Socio-economic Impact Assessment of Livelihood Security in Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Aquaculture on the Tsunami-hit Lands of Andaman

Indian subcontinent is highly vulnerable to major natural disasters such as earthquakes, cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides and bushfires. Tsunami, which is a recent addition to this list, had occurred in the early morning of 26th December 2004, after a massive earthquake of 9.2 magnitude on the Richter scale in Andaman & Nicobar islands, resulting in the submergence of large area of farmland, and subsequent drying up of water bodies. It caused moisture stress for the standing crops, livestock and fisheries and affected the livelihood of the people to a large extent. In this context, the present study has been carried out to make the socio-economic impact assessment of livelihood security in agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture on the tsunami-hit lands of Andaman. Data have been collected from 150 sample respondents and the survey has been conducted for two periods, pre-tsunami and post-tsunami. The results have indicated that tsunami has ravaged the households, standing crops, farm inputs such as seed, feed and implements, livestock and poultry population, their sheds, fish ponds, etc., thereby affecting the basic livelihood security of the people in Andaman. The rehabilitation measures taken by the government and NGOs have improved their livelihoods by reviving agriculture considerably in the subsequent years and by creating employment opportunities in various farm and non-farm activities. The paper has suggested creating profitable livelihood security to vulnerable sections of the society in the existing socio-economic penury with holistic intervention of the community, government and NGOs.Agricultural and Food Policy,

Realization of OFCC based transimpedance mode instrumentation amplifier

The paper presents an instrumentation amplifier suitable for amplifying the current source transducer signals. It provides a voltage output. It has a high gain, common mode rejection ratio and gain independent bandwidth. It uses three Operational Floating Current Conveyors (OFCCs) and four resistors. The effect of nonidealities of OFCC on performance of proposed transimpedance instrumentation amplifier (TIA) is also analyzed. The proposal has been verified through SPICE simulations using CMOS based schematicThe paper presents an instrumentation amplifier suitable for amplifying the current source transducer signals. It provides a voltage output. It has a high gain, common mode rejection ratio and gain independent bandwidth. It uses three operational floating current conveyors (OFCCs) and four resistors. The effect of nonidealities of OFCC on performance of proposed transimpedance instrumentation amplifier (TIA) is also analyzed. The proposal has been verified through SPICE simulations using CMOS based schematic

Профессор С. С. Сулакшин (1919-2011)

Ушел из жизни основатель кафедры бурения скважин, доктор технических наук, профессор, Заслуженный деятель науки и техники Российской Федерации, Лауреат премии Совета Министров СССР, Почётный разведчик недр, Отличник разведки недр, Почётный академик АЕН РФ, "Почетный работник профессионального образования Российской Федерации" - Степан Степанович Сулакшин

Reactive power optimization in distribution systems considering load levels for economic benefit maximization

Introduction. The need for electrical energy has been increased sharply due to hasty growth in industrials, social and economic improvements. From the previous studies, it has been agreed that almost 13 % of the total power generated is wasted as heat loss at distribution level. It has been extensively recognized that the node voltage profile along the distribution system can be enhanced under steady state power transfer controlled by proper reactive power compensation. Capacitors have been acknowledged as reactive power compensating device in distribution systems to achieve technical and economical benefits. Novelty of this work is the application of Archimedes optimization algorithm for reactive power optimization in distribution systems so as to obtain an improved solution and also a real 94-bus Portuguese network and modified 12-bus network has been taken and validated for three different load levels which are totally new. Purpose of the proposed work is to maximize the economic benefit by reducing the power loss and capacitor purchase cost at three different load conditions subject to satisfaction of equality and inequality constraints. Methods. The economic benefit has been validated using Archimedes optimization algorithm for three load levels considering three distribution systems. Results. The computational outcomes indicated the competence of the proposed methodology in comparison with the previously published works in power loss minimization, bus voltage enhancement and more economical benefit and proved that the proposed methodology performs well compared to other methods in the literature.Вступ. Потреба в електроенергії різко зросла через стрімке зростання промисловості, соціальних та економічних поліпшень. З попередніх досліджень було встановлено, що майже 13 % усієї електроенергії, що виробляється, витрачається марно у вигляді втрат тепла на рівні розподілу. Загальновизнано, що профіль напруги вузла вздовж розподільчої системи може бути поліпшений при передачі потужності в режимі, що встановився, керованої відповідною компенсацією реактивної потужності. Конденсатори були визнані як пристрої компенсації реактивної потужності в розподільчих системах для досягнення технічних та економічних переваг. Новизна цієї роботи полягає у застосуванні алгоритму оптимізації Архімеда для оптимізації реактивної потужності в розподільчих системах з метою отримання покращеного рішення, а також було взято та перевірено реальну португальську мережу з 94 шинами та модифіковану мережу з 12 шинами для трьох різних рівнів навантаження. які абсолютно нові. Мета запропонованої роботи полягає в тому, щоб максимізувати економічний ефект за рахунок зниження втрат потужності та вартості купівлі конденсатора за трьох різних режимів навантаження за умови дотримання обмежень рівності та нерівності. Методи. Економічний ефект було підтверджено з використанням алгоритму оптимізації Архімеда для трьох рівнів навантаження з урахуванням трьох систем розподілу. Результати розрахунків показали компетентність запропонованої методології порівняно з раніше опублікованими роботами в галузі мінімізації втрат потужності, підвищення напруги на шині та більшої економічної вигоди, а також довели, що запропонована методологія добре працює порівняно з іншими методами в літературі

