Science and Technology: A Different Perspective

Professor Santanu Chaudhury

Introduction: Sciences

Einstein wrote "The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking.” it appears in the "Physics and Reality" section of the book "Out of My Later Years" by Albert Einstein (1950). Science in this sense is a fundamental human activity connected to the basic premise of human curiosity – asking questions. It involves paying attention to observations, analysing them, reasoning about the observations using logic, making explicit assumptions, hypothesizing and testing hypotheses in a way that is repeatable by others. Science, therefore, is also a tool to fight all forces which supress questions, rational thinking and promote blind faith.

Science can also mean authority. Anyone making any claim wants to say that science backs them. The practice of science based upon curiosity also lead to the authority of Science. An example of globally accepted scientific authority, despite various criticisms, is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for assessing the science related to climate change. It released a new report, Climate Change 2021: the Physical Science Basis, which brought together the most recent advances in climate science to outline the current state of climate change. The results are grave. However, to what extent policy makers responded to the concerns of scientists was determined by factors which were beyond science. Recent media reports indicated the way political leadership reacted to these scientific findings (may be more for publicity’s sake). Direct attacks on scientific authority are relatively rare, but such attacks reveal how powerful business or political interests seek to discredit scientific authority when scientific findings challenge their profits and social control.

There is also a business aspect of today’s science. Researchers try to raise funds, try publishing in reputed journals, get students to work on their projects, and compete with their peers according to some metrics. Research operates like any other sector of economy. It is competitive, comparative, and researchers are divided by status into superstars, has-beens, and also-rans. Scientific and educational institutions are also institutionalising the business aspect of to-day’s science. Globally, funding pattern in science is becoming increasingly through partnerships between science and business. Consequently, opportunities are being created for the wealthy and powerful to steer science to their own benefit. We need to look at the business of science through the lens of curiosity driven questioning to create new ethos and value for scientific research and technology development for benefit of humanity at large.

Science as a Movement

Propagation of scientific thinking and adoption of curiosity based science influences not only the general attitude towards science but perception about the world in general. It’s very important to have common man as part of the scientific process in the true spirit of science being part of human thinking. Citizen Science is a way to involve society at large in the process of scientific discovery and ignite the spirit of curiosity and questioning among all. Alan Irwin, a British sociologist, defined Citizen Science as "developing concepts of scientific citizenship which foregrounds the necessity of opening up science and science policy processes to the public". Citizen Science establishes two-way participation of common man in science: “1) that science should be responsive to citizens' concerns and needs; and 2) that citizens themselves could produce reliable scientific knowledge”.

Science needs more eyes, ears and perspectives than any scientist possesses. Common citizens, nurturing their interests and curiosity are collaborating with scientists by collecting data - by “taking photos of clouds or streams, documenting changes in nature, using smartphone sensors to help scientists monitor water and air quality or playing games to help advance health and medical research “(https://scistarter.org/citizen-science). Massive collaborations that can occur through citizen science enables investigations at continental and global scales and across decades—leading to discoveries that are impossible to achieve for a single scientist or a research group. In the age of data driven science, citizen science has revolutionized the discovery processes. Also, citizen science enables scaling up of the reach of scientific thought processes beyond any limitations.

With the citizen science it is important to link the different aspects of sociological implications of science and this deserves special consideration for making science as a global tool for liberation and progress:

• Science is not neutral, but is inextricably linked to social values. No longer technological changes can be blindly accepted as progress without raising appropriate questions. 
• As science is linked to social values, the key connections between the outcome of scientific research and welfare of the individuals, society and or environment needs to be analysed through an unbiased logical scrutiny. 
• It is desirable that citizens should be involved in decision making about scientific issues, at least in those scientific initiatives which have social implications.  
• Role of science in policy formulation is critical and academic and voluntary institutions need to take initiatives in this direction for connecting people with science. 
• Dissent within science is more widely understood as expression of a valid point of view. There has to be graceful acceptance of dissent in scientific and administrative establishments.

Science Alternatives

We need to rethink science for making it closer to aspirations of common man. We do not want lives to be sacrificed for reasons which really serve no major purpose other than blind hatred guided by irrational and unscientific thoughts. Citizen science can provide insight to the common man so that they can appreciate how boundaries of nations are irrelevant to science and how fighting for territories is a fundamental contradiction to the global reach and consequence of science. Recent pandemic has highlighted that fighting a viral infection is a global challenge and cannot be managed by focussing only on national boundaries.

For many decades, a large proportion of global research and development has focussed on defence applications. The emerging question is – instead of defending a community using soldiers and weapons can we invest in developing methods of non-violent action to defend communities. Following Gandhi’s philosophy, the basic aim of nonviolent resistance is to undermine the willingness of the opponent to continue with aggression or oppression. However, no society has ever yet systematically prepared itself for nonviolent defence, not even India – the country which epitomises the philosophy of non-violence and non-cooperation. Apart from social and psychological factors for nonviolent defence, science and engineering can also possibly contribute. We need to think for alternatives. Possibilities include setting up of robust communication systems for the resistance that cannot be easily disrupted, building factories that can be remotely but definitively shut down when aggressors seek to take them over but cannot be easily destroyed, building technology which can remotely disengage any weapon system of the aggressor, and establishing self-reliant safe and secure intelligent cyber-physical systems for energy, transport, agriculture and health that can enable a population to survive in the face of destruction or a blockade. Today this may sound utopian but orientation of science to nonviolent struggle rather than military systems would have a transformative effect on research topics, disciplines and methods of inquiry.

Information enclosures created by IPR rules restricting access to knowledge and information is an emerging threat in today’s science. Society always contributes to the creation of intellectual products by making education and prior knowledge available to the inventors. However, treating intellectual products as property and restricting their wider use is a major bottleneck. Ironically, science is one of the areas where information is till date freely available. If formulas and scientific ideas would have been copyrighted, formulation and presentation of new scientific theories would have been a herculean task requiring explicit permission for using concepts and equations proposed in the past (within the copy right period). Alternative to all these is to use science to promote information for all. However, science must also ensure that no one is robbed of his/her credits in innovation and discovery and no one makes profit at the cost of others.

Open-source, free software movement is committed to making information freely and universally accessible. Creative Commons is an organization and a licensing system that facilitates the sharing and use of creative work. Like the GNU Public License (GPL) for software, Creative Commons works with the philosophy that creative work is a collective endeavour and that willingness to share knowledge and information should be celebrated and encouraged, not suppressed. Creative Commons and the GPL are legal tools to facilitate sharing, and in their domains they are analogous to peer review and publication in scientific journals for scientists.

Today commodification and privatization of the scientific knowledge by publications in expensive journals have resulted in privileged access to knowledge. Forcing academics to pay money to read the work of their colleagues or pay money to publish their own is not sustainable in the long-run. We need new business models and new technologies for sharing contents across boundaries. Present trend of putting papers in open electronic repositories (archiv’s) and open peer review may provide solution and disrupt the hegemony of copyrighted publications. This would possibly lead to emergence of inclusive scientific peer groups reflecting necessary gender and economic diversity.

A vast amount of research has been carried out into the operation of global markets. Inclusive growth requires efficient operational models for local economy. We need to find alternative market mechanisms that can give greater power to communities and prevent domination or exploitation by outsiders. Interestingly emergence of crypto currency with local circulation can be designed in a way to empower local communities, ensuring economic self-sufficiency.

Empowering People Using Information Technology

In the past few years we have seen extensive use of information technology to defend human rights, improve governance, fight corruption, deter electoral fraud, protect consumers’ rights and improve public health. Various information technologies and their applications - including mobile phones, text messaging (SMS), the Internet, blogging, GPS, and other forms of digital technology - are enabling citizens to ensure freedom, development and social justice. We require a different kind of a multi-disciplinary research programme to examine technical, legal, political, and social obstacles to the wider and more effective use of these technologies, and how these obstacles can be overcome. and pursue a variety of other social goods. The program on Liberation Technology at Stanford's Centre on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law was launched in 2009 to address precisely these research questions.

Conclusions

There are multiple perspectives with which we can evaluate developments in science and technology. We tend to look at achievements in science and technology in terms of the number of high impact papers, number of patents, number of technology transfers or funds generated from industries or government finding agencies. However, there can be alternatives and we should explore alternatives. Science and technology has wide range of possibilities – let us be adventurous in exploring them.

Professor Santanu Chaudhury

Director

Professor
Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Webpage

Editorial

Shankar Manoharan

This issue of TechScape commemorates the 7th Convocation of IIT Jodhpur. 2021 has been a year of resilience and growth for the world and IIT Jodhpur is no exception. The Institute continues to lead initiatives in imparting world-class education, conducting cutting-edge research and nurturing innovation, all while battling the pandemic. Recently, the foundation stone for an AIOT Fab was laid by the Honourable Vice-President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu during his visit to the campus on 28th September 2021. Dr. Ajay Agarwal, in his article outlines how this state-of-the-art fabrication facility will drive the development of innovations in sensors and allied electronics for applications across diverse domains. During his visit, the Honourable Vice-President also inaugurated the Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Cluster, an initiative by the Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, championed by IIT Jodhpur. You will find the key highlights of the Honourable Vice-President’s visit in the article by Dr. G. S. Toteja. The Honourable Vice-President emphasized on the importance of collaborative frameworks to enable innovations in higher education institutions. Serendipitously, Dr. Mitali Mukerji has addressed this very topic in her article on building a collaborative mindset, which she argues is essential for disruptive innovations. She cites the example of her interdisciplinary work on ayurgenomics, which aspires to integrate the ancient knowledgebase of Ayurveda with genomics and computer science for precision healthcare. I am sure you will appreciate the value of transdisciplinary collaborations as you learn how Ayurveda is being reinvented for the 21st century as a personalized and preventative science using technology-enabled deep phenotyping in the article by Dr. Bala Pesala and Dr. Mitali Mukerji.

In the innovation gallery of this issue is the CODE device for improving indoor air quality using cold plasma ions that has been developed at IIT Jodhpur by Dr. Ram Prakash and team. This issue also offers interesting snippets of exciting, ongoing research at IIT Jodhpur. Dr. Sakshi Dhanekar and Dr. Kamaljit Rangra describe the design of an electronic nose (e-nose) for sensing alcohol vapours, while Dr. Pallavi Jain introduces participatory budgeting, an interesting approach for democratic budgeting and its application in different areas. This issue also features an article on the future of education penned by Stuti Aswani, a B.Tech. student at IIT Jodhpur for the National Education Day essay contest organized by the Institute. As 2021 draws to a close, we look back at the exciting technology landscape that TechScape has covered this year and look forward to many more exciting avenues in the years to come. We are incredibly grateful to the authors and readers, who make this possible!

Dr. Shankar Manoharan

Assistant Professor
Department of Bioscience & Bioengineering

Inauguration of Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Cluster JCKIC

G. S. Toteja

Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Cluster (JCKIC) has been sanctioned by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India with the objective to create strong linkages among Academic Institutes, Research and Development Institutes, National and State Research Laboratories, Government Agencies and Industries in the City of Jodhpur and in its surroundings. This initiative was taken on the recommendation of the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council (PM-STIAC). Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Foundation (JCKIF) has been registered under Section-8 of the Companies Act (Non-Profit Organization) with effect from 31st March, 2021 to carry out and sustain the activities of JCKIC.

Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu, inaugurated the Office of JCKIC/JCKIF at IIT Jodhpur on 28th September, 2021, along with Hon'ble Governor of Rajasthan Shri Kalraj Mishra and Hon’ble Minister of Energy, Govt. of Rajasthan, Shri B. D. Kalla, in the presence of Prof. Santanu Chaudhury, Director, IIT Jodhpur.

The Hon’ble Vice President highlighted that collaboration between various institutions can bring out synergies and deliver great developmental benefits to people. Observing that water is a scarce commodity in Rajasthan, he called for more collaborative efforts in water management and rainwater harvesting to mitigate the water crisis in the region. Complementing the JCKIC cluster for its efforts in this direction, Hon’ble Vice President suggested that educational institutes should become the hubs of such innovation clusters. He called upon premier institutes like IITs to share expertise and best practices with other educational institutes. “Innovation and collaboration should be embedded into the very DNA of higher education institutions”, Shri Naidu stressed.

The Hon’ble Vice President appreciated the efforts of IIT Jodhpur and other institutions in the knowledge and innovation cluster, which is trying to bring developmental benefits to the people of the region. He called for more such innovation clusters and collaborative initiatives between various universities, government institutions and private organisations, which, he said, can build on each other's expertise and share knowledge.

On this occasion, an exhibition was also organized along four verticals of the JCKIC i.e. Medical Technologies, Water and Environment, Project Craft and Thar DESIGNS.

Glimpses of the event

Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu inaugurating the Office of JCKIC/JCKIF at IIT Jodhpur

Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu and other dignitaries taking a tour of the exhibition at the JCKIC/JCKIF

How did people perceive novel coronavirus threat during early stages of pandemic? An analysis of data from Google Trends and Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Centre.

Siddarth Srivastava

World health organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) as a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on 30th Jan 2020. This led to a worldwide increase in Google search of the term “coronavirus” (Fig Siddharth_1). This analysis focussed on five countries, India, United States, Germany, Italy and South Korea for their Google search behaviour during the initial stages of COVID19 pandemic. These five countries were selected based on their differences in demography, infection and mortality rates and strategies utilized to combat COVID 19 pandemic.

Google Trends data suggested that in each of the five countries, an increase in coronavirus patient numbers did not lead to proportionate increase in “coronavirus” word Google search (Fig Siddharth_2.1-Siddharth_2.5). Interestingly, in these five countries, “coronavirus” Google search rapidly increased only when the governments (GOVTs) announced “lockdown” or equivalent. Thus, the perception of novel coronavirus as a threat seemed to be linked to GOVTs announcement of lockdown rather than to increasing numbers of coronavirus patients. Various forms of “lockdown” resulted in a combination of following conditions (1) confinement of people within their homes (2) closure of schools and day care (3) ban on meetings of more than 50 people (4) closing of international or inter-state borders. In each of the five countries, increased “coronavirus” Google search lasted for a few days after the announcement of lockdown. However, subsequently the “coronavirus” search dipped, even when numbers of coronavirus patients steadily rose (Fig Siddharth_2.1-Siddharth_2.5). Thus, the behaviour of increased “coronavirus” Google search did not correlate with the rate of increase of coronavirus patients.

Interestingly, on the day and on a few subsequent days after the lockdown announcement, while “coronavirus” Google search significantly increased, Google search for terms such as “grocery”, “transport”, “YouTube” and “lockdown” did not show corresponding rise (Fig Siddharth_3).

Thus, announcement of lockdown (or equivalent) and not increasing numbers of coronavirus patients acted as a trigger for people to google search “coronavirus”. Coronavirus posed a threat yet “unknown” to common people hence instead of fear, it elicited a response of “anxiety”. While fear is human response to specific, observable danger, anxiety is seen as diffused, unfocused, objectless, future-oriented fear which is elicited by an unknown danger.The data showed that rather than perceiving rising numbers of coronavirus infected patients as a threat, a GOVT announcement of lockdown or equivalent seemed to make people more aware of the magnitude of the threat and they tried to gather more information on coronavirus over the internet. The day lockdown was announced in the five countries of interest, “coronavirus” Google search was significantly more than “grocery” and “transport”. This was puzzling as during a lockdown restricted availability of grocery and transport posed an immediate threat. This could be because coronavirus posed a novel threat compared to the restrictions on grocery and transport. Thus, during a pandemic, the day a GOVT announces lockdown or equivalent, it would also be the ideal time to provide citizens with the best information and resources about the threat. Also, GOVTs can be transparent with the information on numbers of infected patients as it does not seem to trigger anxiety which was evident from “coronavirus” google search pattern.

Methodology:
1. Google Trends (https://trends.google.com/trends/?geo=US) was used to analyse Google searches of terms "coronavirus", “grocery”, “transport”, “YouTube” and “lockdown” in various countries listed here. Google search numbers represent search interest relative to the highest point on the chart for the given region and time. A value of 100 is the peak popularity for the term. A value of 50 means that the term is half as popular. A score of 0 means there was not enough data for this term.
2. Johns Hopkins coronavirus resource centre (https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html) was used to count confirmed coronavirus infected people on a given date, in countries studied here.

Reinventing Ayurveda for the 21st Century

Bala Pesala and Mitali Mukerji

Context
Human life span has been continuously increasing over the past 100 years with the innovations in modern medicine and better availability of health care services. The disease burden has been shifting slowly from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases. In spite of the increased life span, the disease-free life, quantified using Years Lived with Disability (YLDs), has been reducing over the years. Non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases have high YLD scores thus causing significant health care burden. While modern medicine has seen success in treating the diseases, it has largely been a “one size fits all” approach and reactive care. A paradigm shift is occurring from a reactive healthcare model to Predictive, Preventive, Personalized, and Participatory (P4) medicine for a holistic and proactive management of health across the entire lifespan in the 21st Century. In this future medicine, health and diseases are seen as a continuous spectrum rather than two distinct points.

Potential of Ayurveda in Future Integrative Medicine
Ayurveda science, an ancient Indian approach of holistic medicine, has evolved over the last two thousand years, that is still contemporary and encompasses all aspects of P4 medicine, has great potential for promoting a healthy lifestyle and curing of diseases with reduced side effects [1,2]. Highly personalized nature of treatment is inbuilt into Ayurveda where the baseline homeostatic state of the patient, “Prakriti”, is understood first before diagnosis of the disease and subsequent therapeutic recommendations. Prakriti also determines the genetic predisposition of a patient to various diseases and hence Ayurveda based preventive diet, lifestyle, medicines, panchakarma can be followed to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There have been several peer reviewed studies which clearly show the biochemical [3], genomic [4], metagenomic [5,6] basis of Ayurveda in the last 10 years and its potential in stratified medicine. Interestingly, the highly personalized nature of Ayurveda treatment is also evident from the multiple subtypes described for each modern disease. For example, diabetes in broadly classified as “Type 1” and “Type 2” diabetes in the modern medicine while Ayurveda describes >15 sub-types of diabetes depending on the expression of clinical symptoms and the treatment is tailored as per the patient’s prakriti and the disease sub-type. Further, the pharmacopeia of traditional Ayurveda medicines is vast and has significant potential to compliment the modern medicine to achieve “Integrative and personalized medicine” which also gives multiple treatment options to the patients especially suffering from various chronic metabolic, autoimmune and gastric disorders.

Path forward for Mainstreaming and Globalizing Ayurveda
Ayurveda has great potential to realize the next generation of P5 medicine: Personalized, Preventive, Predictive, Participatory and Promotive. However, for Ayurveda to transform from an alternative medicine to mainstream medicine, rigorous evidence-based approach in both diagnostics and therapeutics is the need of the hour. To start objectivizing and quantifying the beneficial aspects of Ayurveda for its integration with mainstream medicine, one needs to start collecting, structuring, and organizing Ayurveda knowledge both from the classical texts and clinical studies over the past century, without compromising the key aspects of personalization and heterogeneity in disease management. Recently, there has been a big data analytics study analysing >350,000 subjects data undergoing Ayurveda treatment which provide key insights into the target population, diseases for which it could be a preferred choice and treatment efficacy [7]. Ontological frameworks routinely used in modern medicine also need to be developed both for structuring Ayurveda clinical knowledge as well as understanding the molecular pathways and scientific basis of multi-drug Ayurveda medicine.

Ayurveda diagnostics can greatly benefit from data driven “Phenomics” approaches where in the personalized “Prakriti” is quantified using a combination of computer vision, IoT sensors and machine learning for capturing key anatomic, physical, physiological and psychological parameters (see fig. 1). Further, “Vikriti” or disease including its sub-type can be diagnosed using a conversational AI based differential diagnosis combined with “digital pulse diagnosis”.

In addition, explainable AI will play a key role in providing trusted assist to Ayurveda doctors and clinicians. Companies such as Babylon, DemDx, have built AI driven differential diagnosis engines for modern medicine which have the potential to reduce the health care costs, unnecessary hospital visits and remote teleconsultations at the comfort of the home. Similar initiatives in Ayurveda and other traditional systems are the need of the hour.

Currently, the Ayurveda industry is valued at more than 10 billion USD, growing at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of >16%. For the industry to grow exponentially and reach a >100 billion market value in the next 20 years, more rigorous evidence-based approaches in Ayurveda therapeutics are needed. Due to the highly personalized nature of Ayurveda, compared to randomized control trials, patient specific longitudinal tracking of clinical, biochemical and multi-omics parameters would be more suitable to evaluate the drug efficacy. In addition, standards for Ayurveda drug efficacy evaluation and potential toxicity, side effects need to be clearly established. Another area that is ripe for innovation is discovery of bio-actives in Ayurveda drugs and repurposing of Ayurveda drugs to the emerging infectious and non-communicable diseases. Recently, a landmark study has been published, which employed transcriptomics and connectome analysis for deeper understanding of the genetic and molecular pathways of Cissampelos pareira, a herbal drug used for the treatment of female hormone disorders and fever [6]. This approach revealed a novel pathway which could be a potential target in dengue viral infection. More such rigorous multi-omic studies are needed to understand the multiple disease curing potential of Ayurveda drugs.

IIT Jodhpur with its excellent track record of designing multi-disciplinary and transdisciplinary programs, has recently initiated the formation of a Transdisciplinary Centre of Excellence in Integrative Precision Health. As a part of this, an AyurTech Centre of Excellence in collaboration with the Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Rajasthan Ayurved University, Jodhpur, is planned with the goal of “Establishment of AI driven integrative framework for population and individual risk stratification and early actionable precision health interventions with a special focus on arid regions”. This scientific and data driven approach to Ayurveda diagnostics and therapeutics can achieve evidence based Ayurveda, which will greatly help in globalizing Ayurveda similar to traditional Chinese medicine which has seen higher acceptance and adoption internationally.

The Future of Education

Stuti Aswani

“Education is the investment our generation makes in the future”

~ Mitt Romney

As humanity stands at the horizon of normality after an unprecedented year following the global pandemic, the role and the future of education has never been more relevant, critical and uncertain. If anything, the past year has taught us how to expect the unexpected and if we aspire to achieve fruitful results from the education patterns, the changes we make should take into account both situations, the ones that are probable and the ones that are not.

The amelioration of technology presents an exciting opportunity to take learning beyond the classrooms. As of today, the main use of technology is to reinforce existing content instead of radicalising learning. A simple model for future classrooms would be the coexistence of physical and online spaces. This would be a shift from the current scenario which is completely physical and will allow the student to learn theoretical concepts at home and implement them using technology and spend their time in the classroom interacting with teachers and collaborating with other students which, in turn, will facilitate collective application of their knowledge to solve real-life problems.

The model of “one-learning-fits-all” is anachronistic and should have no place in future education. Students should be allowed to study topics that interest them, at a pace that suits their understanding, which in turn will maximise productivity and will result in an increased interest in studies. To ensure progress, some aspects of teacher-based learning shall prevail and the use of digital media to deliver content should be integrated in the education system. Following suit, grading patterns should also be personalised and emphasis should be laid on innovating and thinking outside the box instead of cramming study material.

The personalisation of these aspects shall generate an immense amount of data which will be managed using AI. This in turn implies that teachers of the future should have basic knowledge of data analysis and planning as these are imperative to the smooth functioning of the system. Augmented Reality could also help generate new experiences for students as they can use technology to visualise the diagrams and processes shown in textbooks, virtually travel to other countries to explore their heritage and culture, even go back in a simulated history and study the similarities and differences between the times then and now. AR and VR could thus help eliminate boundaries between nations and cultures and teach the valuable virtues of brotherhood, peace and empathy.

Every child should have access to educational resources and governments must ensure that adequate facilities are provided so as to improve the literacy rate of their populations. High-speed internet should be made available in the farthest corners of the globe at minimal rates to further the cause of education.

In a nutshell, the three defining factors of change would be:

• Improvements in technology
• Emphasis on innovation and problem solving
• Increased access to the internet

The educational policies we draft must keep up with the changing tides of time, lest we squander undiscovered human potential and sabotage the progress made by the decades of visionaries of the past.

Education is fundamental to human good, and if formulated with careful thought and intricate planning, the changes we make to our policies today could potentially lead civilization to heights greater than we could ever envision.

Building a collaborative mindset - an essential ingredient for success in research

Mitali Mukerji

“In the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.”
― Charles Darwin

I started off as a basic science researcher in the 90s at the Indian Institute of Science, when research was an individual's initiative: a “solo” project. Even if we would develop or deliberate our ideas with fellow colleagues from other laboratories, which in my case did happen extensively, this dialogue was always a conversation, not a formal collaboration. Most laboratories were open to sharing resources or unpublished methods for technical issues. This help generally merited an acknowledgment but seldom authorship, in the ensuing publication. From this basic conditioning, I moved on to genomics sciences which in those days was fast evolving into a research enterprise that involved global collaborations across laboratories. Consequently, this culture became embedded in my own research career and a majority of my projects run in the “collaborative” mode. Having done all my research in India, spanning more than 25 years, in this essay I would like to share my perspective on the key ingredients for sustained collaborations.

