Some experiences in preparing for a satellite television experiment for rural India

A large scale experiment will be conducted in India, beginning middle of 1975, to reach a few thousand remote Indian villages via satellite broadcast television. The satellite will be supplied by N.A.S.A. and the ground hardware and developmental programmes for television are being developed by India. The experiment will last a year. The paper discusses the research and development aspects of the technological and software components of the experiment, the operational problems and solutions adopted, as also the hopes and fears we have about its outcome. Some of the already realized managerial, social and technological spin-offs of this multi-faceted ‘experiment’ are pointed out.

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. 3229-3238
Author(s):  
Torben Beernaert ◽  
Pascal Etman ◽  
Maarten De Bock ◽  
Ivo Classen ◽  
Marco De Baar

AbstractThe design of ITER, a large-scale nuclear fusion reactor, is intertwined with profound research and development efforts. Tough problems call for novel solutions, but the low maturity of those solutions can lead to unexpected problems. If designers keep solving such emergent problems in iterative design cycles, the complexity of the resulting design is bound to increase. Instead, we want to show designers the sources of emergent design problems, so they may be dealt with more effectively. We propose to model the interplay between multiple problems and solutions in a problem network. Each problem and solution is then connected to a dynamically changing engineering model, a graph of physical components. By analysing the problem network and the engineering model, we can (1) derive which problem has emerged from which solution and (2) compute the contribution of each design effort to the complexity of the evolving engineering model. The method is demonstrated for a sequence of problems and solutions that characterized the early design stage of an optical subsystem of ITER.


2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1805) ◽  
pp. 20150120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. McCleery ◽  
Adia Sovie ◽  
Robert N. Reed ◽  
Mark W. Cunningham ◽  
Margaret E. Hunter ◽  
...  

To address the ongoing debate over the impact of invasive species on native terrestrial wildlife, we conducted a large-scale experiment to test the hypothesis that invasive Burmese pythons ( Python molurus bivittatus ) were a cause of the precipitous decline of mammals in Everglades National Park (ENP). Evidence linking pythons to mammal declines has been indirect and there are reasons to question whether pythons, or any predator, could have caused the precipitous declines seen across a range of mammalian functional groups. Experimentally manipulating marsh rabbits, we found that pythons accounted for 77% of rabbit mortalities within 11 months of their translocation to ENP and that python predation appeared to preclude the persistence of rabbit populations in ENP. On control sites, outside of the park, no rabbits were killed by pythons and 71% of attributable marsh rabbit mortalities were classified as mammal predations. Burmese pythons pose a serious threat to the faunal communities and ecological functioning of the Greater Everglades Ecosystem, which will probably spread as python populations expand their range.


Author(s):  
Runmeng Qiao ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
Guangjiong Qin ◽  
Jialei Liu ◽  
Aocheng Cao ◽  
...  

: The plastic film plays an important role in China's agricultural production. However, the large-scale use of plastic film has also produced a very serious problem of agricultural film pollution. Biodegradable polymers have attracted much attention because of the environmental pollution caused by traditional plastic mulching film. The most typical one is poly (butylene adipate co butylene terephthalate, PBAT). Poly (Butylene Adipate-co-Terephthalate) (PBAT) is a kind of aliphatic–aromatic polyesters with excellent biodegradability and mechanical processing properties. Therefore, it has been rapidly developed and widely used in the industry. However, there are clear requirements for the degradation period of agricultural film. At present, the degradable materials available on the market are difficult to meet the requirements of all crops for their degradation period. In this paper, the basic properties,degradation process and ways to delay the degradation of PBAT are reviewed to improve the degradation period of plastic film prepared by using this kind of material. Among them, the degradation process includes photodegradation, biodegradation and hydrolysis. The ways to delay the degradation include adding chain extender, light stabilizer, anti-hydrolysis agent and antibacterial agent. These can provide a theoretical basis for the research and development of biodegradable film with controllable degradation cycle. The future research and development of biodegradable polymers mainly focus on controllable degradation rate, stable degradation cycle, new materials and reducing research and development costs.


