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Managing production-demand mismatch in thermal power plants
Get PDFThe present policy of the Government asking regional electricity grids to absorb all the power generated by
renewable power installations, and the thermal power stations to run at lower capacities than their installed
values would not only force many thermal power plants to run at power levels much lower than their design
values, but also constantly ramp up and down their outputs every day causing more wear and tear of the
system. We suggest that the problem can be avoided by running the thermal power plants at their installed
capacities, and use the surplus electricity to produce and store onsite hydrogen and oxygen. The stored
hydrogen can be subsequently used not only to supplement coal in their own furnaces, but also for a variety
of applications such as production of ammonia for fertilizers, as automobile fuel or for any other industrial
applications. The ultrapure oxygen may be marketed for medical and other industrial applications
Impact of the Covid 19 Pandemic on the Indian Economy: A Critical Assessment (NIAS/NSE/EEP/U/WP/18/2020)
Get PDFThis paper analyses the economic impact of Covid-19 in India. It documents the trajectory of infections and the lockdown and evaluates the extent of economic losses due to the lockdown. It also critically assesses the economic response of the Indian government to the pandemic and the lockdown
Arctic: why India should pursue the North Pole from a science and technology perspective?
Get PDFThe Arctic has been receiving a lot of attention recently due to environmental and economic reasons. The
continuing reduction of sea ice and sheet ice is likely to affect global climate significantly. It is expected that
these changes will affect monsoon as well as inundate our coasts. India has a modest presence in the Arctic,
mainly for scientific purposes. The changing Arctic is likely to offer many economic opportunities, especially
for ensuring energy security and access to rare earths. India needs to enhance its presence for launching
scientific projects to study the interactions between cryosphere, atmosphere and ocean in order to understand long-term impacts on the country. It is essential that India defines its strategy as well as a policy for
the Arctic in the near future and contributes towards generating strategic knowledge for the region. Such
knowledge will help ensure food, energy and resource security for the country
Understanding Political Conflict and Alliance Formation: A Case Study of Two Gram Panchayats in Kerala
No full textHypersonic cruise missiles: an overview (NIAS/CSS/ISSSP/U/RR/23/2020)
Get PDFThe recent flight test of the Hypersonic Technology Demonstrator Vehicle (HSTDV) by DRDO and the earlier flight test of the Advanced Technology Vehicle by ISRO has rekindled the interest in hypersonic technologies and their adaptation to practical systems in the Country. Indian interests in pursuing hypersonic technologies using both analytical and experimental approach have been around since the late 1980s. This article examines the background, the present development status including the features and outcome of HSTDV flight. The international scenario and some of the technology challenges scaling to a full fledged system are brought out
Predictor–Corrector Nodal Integral Method for simulation of high Reynolds number fluid flow using larger time steps in Burgers ’ equation
No full textNodal Integral Methods (NIM), although frequently used for solving neutron transport equations, have not found wider acceptance for solving fluid flow problems. One of the pivotal reasons behind this is the lack of efficient non-linear solvers for the system of coupled algebraic equations obtained by these methods, thus making such methods prohibitively expensive for highly nonlinear (higher Reynolds number) fluid flow problems. Successive improvements in earlier attempts resulted in an improved version called Modified NIM (MNIM) scheme; following which, a further modified version appeared (called as M2NIM), that used the concept of the delayed coefficients. Upon comparing the solutions obtained using MNIM and M2NIM schemes, respectively, it was observed that although the modified scheme with delayed coefficients (M2NIM) has significantly faster convergence, it is less accurate. The convergence and accuracy are very likely to suffer to a significant extent in the high Reynolds number fluid flows, especially when a large time-step is to be considered. In order to resolve these difficulties, a new type of physics-based predictor–corrector algorithm is proposed in the present study. In the proposed computational algorithm, the linearized M2NIM scheme is used to predict the solution, whereas the MNIM scheme is utilized to improve the predictive guess. The novelty of such a hybrid numerical algorithm comes from the fact that it combines the advantage of the faster convergence of M2NIM with the accuracy of the MNIM scheme. The algorithm also benefits from the unique inclusion of Jacobian-free Newton-Krylov (JFNK) method, which helps in getting rid of the formation of large Jacobian matrices, thereby reducing unnecessary computational overhead. The proposed methodology has been applied to solve a non-linear convection–diffusion problem, represented by the Burgers’ equation. The computational results for bothone-dimensional and two-dimensional Burgers’ equation are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the developed novel algorithm, as well as, the advantage it offers over the existing numerical methods
Human-Elephant Conflict in Kerala, India: a Rapid Appraisal Using Compensation Records
No full textHuman-wildlife conflict (HWC) is a major challenge for conservation biologists worldwide. To counter negative attitudes of people towards wildlife species, government agencies or non-governmental organizations (NGOs) frequently provide monetary compensation for losses due to crop damage or livestock depredation by wildlife. While much has been written about the challenges of using compensation schemes as a wildlife conservation tool, there has been little investigation into alternative potential benefits of compensation records. We suggest that compensation records can be used to obtain a summary overview of wildlife conflict instances that occur in a region and thereby provide an understanding of the distribution of HWC across a landscape. Further, these records provide insights on the economic prioritization given to each of the species involved in HWC and the kind of damage they cause. We tested this premise through a case study of human-elephant conflict (HEC) in districts of Kerala in southern India using state government-maintained compensation records. To this end, we constructed a conflict index and found Wayanad, Palakkad, and Kannur to be the districts most affected by HEC. An overall distribution map of HEC in any region is crucial to formulating mitigation policies for conflict management. Findings from our study, based on the compensation records, present a holistic view of conflict occurrences in Kerala and thus provide data that can be used to develop basic management strategies for HEC in the state
Chaos or randomness? Effect of vagus nerve stimulation during sleep on heart-rate variability
No full textLoss of complexity and chaos of heart rate variability (HRV) of an individual increases the risk of mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Abnormalities in HRV associated with intractable epilepsy may even lead to “sudden death in epilepsy” (SUDEP). By activating the parasympathetic division of the autonomic nervous system, Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) has the potential to restore the natural chaotic behavior of the heart which can be measured by the increase in complexity of HRV as indicated by complexity measures such as Effort-To-Compress (ETC) and Lempel-Ziv Complexity (LZC). In this study, we formulate and test two hypothesis – (A) chaotic time series exhibit lower temporal correlation of complexity measures such as LZ and ETC than uniformly random time series, and (B) Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS ON) results in chaotic cardiovascular dynamics. Hypothesis-A is verified by a simulated study on chaotic time series from the Logistic map where we see a clear decrease in temporal correlation between ETC and LZC values as the degree of chaos increases. Hypothesis-B is supported by an experimental study on a VNS implanted patient and not implanted controls. A temporal correlation analysis between complexity measures (ETC and LZC) on HRV data samples shows that VNS during sleep increases chaotic behavior in contrast to lack of VNS and in control subjects. Surrogate analysis further confirmed that VNS activation led to deterministic chaos and not stochastic randomness. Our approach proposes a clear methodology to determine the efficacy of VNS intervention in restoring the chaoticity of cardiovascular dynamics