Why collaborate?
Broadly, the impact of any research, whether for academic interest, societal benefit, commercial or translational, can be increased manifold via collaborations. However, there are trade-offs in solo vs. collaborative efforts. In solo mode, there is high personal satisfaction and sense of ownership. When the work is in the proof-of-concept stage or fundamental biology space, where the potential is not apparent or quantifiable, it is ideal to initially pursue it in solo mode. If the projects in “solo” mode however are not aligned with the institutional mandate, they are challenging to sustain.

The foremost advantage of collaborations is timing: the ability to go from idea to implementation, without losing out on the prime mover advantage. Since expertise, resources and infrastructures are shared, the projects also become more affordable. A drawback of collaborations carried out to build resources, databases or registries is the lack of immediate academic appeal and their perception as intellectually sterile exercises. Long-term collaborations also generate assets that are useful after the project tenure is complete. I illustrate these points with examples from my career.

I was part of the Indian Genome Variation Consortium which built a comprehensive resource of variations from diverse Indian populations. The first years of the project involved extensive sample collection and genotyping. This baseline catalogue unexpectedly became seminal in many later interesting discoveries, such as the linkage of geoclimatic adaptation (high altitude, salinity, humidity) with human phenotypes and disease, founder mutations and population histories, to name a few from our group. In another instance, we have been studying a group of neuro-degenerative disorders called ataxia with AIIMS New Delhi. Here, over the past 20 years we have built a genetic registry of more than 5000 patient families. A bulk of the time in the initial 10 years (a long time in a student or PIs career) went in genetic diagnosis of ataxia and creating visibility. In those times, it was a challenge to appreciate the potential for future research and equally challenging for researchers to participate in such projects. Fast forward 20 years: this clinical cohort has been crucial to investigate the genetic basis of rare diseases in India, which was not the initial goal of this project. Along with these projects, I still pursued one project in “solo” mode: understanding the role of Alu repeats in genome organisation and function, which has been deeply fulfilling.

How to collaborate?
First, the need for collaboration depends on the domain of the problem that needs to be addressed. For instance, most biological fundamental research can be done solo or with limited collaboration. If the needs are applied, then it might require an expertise of a different discipline for implementation as well as more people of the same discipline for scaling up. If the area of research is translational then one cannot move ahead without collaborations. For instance, our projects in the areas of ataxia disease genomics and Ayurgenomics would have been incomplete without the participation of modern and Ayurveda clinicians, data scientists and public health professionals. The kind of collaboration also depends upon the degree of innovation. For radical innovations there might be a greater need for functional diversity, than for incremental innovations.

A second aspect, which needs consideration during planning of collaborative projects, is the type of setting and infrastructure needs for collaboration. Studies which can be conducted in academic institutions or involve clinical settings/field-work have different requirements for infrastructure, resource and manpower.

A third important consideration is whether the collaboration is anticipated to be long or short term. It is very important to have an open discussion on resource sharing, terms of collaborations and IPR sharing policy at inception. Many times we think it’s too premature to deliberate on these issues but this is important for pre-empting future conflicts.

Fourth, a successful collaboration requires stakeholders, each with well-defined ownership as well as accountability. It is also important to respect the motivations for individual stakeholders. Drivers could be personal incentives such as: more acceptability by peers, awards or monetary benefits. It could also be driven by an organization’s need either for revenue or national as well as global recognition and visibility. Many times a need for societal relevance also could be a key driver. Stakeholders should not have conflict of interests and not get into a competitive position at each other’s expense. The diversity in expertise amongst stakeholders ensures this as it can provide a scope for independent visibility and recognition amongst peers. For example, in the Indian Genome Variation Consortium project which involved 200 participants, all the major stakeholders were from the same domain. The cohesiveness could not be sustained amongst stakeholders as once the dataset and platform were ready, everyone could independently take off to do solo projects.

Who leads in a collaboration?
A major aspect of the collaboration is the criteria for choosing the leader and also defining the leadership hierarchy in terms of reporting structure. An essential attribute in a leader besides a demonstrable competence is interpersonal communication skills, emotional intelligence and empathy. Also, the manner in which the leader handles conflicts, by consensus or autocratic methods, determines the cohesiveness within the team and his/her acceptance as a leader. Depending on the kind of collaboration, there might be requirements of multiple leaders from different domains. The roles of these leaders should be clearly defined. There is also a key role for mentorship and monitoring needs in major collaborative efforts. Choosing the appropriate mentors should be one of the critical aspects in such initiatives. The mentors should not have biased or personal interests or stakes in the project. It is important to distinguish between mentor, leader and manager (discussed more separately). Oftentimes the lead PI is assumed to be all three.

Solo leaders directing a multi-disciplinary team where the subordinates are from diverse backgrounds can hamper progress especially if they comprise a major percent. In long-term collaborative projects another aspect to consider is the growth dynamics of the team players and also the mentor-mentee dynamics. A person who ideates the project needs to relinquish leadership at some point of time with the evolution of the project and growing experience of team members.

In the ataxia project there has been a succession of leadership: from a biophysicist to geneticist and now a clinician leading the project. It started with how repetitive sequences are involved in pathogenesis of ataxia by looking at natural variations associated with disease status in multi-generation families. As the registry built up, the question evolved to using the variations to trace founders and identify new variations linked to diseases. Further, induction of clinicians in the backdrop of a registry enabled linking genotypes to phenotypic trajectories and resolving unknown cases through next generation sequencing approaches. This project is now poised for a iPSC approach, and expanding to include stem cell biologists. A glue that held the work together was the involvement of a single clinical investigator throughout the research period, who now heads a specialised ataxia clinic in AIIMS New Delhi. The sustenance of this program was due to successive leadership who had the expertise and interest in the project as it evolved organically.

What about team members?
The composition of the team could go a long way towards determining the success of the collaboration. As mentioned earlier, it should ensure adequate diversity so that contributions of the team players are evident. If all the team members have similar participation, then the collaborative members could become competitors eventually. Some key characteristics that determine team success include experience and expertise of team players, the alignment of individuals’ aspirations as well as their initial conditioning. Understanding of temperament, mindsets as well as value systems amongst the team members can minimise inter-individual conflicts. It is also very important that each of the team members are clear about their expertise and have their growth trajectories aligned to the collaboration for them to effectively contribute to the team efforts.

The Ayurgenomics project has had a diverse set of people with expertise from very contrasting domains. It has been the most challenging and the most engaging project personally for me. However, since it required a major cross-talk between genomics, Ayurveda, modern medicine and computational sciences, a major effort was devoted to developing an effective dialogue for communications amongst the researchers. The language, conditioning and approaches in each of these disciplines is very different and there are limited avenues where cross-talks between these disciplines are possible. This is compounded by the lack of funding organisations that provide a level playing field for researchers who are from different philosophies. The incentive framework and appraisal mechanisms are benchmarked to whatever is mainstream. This cannot create a sustainable framework for innovative research.

How do you share credits?
In large collaborative projects the credit sharing and attributions should be discussed right at the inception of the project else it becomes very ticklish at a later point and sometimes, professional relations get affected. In collaborative projects involving radical innovations success can take a longer time compared to one that involves incremental innovation. Some aspects of collaborative work cannot be completed unless initial frameworks are set. How do you credit the people who had been key during inception where the outcomes are not apparent? In these kinds of projects, it is important to keep a trail of contributions from inception to completion. There could be a few team members who play critical roles during inception and some during closures. If the gaps from inception to closure are very wide, the contributions of the initial players do not get adequately recognized or credited and the individuals who participate during closure of the projects share most of the limelight. There should also be attempts to define outcomes in definitive milestones to keep the team together. This also ensures that the contribution of maximum team members is visible. If independence and ownership for the sub-projects at all levels of functional hierarchy is provided, more people can be incentivized in collaborative projects. However, a balance of quality and quantity needs to be explicit.

One of the interesting things we initiated in the Indian Genome Variation Project was to have a review paper written up about the project with the attributions clearly mentioned. Subsequently any manuscript which solely used the resources had the consortium as one of the authors. To this date, Indian Genome Variation consortium is credited with an authorship in nearly 40 manuscripts and the same has been continued for TRISUTRA Ayurgenomics consortium and, also adopted in the PANASIAN SNP consortium.

