Renewable Energy Options among Rural Households in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh: An Overview

In developing countries the energy problems are both widespread and serious. Lack of access to sufficient and sustainable supplies of energy impacts around 90% of the population of many developing countries. People are compelled to live without regular and good quality electricity supply. The rural population remains dependent on fuels such as animal dung, crop residues, fuel wood and charcoal to cook their daily meals. Without efficient, clean energy, people are undermined in their efforts to engage effectively in productive activities and improve their quality of life (Barnes and Floor, 1996). India is home to the largest rural population in the world with approx. 68.84% of the total population residing in rural areas (Census, 2011). In order to contribute to the overall development in India, access to modern energy and cleaner fuel for rural households is important. There is a need to bridge the access gap by expanding energy systems to meet the energy requirements of the fast growing population and mitigate the threat of climate change. The best possible solution to the energy poverty challenges lies in the shift towards sustainable energy technologies. In the present scenario, the uncontrollable increase in use of non-renewable energies such as fossil fuel, oil, natural gas has led to fluctuation of demand and supply. This negative energy balance for decades has forced India to purchase energy from other countries to fulfill the needs of the entire country. Hence, energy access is an important component of poverty alleviation and an indispensable element of sustainable human development. Government of India has initiated numerous development programmes, focusing on providing sustainable energy solutions to rural communities often deprived of clean and uninterrupted energy supply for their daily energy requirements. The study entitled ‘Renewable Energy Options among Rural Households\u27 was conducted in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh states. The outcomes of the study provide a roadmap for future programmes promoting the use of clean, efficient and modern energy technologies, to be implemented more effectively. Findings would further benefit the primary and secondary key stakeholders involved in research and development, formulation of policies and regulations, promoting sale and purchase and provide financial assistance to future energy programmes meant to popularize the use of Renewable Energy Technologies

Parametric Evaluation of Fused Image

This paper is used to implement feature level fusion for the extracted images of the different biometric features. The biometric features used here are face and iris. SVD is a fusion technology based on Singular Valued Decomposition method applied at feature level for recognise pattern. There are many objective methods to check the quality of fused image like Mean Square Error (MSE), Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR), Normalized Cross-Correlation (NCC) and Normalized Absolute Error (NAC). Self created face database and CASIA iris database is used for experimental results. The simulation process is done by MATLAB 7.

Comparison of expulsion and complications of intrauterine device insertion in immediate post placental period with interval period: a prospective study

Background: In India unmet need for contraception is estimated to be 15.8% as estimated by DHS survey. Immediate insertion of IUCD after delivery of placenta provides important opportunity to address the need for contraception. This study was carried out to evaluate complications and expulsion rates of immediate post placental insertion of IUCD in comparison to interval insertion.Methods: This was a prospective clinical study conducted at ESIC medical college and district hospital, Kalaburgi, Karnataka, India with sample size of 150 women (50 each in vaginal, cesarean delivery and interval insertion) from June 2015 to Jan 2016.Results: Majority of women were multipara with mean age of 27.5 years. There was no statistically significant difference in the overall rates of complication in each group in follow up period (p= 0.7, 0.9, 0.5 for bleeding, pain and infection respectively).While comparing expulsion rates among the three groups, vaginal delivery (group A) had higher expulsion 6%, trans cesarean insertion (group B) had one expulsion 2% and there were no expulsion in interval insertion (group C). The difference was found to be statistically significant among group A and C.Conclusions: From above study postpartum insertion of IUCD is safe, effective and feasible reversible method of contraception. The rate of expulsion is higher in postpartum insertion compared to trans cesarean and interval insertion, can be minimized if it is inserted by trained provider and placed at fundus. The continuation rates were comparable in three groups i.e., 94%, 96% and 100% respectively

Spatial heterogeneity in the radiogenic activity of the lunar interior: Inferences from CHACE and LLRI on Chandrayaan-1

In the past, clues on the potential radiogenic activity of the lunar interior have been obtained from the isotopic composition of noble gases like Argon. Excess Argon (40) relative to Argon (36), as compared to the solar wind composition, is generally ascribed to the radiogenic activity of the lunar interior. Almost all the previous estimates were based on, 'on-the-spot' measurements from the landing sites. Relative concentration of the isotopes of 40Ar and 36Ar along a meridian by the Chandra's Altitudinal Composition Explorer (CHACE) experiment, on the Moon Impact Probe (MIP) of India's first mission to Moon, has independently yielded clues on the possible spatial heterogeneity in the radiogenic activity of the lunar interior in addition to providing indicative 'antiquity' of the lunar surface along the ground track over the near side of the moon. These results are shown to broadly corroborate the independent topography measurements by the Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) in the main orbiter Chandrayaan-1. The unique combination of these experiments provided high spatial resolution data while indicating the possible close linkages between the lunar interior and the lunar ambience

Black Hole Geometries in Noncommutative String Theory

We obtain a generalized Schwarzschild (GS-) and a generalized Reissner-Nordstrom (GRN-) black hole geometries in (3+1)-dimensions, in a noncommutative string theory. In particular, we consider an effective theory of gravity on a curved $D_3$-brane in presence of an electromagnetic (EM-) field. Two different length scales, inherent in its noncommutative counter-part, are exploited to obtain a theory of effective gravity coupled to an U(1) noncommutative gauge theory to all orders in $\Theta$. It is shown that the GRN-black hole geometry, in the Planckian regime, reduces to the GS-black hole. However in the classical regime it may be seen to govern both Reissner-Nordstrom and Schwarzschild geometries independently. The emerging notion of 2D black holes evident in the frame-work are analyzed. It is argued that the $D$-string in the theory may be described by the near horizon 2D black hole geometry, in the gravity decoupling limit. Finally, our analysis explains the nature of the effective force derived from the nonlinear EM-field and accounts for the Hawking radiation phenomenon in the formalism.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figure

Wearable Device for Prognosis of Diabetic Autonomic Neuropathy

A Pupillometer is designed, which comprises of a spectacle mounted Pi-NOIR Infrared Camera system to detect pupil dilation, constriction and saccades of the eyes of the patient. These parameters will be tracked using IR Illuminators mounted on spectacle frame that will be interfaced to a Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Development board. The Raspberry Pi 2 Model B will be programmed to map the visual acuity parameters. To achieve constriction and dilation, a bright LEDs will be Turned ON and OFF respectively, at rapid rate, while the tracking is going on. The saccade velocity assessment is done by showing a rapidly moving pattern between 2 points. Thus, by obtaining these ranges for the patient and comparing them with a pre- calibrated diabetes proneness scale, the patient’s proneness to diabetes and also an accurate measure of his/her Visual Acuity will be obtained. A standard deviation of plus or minus five percent with respect to the database values of normal and diabetic patients is mapped and the proneness to Type 2 Diabetes will be evaluated. This Project is a preventive diagnostics, cost effective and a prick free modality for early diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes