A numerical study of the role of vertical structure of vorticity during tropical cyclone genesis

An eight-level axisymmetric model with simple parameterizations for clouds and the atmospheric boundary layer was developed to examine the evolution of vortices that are precursors to tropical cyclones. The effect of vertical distributions of the vorticity, especially that arising from a merger of mid-level vortices, has been studied to provide support for a new vortex-merger theory of tropical cyclone genesis. The basic model was validated with the analytical results available for the spin-down of axisymmetric vortices. With the inclusion of the cloud and boundary layer parameterizations, the evolution of deep vortices into hurricanes and the subsequent decay is simulated quite well. Effects of several parameters such as initial vortex strength, radius of maximum winds, sea surface temperature and latitude (Coriolis parameter) on the evolution were examined. A new finding is the manner in which mid-level vortices of the same strength decay and how, on simulated merger of these mid-level vortices, the resulting vortex amplifies to hurricane strength in a realistic time-frame. The importance of the sea-surface temperature on evolution of full vortices has been studied and explained. Also it is found that the strength of the surface vortex determines the time taken by the deep vortex to amplify to hurricane strength

Super-linear speed-up of a parallel multigrid Navier-Stokes solver on Flosolver

In parallel computing, scalability is an important issue and getting linear speed-ups is difficult for most codes. Super-linear speed up has been achieved on an eight-processor Flosolver system for a multigrid Navier-Stokes code. The physical problem solved, the parallelization method, the speed-ups obtained and possible explanations for this result are discussed here

"Getting the water-carrier to light the lamps": Discrepant role perceptions of traditional, complementary, and alternative medical practitioners in government health facilities in India.

The government of India has, over the past decade, implemented the "integration" of traditional, complementary and alternative medical (TCAM) practitioners, specifically practitioners of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-rigpa, and Homoeopathy (collectively known by the acronym AYUSH), in government health services. A range of operational and ethical challenges has manifested during this process of large health system reform. We explored the practices and perceptions of health system actors, in relation to AYUSH providers' roles in government health services in three Indian states - Kerala, Meghalaya, and Delhi. Research methods included 196 in-depth interviews with a range of health policy and system actors and beneficiaries, between February and October 2012, and review of national, state, and district-level policy documents relating to AYUSH integration. The thematic 'framework' approach was applied to analyze data from the interviews, and systematic content analysis performed on policy documents. We found that the roles of AYUSH providers are frequently ambiguously stated and variably interpreted, in relation to various aspects of their practice, such as outpatient care, prescribing rights, emergency duties, obstetric services, night duties, and referrals across systems of medicine. Work sharing is variously interpreted by different health system actors as complementing allopathic practice with AYUSH practice, or allopathic practice, by AYUSH providers to supplement the work of allopathic practitioners. Interactions among AYUSH practitioners and their health system colleagues frequently take place in a context of partial information, preconceived notions, power imbalances, and mistrust. In some notable instances, collegial relationships and apt divisions of responsibilities are observed. Widespread normative ambivalence around the roles of AYUSH providers, complicated by the logistical constraints prevalent in poorly resourced systems, has the potential to undermine the therapeutic practices and motivation of AYUSH providers, as well as the overall efficiency and performance of integrated health services

Individual Readiness for Change in the Context of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Implementation

The present study takes a bottom-up approach and investigates the organizational implications of ERP systems implementation in organizations. We adopt a likely point of view of employees and study the ERP integration process along 3 dimensions: people, processes, and information. In this manner we discover the ERP-specific sources of resistance that could affect negatively the deployment of the software. Then, we argue that a general set of beliefs shapes employees readiness to change to ERP use and provides the foundation for resistance or for adoptive behavior. We define the concept of readiness for change in the context of ERP and introduce a readiness for change assessment approach. Then, we test empirically the study hypotheses upon which the research model was build. The results obtained offer insights into factors that can improve the effectiveness of ERP implementation strategies and underline the importance of change management for the success of such projects

Robots in education and care of children with developmental disabilities : a study on acceptance by experienced and future professionals