Do we need managers?
An important cultural aspect, unfortunately prevalent in Indian science, is a poor respect for timelines and time of collaborative partners. A collaborative project would have complex dependencies at the organizational level, between team members and between organizations. This is where the role of managers is very crucial and we have to give due consideration to this critical manpower in major collaborative projects. Clearly defined milestones and definitive outcomes at each milestone are crucial to sustaining a team throughout collaboration and it is the role of the manager to ensure this. Anything managerial is anathema for a free-thinking scientist in an academic research, but this mindset needs to change.

There will always be many different ways in which we can pursue a fulfilling science career. Framing solo vs. collaborative research, merely in intellectual terms, has been counterproductive for Indian science. I hope that early career researchers find examples in this essay to encourage them to adopt a strategy that best fits with their research goals. Ultimately, it is “peers”, who create a scientific culture and the next generation may wish to do things differently.

Acknowledgements
The author is grateful to L S Shashidhara (IISER Pune, Ashoka University) and Megha (TDU) for providing critical comments and editorial support for this article.

Impact Analysis of Renewable Variabilities on Coherency Change Patterns in Power System

Ravi Yadav

The dynamic response of a multi-machine interconnected power system to a disturbance introduces multiple electromechanical oscillatory modes within a frequency range of 0.1–2 Hz. A subset of these modes constitutes the inter-area oscillatory modes (0.1-0.7 Hz) produced by synchronous generators oscillating in unison with respect to other areas or systems [1]. These groups of generators exhibit similar dynamic behavior for a disturbance i.e., their frequency and phase-angle signals have homogeneous oscillations. Such units are referred to as “coherent” generators [2]. Identification of coherent generator groups is required for: 1) Controlled-Islanding: That limits the spread of cascading outages by partitioning the system into multiple controllable and self-sustainable islands, 2) Wide-Area damping Control: where critical inter-area oscillatory modes in a system are identified and attenuated using control strategy based on wide area measurement system data (WAMS), and 3) Dynamic equivalencing and system aggregation for dynamic vulnerability analysis.

Most of the available literature analyzes coherency patterns for only conventional synchronous generation in the power system [3]. However, high penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources can influence existing inter-area modes or introduce weakly damped modes in a system, which alters the coherency grouping of a system [4]. Depending upon the source characteristics, control topology, and location of renewable generation the coherent grouping in a power system can vary. Renewable alterations like non-uniform inertia distribution and source intermittency need to be included in the coherency pattern study for modern power systems [5]. In this work, an in-depth analysis of coherency changes patterns due to variabilities in renewable generation is presented. It raises pertinent points regarding the impact of new renewable integration, and outage of renewable sources on low-frequency power system oscillations, and the effect of dynamic renewable intermittencies on small signal stability.

Power system coherency study under different penetration levels can provide limited insight into system dynamics under renewable integration. Intermittent renewable generation can influence system dynamics in a variety of ways like non-uniform changes in inertia distribution due to: (i) a new renewable source integration at varied locations in the grid, (ii) scheduled or unscheduled outages of existing renewable plants, (iii) dynamic power flow pattern changes, and (iii) source intermittency (change in wind speed or solar insolation profiles). Each type of these variability influences the system coherency in a unique way and their effect needs to be studied for planning, wide area control, and controlled islanding applications.

Case 1: Effect of Non-uniform Inertia Distribution with Renewables
Any new large-scale renewable integration in a system could influence the existing inter-area oscillatory modes or may introduce newer oscillatory modes in the system, which can affect the system coherency. New integration can influence coherency in two ways:
(1) Spatial location of new integration or power sharing changes of participating generators.
(2) Type of renewable source or control topology.
Case 1.1: Effect new integration and power flow patterns with renewables
The location of renewable energy power plants (REPPs) and their interconnection point in a system are mostly governed by the geographical abundance of renewable sources within a geographical zone. However, depending on the interconnection nodes, the coherency grouping of an area or system can vary distinctly.

To illustrate this, two different scenarios are considered, 1) an offshore wind farm (OWF) (with back-to back voltage source converter- high voltage direct current (VSC-HVDC) link of capacity 500 MVA) is integrated while keeping the power sharing similar among the neighboring generators and 2) changing the power sharing ratio.

To simulate the first scenario, an OWF is integrated at bus-23 near generator G-07 of the IEEE-39 bus system [6]. For a trip disturbance at Line 6-11, the speed signals under base case (i.e., without OWF) and with OWF are shown in Fig. 1 (a) and (b). The disturbance excites two local oscillatory modes -0.682±8.473j (with damped frequency 1.348 Hz), and-0.5±7.100 j (with damped frequency 1.13 Hz). For both the local modes, all four generators G-04, 05, 06, and 07 participate under the base case, which changes with integration of OWF as G-07 no longer participate in these modes (refer mode shape plot of Fig. 2 (a)). A similar trend is observed for a critical inter-area mode -0.32±5.99j (damped frequency 0.955 Hz), where participation of G-07 changes with integration of OWF at bus-23 as shown in Fig. 2 (b). This shows that the participation of generator G-07 in the oscillations within the coherent area changes with the integration of OWF at bus-23 and it starts oscillating as a disassociated generator.

In the second scenario, a new OWF is integrated at bus-21, which changes the dispatched power from generators G-06 and G-07 based on their effective droop. This excites a new local oscillatory mode-1.062±10.6j (damped frequency 1.69 Hz), where only G-06 and 07 are participating, whereas an opposite trend is observed for the inter-area mode -0.346 + 6.344j (damped frequency 1.009), where G-06 and G-07 lose participation. This can be visualized from the speed signals and mode phasor plot of Fig. 3 (a) and Fig. 4. In another scenario, an OWF is integrated at bus-19 which changes the scheduled powers from G-04 and 05 in accordance with their effective droop. This excites a new local oscillatory mode -0.995+10.890j (damped frequency 1.733) with the participation of G-04 and G-05 only, whereas the same generators lose their participation in the critical inter-area mode -0.360+6.315j (refer to the speed signal and mode phasor plot in Fig. 3 (b) and Fig. 4 (b)).

The scenarios discussed above, indicate that the location of newly integrated REPP and corresponding power flow change in existing generators excite new modes within the power system and change the coherent participation of these generators in critical low-frequency inter-area modes.

For automated segregation of coherent groups, an un-supervised spectrum similarity approach method is used, which is proposed in our previous work [1]. For the case of OWF integration at bus-23, the coherency method indicates the separation of the generator G-07 from the previously coherent area (CA)-02 and forming a new coherent area CA-3 as shown in Fig. 5 (a). Whereas, in the case of OWF integration at bus-21 the coherency method indicates the separation of generators G-06 and 07 forming a new coherent area CA-2 as shown in Fig. 5 (b).

Case 1.2: Effect of Outages of Existing Renewable Sources
Planned or unplanned outages of a renewable power plant can affect system coherency depending upon the type of renewable source and location of the outage. In addition to switching outages, any reduction in dispatched power from renewable can cause a varying effect on system oscillations and therefore coherency. The outage of renewable sources can affect coherency in the following ways:
(1) Location of renewable outage/reduced dispatch
(2) Magnitude of outage/dispatch changes in the renewable source.
(2) Type of renewable source facing outage.

To illustrate this, the IEEE-39 bus system is modified to include OWF and DFIG integrations at different locations in the network as shown in Fig. 6. The wind power plants are distributed in a way that generators in all three areas have a uniform distribution of non-synchronous generation. The penetration level is 25 %, which is measured as:

As the spatial distribution of renewables is considered unform across the base case, so no apparent impact is observed on system coherency grouping. This dynamically un-changed IEEE-39 bus system with 20% renewable penetration level is subjected to renewable outages/dispatch changes to analyze their impact on system coherency. For this, two scenarios are considered. In first scenario the OWF at bus-6 suffers an outage, creating a new dynamic state of the system. For this perturbed system a line trip event at line 6-11 is simulated at 5s and oscillation trends are analyzed. The generator speed signals under base case and after outage of OWF at bus-06 for a line trip event at 6-11 are shown in Fig. 7 (a) and (b).

The outage of OWF at bus-06 increases the dispatched power from G-03, which in turn enhances the effective inertia of G-03 and changes the coherency trends for adjoining generators. For example, after an outage the participation of generator G-04 in the inter-area mode -0.345+6.045j (damped frequency 0.962 Hz) changes in a way that it starts oscillating with G-03 forming a single coherent group as shown in the mode shape plot of Fig. 8 (a). The reason for this is the increased effective inertia of G-03, which forces G-04 to oscillate in unison. It became coherent to gen-03 and formed a new coherent group leaving the existing coherency with area-02. In another scenario, an outage of the onshore wind plant (DFIG type) at bus-21 causes a change in oscillation participation of G-03, G-04, G-05, and G-07. In a way that G-04, G-05 start oscillating distinctly from the G-06, G-07 (under base case all four generators oscillate in unison for most inter-area modes). In addition, G-03 also start oscillating in unison with G-06, which was dissociated during the base case without any outage. The Speed signals and mode shape plots for this scenario are shown in Fig. 7 (c) and 8 (b). The reason for these changes is the increased effective inertia of G-06 that disturbs a delicate inertial balance in the system.