BO-Muse: A human expert and AI teaming framework for accelerated experimental design

In this paper we introduce BO-Muse, a new approach to human-AI teaming for the optimization of expensive black-box functions. Inspired by the intrinsic difficulty of extracting expert knowledge and distilling it back into AI models and by observations of human behavior in real-world experimental design, our algorithm lets the human expert take the lead in the experimental process. The human expert can use their domain expertise to its full potential, while the AI plays the role of a muse, injecting novelty and searching for areas of weakness to break the human out of over-exploitation induced by cognitive entrenchment. With mild assumptions, we show that our algorithm converges sub-linearly, at a rate faster than the AI or human alone. We validate our algorithm using synthetic data and with human experts performing real-world experiments.Comment: 34 Pages, 7 Figures and 5 Table

Effectiveness and safety of dabigatran in Latin American patients with atrial fibrillation:Two years follow up results from GLORIA-AF registry

Background: Real-world data from different regions are needed to support the external validity of con trolled trials and assess the impact of new oral anticoagulants (NOAC) in clinical practice. Methods: ‘‘GLORIA-AF” is a large, ongoing, multicenter, global, prospective registry program in patients with newly diagnosed non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) at risk of stroke. Newly diagnosed patients with NVAF (within 4.5 months) and a CHA2DS2-VASc score 1 were consecutively enrolled. The study objective was to estimate the incidence rate of stroke and major bleeding after a two year follow up of patients on dabigatran that participated in the ‘‘GLORIA-AF” study (Phase II) in Latin America. Results: Latin America included 378 eligible patients that received dabigatran in eight countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Perú, and Venezuela): 56.3% were male; mean age was 70.3 ± 10.8 years; 43.4% had paroxysmal AF; 36.0% persistent AF and 20.6% permanent AF. Mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.2 ± 1.4; mean HAS-BLED score was 1.2 ± 0.8. Incidence rates for clinical events after 2-years of follow-up per 100 patient-years were as follows: stroke 0.33 (95% CI: 0.04–1.17), major bleeding 0.49 (95% CI: 0.10–1.42) and all-cause death 4.06 (95% CI: 2.63–6.00). Persistence with dabiga tran at 6, 12 and 24 months was 91%, 86%, and 80%, respectively. Conclusion: These regional data shows the sustained safety and effectiveness of dabigatran over two years of follow-up, consistent with already available evidence. An increase in accessibility and incorpo ration of NOAC to anticoagulant treatment strategies could potentially have a positive impact on AF stroke prevention in Latin America

Cloud Computing As a Tool for Enhancing Ecological Goals?

Cloud computing has been introduced as a promising information technology (IT) that embodies not only economic advantages in terms of increased efficiency but also ecological gains through saving energy. The latter has become particularly important in view of the rising energy costs of IT. The present study analyzes whether necessary preconditions for accepting cloud computing as a new infrastructure, such as awareness and perceived net value, exist on the part of the users. The analysis is based on a combined research framework of the theory of reasoned action (TRA) and the technology acceptance model (TAM) in a cloud computing setting. Two consumer surveys, the one to elicit beliefs and the second to gain insight into the ranking of the variables, are employed. This study uses structural equation modeling (SEM) to evaluate the hypotheses. The results indicate support for the proposed research framework. Surprisingly however, the ecological factor does not play a role in forming cloud computing intentions, regardless of prior knowledge or experience. Empirical evidence of this study suggests increasing efforts for informing actual and potential users, particularly in respect to possible ecological advantages through applying the new IT infrastructure