The Future of Product Development in India

A product is reflects the constraints, beliefs and aspirations of a society. Product development both influences and is influenced by the growth of a society and its economy. India is a fast growing economy. We use a brief historical, socioeconomic account of India as a backdrop to detect the drivers and roadblocks to its economic and social growth. In this context, current and future trends of PD practice, education and research are sketched. Products are taken as artefacts of the act of designing, without limiting to only those created by industry in a market-economic context.

The Future of Computation

The purpose of life is to obtain knowledge, use it to live with as much satisfaction as possible, and pass it on with improvements and modifications to the next generation.'' This may sound philosophical, and the interpretation of words may be subjective, yet it is fairly clear that this is what all living organisms--from bacteria to human beings--do in their life time. Indeed, this can be adopted as the information theoretic definition of life. Over billions of years, biological evolution has experimented with a wide range of physical systems for acquiring, processing and communicating information. We are now in a position to make the principles behind these systems mathematically precise, and then extend them as far as laws of physics permit. Therein lies the future of computation, of ourselves, and of life.

A touch of history and a peep into the future of the lipid-quinone known as coenzyme Q and ubiquinone

Coenzyme Q (ubiquinone), a fully substituted benzoquinone with polyprenyl side chain, participates in many cellular redox activities. Paradoxically it was discovered only in 1957, albeit being ubiquitous. It required a person, F. L. Crane, a place, Enzyme Institute, Madison, USA, and a time when D. E. Green was directing vigorous research on mitochondria. Located at the transition of 2-electron flavoproteins and 1-electron cytochrome carriers, it facilitates electron transfer through the elegant Q-cycle in mitochondria to reduce O-2 to H2O, and to H2O2, now a significant signal-transducing agent, as a minor activity in shunt pathway (animals) and alternative oxidase (plants). The ability to form Q-radical by losing an electron and a proton was ingeniously used by Mitchell to explain the formation of the proton gradient, considered the core of energy transduction, and also in acidification in vacuoles. Known to be a mobile membrane constituent (microsomes, plasma membrane and Golgi apparatus), allowing it to reach multiple sites, coenzyme Q is expected to have other activities. Coenzyme Q protects circulating lipoproteins being a better lipid antioxidant than even vitamin E. Binding to proteins such as QPS, QPN, QPC and uncoupling protein in mitochondria, QA and QB in the reaction centre in R. sphaeroides, and disulfide bond-forming protein in E. coli (possibly also in Golgi), coenzyme Q acquires selective functions. A characteristic of orally dosed coenzyme Q is its exclusive absorption into the liver, but not the other tissues. This enrichment of Q is accompanied by significant decrease of blood pressure and of serum cholesterol. Inhibition of formation of mevalonate, the common precursor in the branched isoprene pathway, by the minor product, coenzyme Q, decreases the major product, cholesterol. Relaxation of contracted arterial smooth muscle by a side-chain truncated product of coenzyme Q explains its effect of decreasing blood pressure. Extensive clinical studies carried out on oral supplements of coenzyine Q, initially by K. Folkers and Y. Yamamura and followed many others, revealed a large number of beneficial effects, significantly in cardiovascular diseases. Such a variety of effects by this lipid quinone cannot depend on redox activity alone. The fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) that bear structural relationship with coenzyme Q are known to be active in their polar forms. A vignette of modified forms of coenzyme Q taking active role in its multiple effects is emerging.

Electrochemical capacitors: Technical challenges and prognosis for future markets

Electrochemical capacitors are potential devices that could help bringing about major advances in future energy storage. They are lightweight and their manufacture and disposal has no detrimental effects on the environment. A comprehensive description of fundamental science of electrochemical capacitors is presented. Similarities and differences between electrochemical capacitors and secondary batteries for electrical energy storage are highlighted and various types of electrochemical capacitors are discussed with special reference to lead-carbon hybrid ultracapacitors. Some envisaged applications of electrochemical capacitors are described along with the technical challenges and prognosis for future markets. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Assessing future rainfall projections using multiple GCMs and a multi-site stochastic downscaling model