These observations are confirmed with the automated un-supervised spectrum similarity method [1]. For outage OWF at bus-06 the method correctly detects the formation of new coherent group CA-02 with G-03, G-04, G-05, G-06, and G-07 oscillating in unison as shown in Fig. 8 (a). On the other hand, for the outage of DFIG from bus-21, the generators G-07, 06, and 03 form a separate coherent group CA-2, whereas generators G-04 and 05 form another coherent group CA-3.

From these results it can be understood that outage/reduced dispatch of any renewable power plant and associated inertia change in the area, not only affects the coherency within the group but also of the adjoining coherent groups.

Case. 2: Effect of Source Intermittency Renewable energy sources like photovoltaics and wind are inherently intermittent and are non-dispatchable generations. Therefore, intermittencies associated with renewables make the effective inertia of a power system time-varying. Due to the time variation of inertia, the coherent grouping of generators becomes dynamic (the effect will be more prominent for high renewable penetration levels), which makes coherency detection a frame-to-frame operation rather than static segregation. In the work, the intermittency scenario is simulated by inducing a sudden fast ramp reduction of 20% in the detached power from DFIG at bus-19 at 7 s.

Under this scenario, the speed signals for different generators are shown in Fig. 9 (a), where due to the sudden reduction in DFIG output at bus-19, the existing generators G-04 and 05 start swinging distinctly from the generator G-06 and 07. This is confirmed from the mode participation trends, where generators G-04, 05 participate as a distinct group with respect to generators G-06 and 07 in a new inter-area mode -0.458±5.975j (damped frequency 0.975) as shown in Fig. 9 (b). This implies that fast ramp intermittency in DFIG at bus-19 caused segregation of area-02 into two coherent groups: one group with G-04 & G-05 and other groups with G-06 & G-07 generators.

The coherency results with the unsupervised clustering method for wind intermittency shown in Fig. 10, also show that the generator G-04, 05, 06, and 07 which were oscillating as a single coherent group pre-intermittency, started oscillating as two coherent groups of (G-04 & 05) and (G-06 & 07) post-intermittency.

The above analysis clearly indicates that the fast intermittencies in solar and wind power sources cause dynamic variations in system inertial patterns causing dynamic variation in the system’s oscillatory patterns and thus time-variation in coherency trends.

Conclusion
This work analyzes the impact of renewable variabilities on power system oscillation patterns and coherency trends. The work provides the following observations regarding the influence of power system coherency with renewable variabilities:
1) Renewable distribution changes at high penetration levels cause non-uniform variations in system inertia distribution resulting in the segregation of large coherent areas into small coherent groups.
2) The spatial location of renewable variability and magnitude of change in renewable power dispatched influences the mode participation trends in a power system uniquely.
3) The dynamic changes in system coherency with high renewable penetration levels make islanding, wide-area damping control, and dynamic system grouping also dynamic.
4) Distribution changes at different locations activate new and distinct inter-area modes in the system complicating the area control and islanding.
5) Fast ramp intermittencies in renewables cause dynamic variation in system coherency status for pre- and post-intermittency time periods for the same set of disturbances.

Analysis and design of perforated cold-formed steel tubular members

Tekcham Gishan Singh

Cold-formed steel (CFS) tubular sections are increasingly used in construction industries, owing to their inherent high structural capacities (i.e., high tension, compression, bending and torsional resistances) as well as aesthetically appealing nature, as compared to opened cold-formed steel counterparts [1]. Unlike hot-rolled steel sections, the thickness of CFS was usually limited to 3 mm in the early 1980s so that the steel sections could be fed into cold-rolling mills. However, due to the advancement of cold-forming technology, CFS of thickness up to 25 mm can be made. In addition, due to the strength enhancement from the cold-forming process, CFS tubular sections possess higher strength and stiffness-to-weight ratios than conventional hot-rolled steel sections. Hence, because of the various advantages and other requirements, newer cold-formed steel tubular sections, such as elliptical, oval, flat-oval, semi-elliptical etc., are introduced in the market [2,3]. Despite the various research achievements detailed above, the presently available design standards do not include the strain-hardening behavior, and also, design guidelines are not included for newer steel cross-sections [4].

In steel construction, perforations (Punch holes/openings/cut-outs) of various sizes and shapes are made on the structural member for multiple needs. For example, openings are provided for air circulation, electrical wirings, material optimization (to reduce the weight of members), strength enhancement (to provide stiffness), inspection and maintenance work (in bridges, towers, ships), easy connections with other structural members, esthetics etc. However, due to the modifications made (perforations) on structural members, complex stress distributions are further introduced, thus altering the structural member's elastic stiffness and capacity. Hence it is imperative to study the structural performance of perforated structural members and further develop suitable design standards. Presently, research is being carried out to investigate the effect of perforations for various structural members subjected to different loading conditions at the Department of Civil and Infrastructure Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, Rajasthan. Some key contributions in the area of perforated cold-formed steel tubular members by Dr T. G. Singh are as follows:

The smart and intelligent sensor system – Electronic Nose

Saakshi Dhanekar and Kamaljit Rangra

Human thinking about electronics was made possible with the help of artificial systems. These systems have the capability of making decisions like humans based on their learning with the previous data. An electronic nose (e-nose) can mimic the human brain and sense different analytes/gasses/vapors. The need to detect the vapors and gasses is very well known. There are various types of sensors available, however there is a tradeoff when it comes to price and quality. Sensing materials play a major role in deciding the key parameters of sensor characterization. Many of the transition metal oxides such as ZnO, SnO2, MoS2, WO3, MoO3 and TiO2 etc. are used as potential materials as these can provide high sensitivity, durability and reusability. Unfortunately, these materials also face major challenges like specificity and functioning at high operating temperatures and so become incompatible for CMOS integration [1]. Some of the reports highlight how these can be made to function at room temperature. This saves power and adds durability to the sensor. For achieving a significant specificity, the surface of the sensor needs to be tuned; however in spite of this achieving a cent percent selectivity is not easy. Another option is to make an array of such sensors and put them together on a platform. These sensors are coached through known data sets and algorithms to develop and establish a basic capability to analyze the presence of analytes in a given environment. The system popularly known as E-nose, is an intelligent sensor based system which detects the presence of gas/vapors around it [2]–[4]. Such a system comprises an array of sensors, analog interface and data processing (neural networks). The resemblance between a human and artificial olfactory system is depicted in Fig. 1. It depicts the different stages of aroma detection by the human brain and E-nose system.

Fig. 1. Human vs Artificial Olfactory system. Adapted from [5]

There are several applications of E-nose including Food quality assessment [6], medical diagnostics [7], chemical sensors [8], cosmetics [9], environment [10], alcohol breath analyzer [11] etc. Some of the work done by the team includes fabrication of sensor arrays with different metal oxide layers [5]. This required use of electrochemical etching and deposition processes. The resistance of the sensors changed upon exposure to gas/vapors in the concentration range of 5–500 ppm and in simulated real breath conditions. This was read through the interdigitated electrodes on the deposited metal oxide films. The sensing equation used is:
S(%) = (R_a − R₀)/R₀ x 100% (1)
where R_a and R₀ are the resistance changes in presence and absence of analyte, respectively.

Fig. 2 (a) Stability and repeatability study of TiO2/PS. (b) Process scalability test. (c) Estimated and actual ppm for ethanol and acetone. (d) 2-D PCA map showing ethanol vapors discrimination by the sensor, inset shows packaged sensor. Adapted from [5].

Fig. 2a shows the repetitive and stable response received from the sensor for the sensing tests done for 6 months. Many sensors were chosen from the same wafer confirming the uniformity of the fabrication process and some were also picked up from different wafers (Fig. 2(b)). The consistency in the sensor response confirmed the good uniformity and reproducibility of the process.

