Concentration inequalities for mean field particle models

This article is concerned with the fluctuations and the concentration properties of a general class of discrete generation and mean field particle interpretations of nonlinear measure valued processes. We combine an original stochastic perturbation analysis with a concentration analysis for triangular arrays of conditionally independent random sequences, which may be of independent interest. Under some additional stability properties of the limiting measure valued processes, uniform concentration properties, with respect to the time parameter, are also derived. The concentration inequalities presented here generalize the classical Hoeffding, Bernstein and Bennett inequalities for independent random sequences to interacting particle systems, yielding very new results for this class of models. We illustrate these results in the context of McKean-Vlasov-type diffusion models, McKean collision-type models of gases and of a class of Feynman-Kac distribution flows arising in stochastic engineering sciences and in molecular chemistry.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AAP716 the Annals of Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

The Indian State in a Liberalising Landscape

There has been much discussion recently on the 'great Indian land grab', i.e., the acquisition of fertile land by the government, and the handing over of this to large-scale industry. What do these ongoing land transfers tell us about the nature of the Indian state? To engage with prevalent views about state withdrawal from the economic sphere, or its reconstitution as a regulatory entity, this paper builds a picture of the state in a liberalising landscape based on empirical evidence. It outlines the role of the state in Gujarat province, during a transfer of 30 square kilometres of forest and coastal land to a cement manufacturing and exporting operation 'Karkhana Ltd'. The case of land liberalisation illustrated by the experience of Karkhana does not evince a state in withdrawal. Nor do we witness a regulatory state that watches a changing economy from the legal and coercive sidelines. As the normative legitimator of liberalisation, a buffer in the contentious politics of land, and as an institutional promoter of and manoeuvrer through the new land regime, India's state is central to the liberalising landscape.

Secularism and the Gujarat state: 1960-2005

Secularism has been a defining norm for the modern, liberal Indian state. The constitutionally secular Gujarat state is believed to have undergone a paradigmatic shift in 2002, when it supported a massacre of Muslim citizens. This essay investigates the empirical as well as normative state in situations of inter-religious violence. It traces the journey of the secular norm over a 45-year period, in the context of contests over identity, political ideology and socio-political dominance. The picture that emerges is much more nuanced than that projected by stark pronouncements of paradigm shifts and the inauguration of a Hindu rashtra.

Narrowing possibilities of stateness: The case of land in Gujarat

This paper investigates the transformation of the Indian state from a stance of developmental interventionism towards increasing support for economic liberalisation. The definitional dilemma of 'the state' is resolved by constructing a conceptual map. This portrays the state as an idea, a system of government and as embedded in politics. The map forms the template for undertaking an empirical exploration. Ongoing changes in land policy in Gujarat provide a case study. Ostensibly, the state's position has shifted from the active promotion of 'land to the tiller' to an ongoing disengagement from a liberalising landscape. However, re-evaluating this scenario against a multi-layered conceptual map leads to conclusions against the grain of existing perceptions. State ideas of land serving the greater common good have continued into the post-liberalisation era, as has the petty land administration's proprietariness, expressed in reluctance to fast track land transactions. At the same time powerful, alternative sets of ideas and institutional actions have come to the fore. These urge rapid land liberalisation to foster industrialisation, and have been promoted by the highest bureaucratic and political echelons. While the high state - big business alliance is neither new nor the only feature of the state today, it is perhaps the one with the most significant politico-economic consequences. This alliance represents not a homogenised pro liberalisation or pro big business state but one in which other possibilities of stateness have narrowed. The narrowing of the possibilities of action within the still interventionist and dynamic state mark the liberalising landscape.

Calculation of surface temperature and surface fluxes in the GLAS GOM

Because the GLAS model's surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat exhibit strong 2 delta t oscillations at the individual grid points as well as in the zonal hemispheric averages and because a basic weakness of the GLAS model lower evaporation over oceans and higher evaporation over land in a typical monthly simulation, the GLAS model PBL parameterization was changed to calculate the mixed layer temperature gradient by solution of a quadratic equation for a stable PBL and by a curve fit relation for an unstable PBL. The new fluxes without any 2 delta t oscillation. Also, the geographical distributions of the surface fluxes are improved. The parameterization presented is incorporated into the new GLAS climate model. Some results which compare the evaporation over land and ocean between old and new calculations are appended

A review of recent research on improvement of physical parameterizations in the GLA GCM

A systematic assessment of the effect of a series of improvements in physical parameterizations of the Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres (GLA) general circulation model (GCM) are summarized. The implementation of the Simple Biosphere Model (SiB) in the GCM is followed by a comparison of SiB GCM simulations with that of the earlier slab soil hydrology GCM (SSH-GCM) simulations. In the Sahelian context, the biogeophysical component of desertification was analyzed for SiB-GCM simulations. Cumulus parameterization is found to be the primary determinant of the organization of the simulated tropical rainfall of the GLA GCM using Arakawa-Schubert cumulus parameterization. A comparison of model simulations with station data revealed excessive shortwave radiation accompanied by excessive drying and heating to the land. The perpetual July simulations with and without interactive soil moisture shows that 30 to 40 day oscillations may be a natural mode of the simulated earth atmosphere system

A study of the influence of soil moisture on future precipitation

Forty years of precipitation and surface temperature data observed over 261 Local Climatic Data (LCD) stations in the Continental United States was utilized in a ground hydrology model to yield soil moisture time series at each station. A month-by-month soil moisture dataset was constructed for each year. The monthly precipitation was correlated with antecedent monthly precipitation, soil moisture and vapotranspiration separately. The maximum positive correlation is found to be in the drought prone western Great Plains region during the latter part of summer. There is also some negative correlation in coastal regions. The correlations between soil moisture and precipitation particularly in the latter part of summer, suggest that large scale droughts over extended periods may be partially maintained by the feedback influence of soil moisture on rainfall. In many other regions the lack of positive correlation shows that there is no simple answer such as higher land-surface evapotranspiration leads to more precipitation, and points out the complexity of the influence of soil moisture on the ensuring precipitation

DISEASE INCIDENCE AND ITS ASSORTED COMPONENTS- AN AYURVEDIC STANDPOINT

Inspite of a highly rational and inventively developed brain, mankind is ultimately a mortal race of creatures. It has been disturbed every now and then with sudden and severe ravages of various diseases which require different remedies ranging from mere witchcrafts to the intake of certain rubbish things