Impact of global warming on daily rainfall is examined using atmospheric variables from five General Circulation Models (GCMs) and a stochastic downscaling model. Daily rainfall at eleven raingauges over Malaprabha catchment of India and National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis data at grid points over the catchment for a continuous time period 1971-2000 (current climate) are used to calibrate the downscaling model. The downscaled rainfall simulations obtained using GCM atmospheric variables corresponding to the IPCC-SRES (Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change - Special Report on Emission Scenarios) A2 emission scenario for the same period are used to validate the results. Following this, future downscaled rainfall projections are constructed and examined for two 20 year time slices viz. 2055 (i.e. 2046-2065) and 2090 (i.e. 2081-2100). The model results show reasonable skill in simulating the rainfall over the study region for the current climate. The downscaled rainfall projections indicate no significant changes in the rainfall regime in this catchment in the future. More specifically, 2% decrease by 2055 and 5% decrease by 2090 in monsoon (HAS) rainfall compared to the current climate (1971-2000) under global warming conditions are noticed. Also, pre-monsoon (JFMAM) and post-monsoon (OND) rainfall is projected to increase respectively, by 2% in 2055 and 6% in 2090 and, 2% in 2055 and 12% in 2090, over the region. On annual basis slight decreases of 1% and 2% are noted for 2055 and 2090, respectively.

Assessing severe Drought and wet events over India in a future climate using a nested bias-correction approach

General circulation models (GCMs) are routinely used to simulate future climatic conditions. However, rainfall outputs from GCMs are highly uncertain in preserving temporal correlations, frequencies, and intensity distributions, which limits their direct application for downscaling and hydrological modeling studies. To address these limitations, raw outputs of GCMs or regional climate models are often bias corrected using past observations. In this paper, a methodology is presented for using a nested bias-correction approach to predict the frequencies and occurrences of severe droughts and wet conditions across India for a 48-year period (2050-2099) centered at 2075. Specifically, monthly time series of rainfall from 17 GCMs are used to draw conclusions for extreme events. An increasing trend in the frequencies of droughts and wet events is observed. The northern part of India and coastal regions show maximum increase in the frequency of wet events. Drought events are expected to increase in the west central, peninsular, and central northeast regions of India. (C) 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Forest observational studies in India: Past developments and considerations for the future

Long term forest research sites in India, going by different names including Linear Tree Increment Plots, Linear Increment Plots, Linear Sample Plots and Permanent Preservation Plots, cover diverse plant communities and environmental conditions. Presently, some of these long-term observational studies are functional, some are disturbed and others have almost been lost. The accumulated data will become increasingly important in the context of environmental modelling and climate change, especially if the plots and data can be maintained and/or revived. This contribution presents the history and current state of forest research plots in India, including details of locations and re-measurements. We provide a brief introduction of the National Forest Inventory (NFI), Preservation Plots in natural forests, the 50-ha Mudumalai Forest Dynamics Plot as part of the Centre for Tropical Forest Science and Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatories network (CTFS-SIGEO), and research plots established in plantations for tree growth studies and modelling. We also present some methodological details including assessment and analysis for two types of observational studies, the Tree Count Plots (TCP) and Tree Re-measurement Plots (TRP). Arguments are presented in favour of enumeration and analysis methods which are consistent with current approaches in forest ecological research. (c) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Germanane: a Low Effective Mass and High Bandgap 2-D Channel Material for Future FETs

We investigate the electronic properties of Germanane and analyze its importance as 2-D channel material in switching devices. Considering two types of morphologies, namely, chair and boat, we study the real band structure, the effective mass variation, and the complex band structure of unstrained Germanane by density-functional theory. The chair morphology turns out to be a more effective channel material for switching devices than the boat morphology. Furthermore, we study the effect of elastic strain, van der Waals force, and vertical electric field on these band structure properties. Due to its very low effective mass with relatively high-energy bandgap, in comparison with the other 2-D materials, Germanane appears to provide superior performance in switching device applications.

Drug Discovery Research in India: Current State and Future Prospects

Indian civilization developed a strong system of traditional medicine and was one of the first nations to develop a synthetic drug. In the postindependence era, Indian pharmaceutical industry developed a strong base for production of generic drugs. Challenges for the future are to give its traditional medicine a strong scientific base and develop research and clinical capability to consistently produce new drugs based on advances in modem biological sciences.