To determine the concentration of the vapors, the obtained sensing data from the samples were combined using polynomial regression model given as:
ppm_gas = a1x + a₂x² +..+a_nxⁿ (2)

Here, a_i - a_n are the coefficients and x is the sensor output. These coefficients are obtained by using least-squares approximation [12]. In our case, the fourth- and third-order polynomial regression models fitted best to determine the concentration of ethanol and acetone vapors, respectively (Fig, 2(c)). Principal component analysis (PCA) was done to reduce the dimensions in the form of clusters. It clearly discriminated ethanol vapors from a group of vapors as shown in Fig. 2(d). Also other vapors like IPA, xylene, and benzene were separated with clear demarcated boundaries.

The authors would like to acknowledge Prof. Monika Agarwal, Center for Applied Research in Electronics (CARE), IIT Delhi for her contribution in data analysis and PCA.

Participatory Budgeting

Pallavi Jain

Participatory budgeting [1] is a direct democracy approach for budgeting, most often used to decide a fraction of municipal budgets. Rooted in Brazil [2], it keeps on gaining popularity as more and more cities are using it to decide on the distribution of increasing fractions of their mutual funds; in particular, it is used quite extensively in the United States [3], in Europe [4], and across the globe [5].

The most popular ballot type of Participatory Budgeting is approval voting, in which citizens are asked to approve a subset of given set of projects that they would like to be funded. More formally, in Participatory Budgeting with approval ballot, we have a set of projects, each with its cost, a collection of citizens, each approving a subset of projects, and a budget limit. We are interested in designing a mechanism to choose a subset of projects to be funded within the budget that “satisfies” the citizens. There are quite a number of aggregation methods for approval-based participatory budgeting [6, 7, 8]. One approach that is used in Paris and Warsaw is the Greedy Approval method, in which projects are ordered in decreasing order of their approval scores (i.e. the number of citizens approving each of them); then, the process is to go over the list and fund items as long as the remaining budget limit suffices.

An important aspect of Participatory budgeting which is often ignored is the interactions between projects. It is quite possible that some projects are identical to each other, and in substitution maybe because these are geographically close to each other. Therefore, funding both of these projects, is not really a good use of public finds. Similarly, it may happen that some projects are in complementarity to each other; for example, building a school, having a bust stop nearby, good roads connecting school from major part of the city, etc. Clearly, all these projects need to be funded together, especially when the school is in a remote location. We (I, along with my collaborators Krzysztof Sornat and Nimrod Talmon from Ben-Gurion University, Israel) modelled such project interactions within groups of projects by augmenting the standard model of participatory budgeting. This augmentation was done by introducing a partition over the projects and modelling the type and extent of project interactions within each part using certain functions. We study the computational complexity of finding bundles that maximize voter utility, as defined with respect to such functions. Motivated by the desire to incorporate project interactions in real-world participatory budgeting systems, we identify certain cases that admit efficient aggregation in the presence of such project interactions. Here, we assume that the partition on the projects is given by organiser, say the City Mayor. This work appeared in IJCAI 2020 [9].

Next, we (I, along with my collaborators Laurent Bulteau (LIGM, CNRS, Univ Gustave Eiffel, Marne-la-Vallée, France) and Nimrod Talmon (Ben-Gurion University, Israel)) considered that even partition on projects is given by the citizens. Here, the challenge is to find an aggregated partition that satisfies the citizens. We designed several aggregation methods and evaluated them by analyzing their computational complexity and their behavior with respect to certain relevant axiomatic properties. This work appeared in AAMAS 2021 [10].

Recently, we (I, along with my collaborators Krzysztof Sornat (MIT CSAIL, USA), Nimrod Talmon and Meirav Zehavi (Ben-Gurion University, Israel)) also considered that in addition to a global budget limit---there are several groupings of the projects (possibly intersecting groups), each group with its own budget limit. This work is motivated by Geometric Budgeting, Thematic Budgeting, and also non-budgeting user-cases. Considering the funding projects for a city, we would not like to spend the entire money in, say, one district. Therefore, the grouping of projects is done and every group (district, in our example) has a budget limit. Another scenario is Thematic Budgeting: Projects can usually be naturally grouped into types, e.g., educational projects, recreational projects, and so on. In such cases, it might be that groups do intersect: e.g., a recreational park might be of recreational purposes as well as for environmental purposes, thus contained in two sets of projects. Grouping of the projects is useful here: Group projects accordingly making sure that not all the budget is being spent on projects of only one type. We can also find the application in non-budgeting user-cases. E.g., to decide which processes to run on a time-limited computing server, where available processes can be naturally grouped into types and it is not desired to use all the computing power for, say, processes of only one type. We studied the computational complexity of identifying project bundles that maximize voter satisfaction while respecting all budget limits. This work has been accepted in IJCAI 2021 [11].

Development of Double Diels-Alder Reaction: An Efficient Approach to Various Natural Products Synthesis

Amar Nath Singh Chauhan, Ghanshyam Mali, and Rohan D. Erande

Environment has established a plethora of bioactive chemical compounds as natural products isolated from various natural sources such as plants, animals, microbiological and marine organisms. The preponderance of pharmaceuticals has been widely known for natural products extracted by humans since ancient times. Most of which have enormous structural complexity and intriguing chemical characteristics that play an important role in human health and prompting chemists to devise new ways to access these biologically active substances. In fact, it continues to be the leading source of new drug discovery and development, given the considerable use of molecular techniques in drug development. As a result, developing and synthesising natural products is considered to be a fantastic source of inspiration for new therapies and organic chemistry.[1,2]

Synthetic approaches for accessing biologically active molecules is a challenging endeavour that involves a thorough understanding of many facets of organic chemistry. However, several synthetic designs and modifications have already been established to access structurally sophisticated natural products.[3] Considering the high necessity of drug synthesis, number of new interventions are brought to the global market to reduce expenses of drug discovery and development.[4,5] To obtain biologically active natural compounds in a streamlined way, a variety of synthetic approaches have been devised with the cascade pericyclic reaction mainly Diels-Alder reaction being one of the most fundamental and revolutionary technique.[6] Recently, in 2020, Nishad et al. have reported a domino Diels-Alder reaction approach to the synthesized pentacyclic framework from 2-((anthracen-9-ylmethoxy)methyl)furan and DMAD.[7] In the same year, Gadigennavar and Sankararaman have described a more mature double Diels-Alder approach to the construction of V-shaped molecule cyclooctatetraene (COT) fused with aromatic wings.[8] The domino approach of Diels-Alder chemistry (cascade pericyclic approach) the double Diels-Alder strategy to access natural product scaffold remains a fascinating and fast-paced area of chemical research, not only advantageous for accessing biologically active compounds for use in biological research, but also encouraging the discovery of innovative techniques and chemically synthesized methods.[9]

Using the Double Diel-Alder approach of cascade pericyclic reaction, we highlight new synthetic accomplishments in the construction of complex biologically active scaffolds. Cascade will be presented in the context of natural product synthesis, with selected examples that address the future of these fields. The approach entails elegantly engaging out two concurrent Diels-Alder reactions, resulting in a rapid escalation in molecular complexity while potentially reducing step count. The emphasis is on leveraging the selectivity of the Diels-Alder technique to effectively create macrocyclic, bicyclic, heterocyclic, and polycyclic skeletons for structurally scenic natural product scaffolds.[10] These reactions have a variety of applications in the synthesis of complex molecular frameworks, including the synthesis of natural compounds such as: colombiasin A,[11] fluorenone derivative,[12] taxane nucleus,[13] long-chain polypropionate fragments such as Mosher's ester,[14] eleutherobin aglycone,[15] cage compounds including anthracene derivatives,[16] fullerene and benzoquinone fragmented clusters,[17] cage annulated bicyclooctenes and derivatives,[18] kekulene and other highly symmetric cages,[19] polymerized precursurs, functionalization of molecules with high symmetry, etc. The inclusion of the Diels-Alder strategy's comprehensive synthesis via cascade technique will spark new ideas in organic synthesis while also providing a platform for confronting a variety of total synthesis scaffolds for accessing bio-active natural products for drug discovery and healthcare.[20] The twofold Diels-Alder approach to total synthesis will absolutely assist in the invention of novel and efficient ways to access structurally diverse natural compounds. Under this due consideration, a consolidated Diels-Alder reaction has been designed to encapsulate biologically active scaffolds in a standardised and shortest route with total synthetic approach to their simplified-designed analogues using Diels-Alder strategy implementing well-known reactions such as Lewis-acid assistance, acid-base encouraged, and so on. Our research group is constantly motivated to acknowledge the complicated synthesis emergence of natural products, in which we used cascade strategies to access structurally diverse bis-indole alkaloids (yuchchukene natural product)[21] and generic versions, yuremamine core, pyrrolo[1,2-a]indoles, and benzofuro[2,3-b]indulines motif using cycloaddition cascade approach assisted by Lewis-acid. We're expanding our endeavours in organic chemistry to include total synthesis and method development protocols for newly identified natural compounds that have a constructive impact on humanity. Besides that, we are super motivated to observe and report spectacular switches in synthesis protocols such as regioselectivity and chemoselectivity issues in the cascade Diels-Alder reaction, influenced by a rare and limited example identified by Dethe et al, where dimerization of substituted indole-derivatives under varying reaction conditions generates three distinct natural products during the streamlined synthesis of borreverine, caulindoles, and flinderolres.[22]

