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Noise and randomness in living system
No full textThis book illustrates the role of randomness and noise in living organisms. Traditionally, the randomness and noise have been used in understanding signal processing in communications. This book is divided into two sections, the first of which introduces readers to the various types and sources of noise and the constructive role of noise in non-linear dynamics. It also analyses the importance of randomness and noise in a variety of science and engineering applications. In turn, the second section discusses in detail the functional role of noise in biological processes for example, in case of brain function at the level of ion channel, synaptic level and even at cognitive level. These are described in various chapters. One of the challenging issue finding the neuronal correlates of various meditative states is to understand how brain controls various types of noise so as to reach a state of synchronized oscillatory state of the brain corresponding to the state of Samadhi. This is described in details in one chapter called Noise, Coherence and meditation. The concept of noise and the role of randomness in living organism raise lot of controversy for last few decades. This is discussed in a separate chapter. Finally, the epistemic and ontic nature of randomness as discussed in physical science are investigated in the context of living organism
Performance at the Urban Periphery: Insights from South India
No full textThis edited volume considers performance in its engagement with expanding Indian cities, with a particular focus on festivals and performances in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The editors ask how performance practices are affected by urbanisation, the effects of such changes on their cultural economy, and the environmental impacts of performance itself. This project also considers how performance responds to its context, and the potential for performance to be critical of the city’s development, and of its own compromises. Bringing together perspectives from the humanities, natural and social sciences, the book takes a multi-faceted analytical view of live performance, connecting contemporary with heritage forms, and human with more-than-human actors.
The three sections, themed around heritage, everyday life, and future ecologies, will be of great interest to students and scholars in performance, heritage studies, ecology and art history
Road to the Periphery: An Account of Border-Making through Infrastructure
Get PDFIn the past two decades, everyday politics of infrastructure have garnered rich scholarly
attention. A polysemous infrastructure that permeates everyday life, roads for long have
emerged as effective sites of state craft. Employing the case of a road leading to the Sino-Indian
border area of Tawang, this article argues that roads are critical to the project of border-making
and management. Drawing from my road journeys to Tawang, I discuss the ways in which
roads are strategised by the state to govern its border citizens. Often, visual proximity of roads
casts the impression of the state which is near to its people. However, this article foregrounds
that even through their conspicuous absence and disrepair, roads register the palpable presence
of the state
Hydrological maps as a tool for the exploration of historical water systems at Badami, Karnataka, India
No full textBadami is a renowned heritage site in the semi-arid part of Karnataka, India, known for its ornate sandstone structures and a historical reservoir, Agastya Thirtha. The present study uses Remote Sensing imagery to identify water features and digital elevation model to generate hydrology maps (catchment and stream maps) and demonstrates the role of historical water harvesting systems in this landscape. The use of hydrology maps has enabled recognising the significance of the seemingly mundane looking, lesser-known small water harvesting structures that dot the landscape, which have sustained the millennium-old reservoir. The study has made an original contribution by identifying the historical water structures of Badami that form part of a larger hydrological network. These structures are (1) a few cisterns (2) a cliff cut channel and an open masonry channel (dating to the Chalukyan period), (3) an aqueduct (dating to the Vijayanagara period) and (4) low masonry walls that were built for channeling water. The paper also presents an analysis of the topography, hydrology, and engineering systems developed in the past for sustainably harvesting water
Mental health, economic well-being and health care access amid the COVID-19 pandemic: a mixed methods study among urban men who have sex with men in India
No full textScant empirical research from Asia has addressed the impact of COVID-19 on sexual minority health. We aimed to explore and understand the impact of COVID-19 on income security, mental health, HIV risk and access to health services among men who have sex with men (MSM) in India. We conducted a concurrent mixed methods study from April to June 2020, including a cross-sectional survey and in-depth semi-structured interviews with MSM recruited from three non-governmental organisations providing HIV prevention services in Chandigarh, India. We examined the associations of sexual minority stressors (sexual stigma, internalised homonegativity), economic stressors, and stress due to social distancing, with depression and anxiety, HIV risk, and access to health services. Survey findings (n = 132) indicated that internalised homonegativity and stress related to social distancing were significantly associated with depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results also showed reduced access to condoms, HIV testing and counselling services. Qualitative findings (n = 10) highlighted adverse economic impacts of COVID-19, including loss of employment/wages and engaging in survival sex work, which contributed to psychological distress and HIV risk. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in considerable psychological and financial distress among low socioeconomic status MSM in India, including those involved in sex work – communities already marginalised in economic, family and healthcare sectors. Structural interventions to improve access to mental health and HIV services and decrease financial burden are critical to mitigate the impact of COVID-19
Possible Self-awareness in Wild Adelie Penguins Pygoscelis adeliae
No full textThis preliminary study, conducted in January–February 2020, investigates the potential presence of self-awareness in a population of wild Adélie penguins on the Dog’s Neck Ice Shelf and on Svenner Island in East Antarctica. It is based on the responses and reactions of individual penguins to images, generated in mirrors during three experimental paradigms: a group-behaviour test; a modified mirror test and a hidden-head test. We believe that this set of experiments constitutes possibly the first investigations into the potential presence of self-awareness in any penguin species and is pioneering in conducting a set of cognitive experiments on free-ranging individuals of a nonhuman species in its natural environment, without any prior familiarisation, conditioning or acclimatisation to the experimental paradigms employed. Future studies, integrating the socioecology and cognitive ethology of penguins, may provide insights into whether our experimental paradigms could provide evidence to confirm the presence of self-awareness and even of self-recognition in this species and examine whether the observed social awareness may have evolved due to the social needs of individual penguins to engage in cooperative behaviour with conspecific individuals, while maintaining their independent decision-making capacities, throughout their communal lives
Beyond food for thought: tool use and manufacture by wild nonhuman primates in nonforaging contexts
No full textTool use and manufacture by wild nonhuman primates in nonforaging contexts — an important indicator of their technical intelligence — is widespread across taxa, but is sporadic in occurrence. Such behaviors are usually displayed by one or a few individuals within a population and typically occur in four contexts: aggression, communication and sexual display, hygiene, and in the modification of the environment. The cultural transmission of such tool use is often restricted by several socio-cognitive and ecological factors. Considering the relative rarity of nonforaging tool use in the wild, we recommend the development of standardized methodologies for long-term data collection under natural conditions and the establishment of novel experimental paradigms to conduct comparative studies on captive primates
Fires that burn within. Book Review of The Violence in our Bones: Mapping the Deadly Fault Lines within Indian Society by Neera Chandhoke (Aleph Book Company, 2021)
Get PDFChandhoke argues that violence in India continues to be an inextricable part of everyday lif
A Slice of Gandhara in Kanaganahalli
Get PDFThe camel sculptures at Kanaganahalli shed light on the ntegration of artisanal tradition