Research in the area of robotics has made available numerous possibilities for further innovation in the education of children, especially in the rehabilitation of those with learning difficulties and/or intellectual disabilities. Despite the scientific evidence, there is still a strong scepticism against the use of robots in the fields of education and care of people. Here we present a study on the acceptance of robots by experienced practitioners (specialized in the treatment of intellectual disabilities) and university students in psychology and education sciences (as future professionals). The aim is to examine the factors, through the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, that may influence the decision to use a robot as an instrument in the practice. The overall results confirm the applicability of the model in the context of education and care of children, and suggest a positive attitude towards the use of the robot. The comparison highlights some scepticism among the practitioners, who perceive the robot as an expensive and limited tool, while students show a positive perception and a significantly higher willingness to use the robot. From this experience, we formulate the hypothesis that robots may be accepted if more integrated with standard rehabilitation protocols in a way that benefits can outweigh the costs

Preliminary results on the simulation of the 1999 Orissa supercyclone using a GCM with a new boundary layer code

We present here preliminary results from the simulation of the Orissa supercyclone using a new AGCM code (named Varsha) written as part of a NMITLI project. The simulation is initialized at 00 UTC, 26 October 1999, using ECMWF T-106 initial conditions. The control run is made using the Varsha code at a T-80 resolution with a standard Monin-Obukhov boundary layer code incorporating a gustiness factor. With the horizontal resolution improved to 120 spectral modes with a 78 km grid spacing, and a new boundary layer parameterization at low winds, the code shows substantial improvements: the maximum error is reduced from 350 to 234 km at 36 h after initialization, 310 to 34 km at 48 h, and 410 to 55 km at 96 h. It is suggested that part of the explanation for this improvement lies in the improved estimation of surface forces and torque in the new boundary layer code. The role of torque is particularly interesting as the major contribution to it comes from the outer regions of the cyclone where the winds are relatively low but the area on which the surface force acts and its moment arm are both high. Intriguingly the higher surface forces arise also from the higher winds predicted by the new code. An interesting finding is that, on both track and minimum pressure, the improvement due to higher resolution is greater with the new boundary layer module. Further analysis is necessary to assess the effect of other eddy fluxes (sensible heat, moisture) on cyclone track prediction

Role of precision in meteorological computing: a study using the NMITLI Varsha GCM

An issue in large scale computing of unsteady phenomena is the role played by round-off errors. These errors can accumulate in long integrations leading to major differences in the computed quantities such as rainfall. Computations with the same code at different precisions (single, double and arbitrary precision) have been made to assess the role of round-off. For the study, Varsha2C and Varsha2C-MP, C and multi-precision versions of the spectral, hydrostatic Varsha GCM have been used. Varsha2C-MP uses the ARPREC library for computing using an arbitrary number of digits. We find that even for sequential runs, round-off causes solutions to differ beyond 12 days when two different processors are used. With the same processors, the results of parallel runs made using a different number of processor s differ significantly after 10 days, due to the round-off errors in the global summation operations. Use of double precision and changing the communication strategy reduces the differences by about 10 %. With the use of multi-precision, repeatable results, both across different processor types and different number of processors, can be obtained for up to 30 days of integration, provided 64 or more digits are used for the computing. For the Lorenz system of equations, however, precision has no significant effect on the results. Calculations using up to 2048 digits show that given the same initial perturbation, the time at which two solutions diverge (by order 1) does not depend on the precision. These results suggest that, for long integrations of meteorological models, far more careful computing is required than is generally appreciated

Analysis of monsoon rainfall and wind simulations on flosolver using the varsha 1.2 GCM

The present work was intented to assess the ability of the GCM Varsha 1.2 of Flosolver , NAL to forecast the features of all India rainfall and 850 hpa wind during south west13; monsoon. The model was integrated for 30 days of each of the four monsoon months June, July, August and September with five different initial conditions for each. The study has been done for 21 years (1986-2006). Simulated wind and rainfall climatologies have been compared with observed13; ones. One month simulation for the monsoon months are studied to determine the skill of the model in simulating large scale features and organized rainfall. The correlations are calculated for simulated wind and rainfall with the observed values. The results show that the all India rainfall and 850 hpa wind compare reasonably well with that of the observation