IITJ’s CODE Device useful for Better Indoor Air Quality and COVID-19 Pandemic

Ram Prakash

In the current era, airborne transmitted pathogen infection is causing diseases of significant morbidity and mortality. Almost every year we are seeing a new bacteria or virus of influenza nature appearing and creating epidemic/pandemic of diseases. Besides human-to-human transmission, in the highly crowded and indoor enclosed environments such as healthcare facilities, schools, colleges, universities, large shopping malls, commercial buildings, and public buildings, indoor pathogens shed from humans may further transmit and disperse through HVAC systems, and may lead to cross-infections. This fear has created a lockdown across the world and the infection due to COVID-19 has affected work productivity hugely. Human safety is very important but this is causing substantial economic impacts. People are scared to work in public places. To reduce the risks of infection from such transmission in the indoor environment, engineering control strategies is the need of hour. Accordingly, IIT Jodhpur has developed a novel Cold-plasma Detergent in Environment (CODE) Device under an industry-sponsored project to reduce the risks of infection from airborne pathogens in the indoor environment, by using DBD plasma in combination with nanotechnology.

What is technological innovation?
The IITJ’s CODE device is based on a cold plasma discharge for the generation of plasma detergent ions in the environment. The device comprises a novel geometry plasma source with specially designed electrodes and a filter coated with metal oxide nanoparticles catalysts. It is an environment friendly technique and uses low-cost electrode materials. The need for feed gas, pallets and/or differential pressure has been eliminated from the plasma discharge for air purification by virtue of new design and process. It is a well-known fact that one finds the highest negative ion concentration in natural clean air, and the high negative ion concentration dramatically improves indoor air quality and health. There is a range of methodologies tested to generate negative ions, particularly for hydroxyl radicals (‘natural detergent’) using UV-light and/or plasmas. On one hand UV-light has constraint because of energy of the e-h pair is limited and the generated hydroxyl radical’s quenches well before (i.e., ~0.1 sec). On the other hand, the presently used plasma discharges are either costlier or consumes high power or are created with much more complexities.

What are the key features?
The IITJ’s CODE device is able to generate efficient plasma detergent ions with a larger sustenance time that also at atmospheric pressure (without any additional gas or vacuum system). The developed device has been characterized electrically and this new type of discharge plasma generation requires low average power to operate and simultaneously provides high efficiency for plasma detergent generation that has been tested in an 8’’ device. It is able to produce plasma detergent ions in lakhs and with an average ion sustenance time more than 25 sec. The device is easily scalable and is free from UV-light and Ozone.

What can it do?
The working performance of the device has been tested for disinfection of total microbial counts, reduction of total fungal counts, dust and pollens in the indoor environments of sizes more than 1,72,80,000 cm3 and the obtained results are highly encouraging which showed that the pristine natural environment is quite realizable from the CODE device in the indoor environments. It is a low-cost and easily scalable device and will require less maintenance. The tests are underway and the device can also degrade Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) because the hydroxyl radicals created in the environment will freely react with organic molecules to partially ionize or fully oxidize them to CO2 and H2O.

The scope of the invention is not limited only in elimination of total microbial counts, total fungal counts and dust/pollen, but it can also deactivate the most lethal range of other airborne viruses including COVID-19, SARS CoV, Influenza, etc. because the virus is not a living organism, but a protein molecule covered by a protective layer of lipid (Fat) and the produced active plasma detergent ions for more than 20 seconds with optimum concentration will effectively kill the viruses (i.e., already established that detergent foam cuts the fat −only one needs to rub hands so much for 20 seconds or more).

To whom it will be useful?
The developed technology is attractive for individuals in offices, houses, public places (such as healthcare facilities, schools, colleges, universities, large shopping malls, commercial buildings, taxis, trains, cinema halls, conference halls, marriage halls, etc.) and can provide a pristine natural indoor environment. Systems based on this technology can eventually be deployed at all public and health care facilities as standalone system or can be integrated with the ducts, AC, Coolers, etc. The proposed device can also be easily tailored in the form of CODE Jets to clean the environment, personal protective equipment, dresses, Facemasks, etc. for safe handling the patients by the Doctors and hence can be a useful technique to fight with the pandemic of disease such as COVID-19, SARS CoV, Influenza, etc.

Who developed the technology? Faculties and Ph. D. students of the Department of Physics, IIT Jodhpur (Dr. Ram Prakash, Associate Professor, Project Leader, Dr. Ambesh Dixit, Associate Professor, Mr. Ramavtar, Ph. D. Scholar, Ms. Kiran, Ph.D. Scholar) under an industry-sponsored project supported by M/s Porte Automations Private Ltd., Noida and IIT Jodhpur Seed Grant Scheme.

AIOT Fab at IIT Jodhpur

Ajay Agarwal

The foundation stone of the AIOT fab was laid by the Honorable Vice-President of India, Shri Venkaiah Naidu on 28th September 2021 in the premises of IIT Jodhpur. The Fab is being established as part of AIOT Innovation Hub at IITJ Technology Park and will lead to the creation of facilities for End-to-End Design, Development, Prototyping and Delivery of AIOT systems (including Photonic Systems) for Start-up’s and MSMEs at the Technology Park of IIT Jodhpur.

The key technology component will be the fabrication facility for MEMS Sensors and development of associated Electronics for intelligent systems with following broad objectives :

● Creating an ecosystem for co-creation of AIOT technologies and products by faculty and Students of IIT Jodhpur and industry partners hosted at the hub in all application areas including Industry 4.0, predictive maintenance, agriculture, healthcare, transportation, infrastructure, energy, environment and water management and more.

● Building an alliance for product ideation and technology delivery with the support of major enterprises such as NVIDIA, NetApp, Ansys, Samsung, Cognizant, ST Microelectronics, Synopsis, Mentor Graphics, Siemens and others (already relationships and MoU in place).

● Aligning business partners for possible consumption of products ensuring a viable business prospect for the Hub. Various sensors and sensor systems that can be realized through the hub are shown below:

● Professional management of innovation at the HUB by faculty specializing in technology and management of enterprises and entrepreneurship from the School of Management and Entrepreneurship of IIT Jodhpur; augmented with dedicated professional manpower.

● Support of Angel investors and VC funds. MoU with AI Foundry, Bangalore is in place.

● Symbiotic support from Jodhpur City Innovation Cluster program sponsored by PSA, GoI focusing on MedTech Innovation and Digitalization for Industry where AIOT HUB will contribute to technology development and product realization. An innovation-oriented program on Medical Technology in collaboration with AIIMS, Jodhpur is in operation with an intake of 30 students.

● Fully functional, MEITY, MSME, BIRAC recognized Incubation Centre (IITJ Technology Innovation and Start-up Centre) is in place for promoting the start-ups.

● Symbiotic alliance with Technology Innovation Hub on Computer Vision, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality at IITJ, supported by DST, GoI will support technology infrastructure for imaging sensors.

● In the Technology Park innovation labs are being set up by PrithviAI, Noida, Johari Digital Healthcare Limited, Jodhpur and WhizHack, Gurgaon (all agreements in place).

● AIOT Innovation Hub will operate as an independent Operation Unit in the technology park. The proposed interaction model with different agencies is shown below.

Expected financial outlay of the AIOT hub is around Rs. 360 crores - as initial outlay generating business opportunity of more than 1000 crores through spin-offs over a period of 7 years. IITJ is committed to invest Rs. 120 crore and seeks financial aid of Rs 240 crore from MeitY, GoI, government of Rajasthan and private companies. The funding proposal is under active consideration of the Government of Rajasthan (after initial approval, it is being processed by the finance) and at MeitY New Delhi. ELCINA companies are also committing to the development of Sensors and Intelligent Sensor systems for various industrial requirements.