exclusion space are substantial. But Knapsack Optimisation has found that the different policy mix can minimise these distances and improve the level of inclusion, but complete eradication of exclusion is not possible in a limited resource economy. At the same time it is also observed that the development of bourgeoisie and the emergence of capital intensive skill-based market economy though the current form of globalization have broadened the process of further marginalization of the lagging ethnic groups