An Algorithm to Decide Feasibility of Linear Integer Constraints Occurrng in Decision Tables

Abstract-To detect errors in decision tables one needs to decide whether a given set of constraints is feasible or not. This paper describes an algorithm to do so when the constraints are linear in variables that take only integer values. Decision tables with such constraints occur frequently in business data processing and in nonnumeric applications. The aim of the algorithm is to exploit. the abundance of very simple constraints that occur in typical decision table contexts. Essentially, the algorithm is a backtrack procedure where the the solution space is pruned by using the set of simple constrains. After some simplications, the simple constraints are captured in an acyclic directed graph with weighted edges. Further, only those partial vectors are considered from extension which can be extended to assignments that will at least satisfy the simple constraints. This is how pruning of the solution space is achieved. For every partial assignment considered, the graph representation of the simple constraints provides a lower bound for each variable which is not yet assigned a value. These lower bounds play a vital role in the algorithm and they are obtained in an efficient manner by updating older lower bounds. Our present algorithm also incorporates an idea by which it can be checked whether or not an (m - 2)-ary vector can be extended to a solution vector of m components, thereby backtracking is reduced by one component.

Sustainable bioenergy for India: Technical, economic and policy analysis

India's energy challenges are multi-pronged. They are manifested through growing demand for modern energy carriers, a fossil fuel dominated energy system facing a severe resource crunch, the need for creating access to quality energy for the large section of deprived population, vulnerable energy security, local and global pollution regimes and the need for sustaining economic development. Renewable energy is considered as one of the most promising alternatives. Recognizing this potential, India has been implementing one of the largest renewable energy programmes in the world. Among the renewable energy technologies. bioenergy has a large diverse portfolio including efficient biomass stoves, biogas, biomass combustion and gasification and process heat and liquid fuels. India has also formulated and implemented a number of innovative policies and programmes to promote bioenergy technologies. However, according to some preliminary studies, the success rate is marginal compared to the potential available. This limited success is a clear indicator of the need for a serious reassessment of the bioenergy programme. Further, a realization of the need for adopting a sustainable energy path to address the above challenges will be the guiding force in this reassessment. In this paper an attempt is made to consider the potential of bioenergy to meet the rural energy needs: (I) biomass combustion and gasification for electricity; (2) biomethanation for cooking energy (gas) and electricity; and (3) efficient wood-burning devices for cooking. The paper focuses on analysing the effectiveness of bioenergy in creating this rural energy access and its sustainability in the long run through assessing: the demand for bioenergy and potential that could be created; technologies, status of commercialization and technology transfer and dissemination in India; economic and environmental performance and impacts: bioenergy policies, regulatory measures and barrier analysis. The whole assessment aims at presenting bioenergy as an integral part of a sustainable energy strategy for India. The results show that bioenergy technology (BET) alternatives compare favourably with the conventional ones. The cost comparisons show that the unit costs of BET alternatives are in the range of 15-187% of the conventional alternatives. The climate change benefits in terms of carbon emission reductions are to the tune of 110 T C per year provided the available potential of BETs are utilized.

Universalization of access to modern energy services in Indian households-Economic and policy analysis

Provision of modern energy services for cooking (with gaseous fuels)and lighting (with electricity) is an essential component of any policy aiming to address health, education or welfare issues; yet it gets little attention from policy-makers. Secure, adequate, low-cost energy of quality and convenience is core to the delivery of these services. The present study analyses the energy consumption pattern of Indian domestic sector and examines the urban-rural divide and income energy linkage. A comprehensive analysis is done to estimate the cost for providing modern energy services to everyone by 2030. A public-private partnership-driven business model, with entrepreneurship at the core, is developed with institutional, financing and pricing mechanisms for diffusion of energy services. This approach, termed as EMPOWERS (entrepreneurship model for provision of wholesome energy-related basic services), if adopted, can facilitate large-scale dissemination of energy-efficient and renewable technologies like small-scale biogas/biofuel plants, and distributed power generation technologies to provide clean, safe, reliable and sustainable energy to rural households and urban poor. It is expected to integrate the processes of market transformation and entrepreneurship development involving government, NGOs, financial institutions and community groups as stakeholders. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Do inventory management practices affect economic performance? An empirical evaluation of the machine tool SMEs in Bangalore

Inventory management (IM) has a decisive role in the enhancement of manufacturing industry's competitiveness. Therefore, major manufacturing industries are following IM practices with the intention of improving their performance. However, the effort to introduce IM in SMEs is very limited due to lack of initiation, expertise, and financial constraints. This paper aims to provide a guideline for entrepreneurs in enhancing their IM performance, as it presents the results of a survey based study carried out for machine tool Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Bangalore. Having established the significance of inventory as an input, we probed the relationship between IM performance and economic performance of these SMEs. To the extent possible all the factors of production and performance indicators were deliberately considered in pure economic terms. All economic performance indicators adopted seem to have a positive and significant association with IM performance in SMEs. On the whole, we found that SMEs which are IM efficient are likely to perform better on the economic front also and experience higher returns to scale.