Author(s):  
P. Mohammed Shameem

The Socio-Economic and Caste Census of 2011 shows the extent of deprivations of rural India. Around 73.4 % of families are residing in rural India, where over 77 million households depend on kerosene for lighting; 1 million use wood and as many as 1.2 million households in India remain completely in the dark. Improvement in - Access, Availability, Adequacy, and Quality of energy can contribute to poverty reduction from various aspects. From a policy-making perspective increasing access to modern energy services require, first, the integration of energy access into national development strategies, and then strong and sustainable financial, institutional, and technology frameworks must be set up. The restatement of the theory of critical minimum effort is to make a plan for the effort that needs to break the environment of inertia of energy poverty. This paper discusses the minimum effort necessary to achieve a steady secular supply of basic energy requirements for people in need. It is alarming fact that today billions of people lack access to the most basic energy services, electricity, and clean cooking facilities, and, worse, this situation is set to change very little over the next 20 years. This paper explains how to set the needed change in the orientation and execution for the service delivery mechanism of energy. Aims: The restatement of the theory of critical minimum effort as a plan to achieve a steady secular supply of basic energy requirements for people in need. Study Design: Descriptive analysis. Place and Duration of Study: Macro-level analysis on India based on Socio-Economic and caste census of 2011. Methodology: Review-driven theoretical analysis. Conclusion: Restates those large-scale actions are needed to take people out of the vicious circle of energy poverty.


Author(s):  
Taha Yasseri ◽  
Jannie Reher

AbstractThrough a large-scale online field experiment, we provide new empirical evidence for the presence of the anchoring bias in people’s judgement due to irrational reliance on a piece of information that they are initially given. The comparison of the anchoring stimuli and respective responses across different tasks reveals a positive, yet complex relationship between the anchors and the bias in participants’ predictions of the outcomes of events in the future. Participants in the treatment group were equally susceptible to the anchors regardless of their level of engagement, previous performance, or gender. Given the strong and ubiquitous influence of anchors quantified here, we should take great care to closely monitor and regulate the distribution of information online to facilitate less biased decision making.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 111
Author(s):  
Jhoni Lagun Siang ◽  
Bahrudin Hasan ◽  
Lukman Tamhir

The purpose of this study is to: (1) produce video lessons that are feasible to be applied as learning media. (2) knowing the feasibility of learning videos so that they are feasible to be applied to learning media. Development of this learning video uses research and development methods or Research & Development which produces learning videos. This development research uses Allesi and Trollip method, which includes 3 steps of development, namely (1) planning: determining needs and goals, gathering resources, and generating ideas. (2) design: create flowcharts, create storyboards, and prepare scripts. (3) development: producing video and audio, programming material, preparing supporting components, evaluating and revising. The results of this development research are learning video products that have been tested for their feasibility by media experts, material experts, and students as users of the media. The overall results of the trial showed results, good namely obtaining a Worthy category with details: (1) the material expert test obtained an average yield of 3.55 which was categorized as feasible (2) the media expert test obtained an average yield of 3.5 which was categorized as feasible (3) scale test small by students get 3.5 average results which are categorized as feasible, (4) large-scale test by students get an average yield of 3.19 which is categorized as feasible. Based on the results of the media feasibility test, it can be concluded that the video is learning feasible to use.


2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 322-332
Author(s):  
Natsuki Yamanobe ◽  
◽  
Ee Sian Neo ◽  
Eiichi Yoshida ◽  
Nobuyuki Kita ◽  
...  

The OpenRT Platform, an integrated development environment for component-based robot system development, is being constructed in order to enhance intelligent robot research and development efficiency. In this paper, a mobile manipulator system that can bring human indicated objects like a service dog is developed based on the OpenRT Platform. The system works with several components providing manipulation, locomotion, and communication functions developed as examples modularizing intelligent robotic functions. These components are integrated using scenario tools in the OpenRT Platform for achieving target tasks.


Engineering ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 04 (09) ◽  
pp. 557-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joongu Kang ◽  
Changsung Kim ◽  
Sanghwa Jung ◽  
Hongkoo Yeo

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document