Passive immunization with an antibody to the beta-subunit of ovine luteinizing hormone as a method of early abortion--a feasibility study in monkeys (Macaca radiata)

Antiserum to the beta-subunit of ovine luteinizing hormone (oLH-beta) raised in monkeys (Macaca radiata) has been tested by a variety of criteria both in vivo and in vitro to establish its ability to neutralize oLH, hLH, and human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). Passive administration of this antiserum caused inhibition of ovulation and termination of pregnancy in recipient monkeys as indicated by premature vaginal bleeding and a significant reduction in serum progesterone and estrogen levels. The results suggest that antiserum raised in monkeys against oLH-beta can neutralize monkey LH as well as monkey CG.

Influence of subcontracting on innovation and economic performance of SMEs in Indian automobile industry

Trans-national corporations (TNCs) expanding their production bases to developing countries having better conditions of manufacturing and domestic markets provide increasing opportunities for local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to have subcontracting relationships with these TNCs Even though some theoretical and a few empirical studies throw light on the nature of assistance provided by TNCs to local SMEs through subcontracting relationships none of the studies so far quantitatively analysed the role of this assistance on the innovative performance of SMEs leading to better economic performance This paper probes the extent and diversity of assistance received by SMEs from a TNC through subcontracting and its influence on technological innovations and economic performance of SMEs in the Indian automobile industry Indian SMEs were able to receive mainly product related and purchase process assistance thereby implying that subcontracting is largely confined to purchase-supply relationships However assistance received through subcontracting is beneficial as It promoted technological innovations of SMEs the higher the degree of assistance the higher the level of innovations carried out by these SMEs which in turn facilitated their economic performance Thus this paper substantiates in the Indian context that subcontracting relationship with a TNC can be an important source of technological innovations and enhanced economic performance for SMEs (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved

Macro-economic analysis of forestry options on carbon sequestration in India

The forestry sector provides a number of climate change mitigation options. Apart from this ecological benefit, it has significant social and economic relevance. Implementation of forestry options requires large investments and sustained long-term planning. Thus there is a need for a detailed analysis of forestry options to understand their implications on stock and flow of carbon, required investments, value of forest wealth, contribution to GNP and livelihood, demand management, employment and foreign trade. There is a need to evaluate the additional spending on forestry by analysing the environmental (particularly carbon abatement), social and economic benefits. The biomass needs for India are expected to increase by two to three times by 2020. Depending upon the forest types, ownership patterns and land use patterns, feasible forestry options are identified. It is found among many supply options to be feasible to meet the 'demand based needs' with a mix of management options, species choices and organisational set up. A comparative static framework is used to analyze the macro-economic impacts. Forestry accounts for 1.84% of GNP in India. It is characterized by significant forward industrial linkages and least backward linkage. Forestry generates about 36 million person years of employment annually. India imports Rs. 15 billion worth of forest based materials annually. Implementation of the demand based forestry options can lead to a number of ecological, economic and institutional changes. The notable ones are: enhancement of C stock from 9578 to 17 094 Mt and a net annual C-sequestration from 73 to 149 Mt after accounting for all emissions; a trebling of the output of forestry sector from Rs. 49 billion to Rs. 146 billion annually; an increase in GDP contribution of forestry from Rs. 32 billion to Rs. 105 billion over a period of 35 years; an increase in annual employment level by 23 million person years, emergence of forestry as a net contributor of foreign exchange through trading of forestry products; and an increase in economic value of forest capital stock by Rs. 7260 billion with a cost benefit analysis showing forestry as a profitable option. Implementation of forestry options calls for an understanding of current forest policies and barriers which are analyzed and a number of policy options are suggested. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.

An investigation into the feasibility of fetal lung maturity prediction using statistical textural features

Fetal lung and liver tissues were examined by ultrasound in 240 subjects during 24 to 38 weeks of gestational age in order to investigate the feasibility of predicting the maturity of the lung from the textural features of sonograms. A region of interest of 64 X 64 pixels is used for extracting textural features. Since the histological properties of the liver are claimed to remain constant with respect to gestational age, features obtained from the lung region are compared with those from liver. Though the mean values of some of the features show a specific trend with respect to gestation age, the variance is too high to guarantee definite prediction of the gestational age. Thus, we restricted our purview to an investigation into the feasibility of fetal lung maturity prediction using statistical textural features. Out of 64 features extracted, those features that are correlated with gestation age and less computationally intensive are selected. The results of our study show that the sonographic features hold some promise in determining whether the fetal lung is mature or immature.

Geographic Resources Decision Support System – an Open Source GIS

Fully structured and matured open source spatial and temporal analysis technology seems to be the official carrier of the future for planning of the natural resources especially in the developing nations. This technology has gained enormous momentum because of technical superiority, affordability and ability to join expertise from all sections of the society. Sustainable development of a region depends on the integrated planning approaches adopted in decision making which requires timely and accurate spatial data. With the increased developmental programmes, the need for appropriate decision support system has increased in order to analyse and visualise the decisions associated with spatial and temporal aspects of natural resources. In this regard Geographic Information System (GIS) along with remote sensing data support the applications that involve spatial and temporal analysis on digital thematic maps and the remotely sensed images. Open source GIS would help in wide scale applications involving decisions at various hierarchical levels (for example from village panchayat to planning commission) on economic viability, social acceptance apart from technical feasibility. GRASS (Geographic Resources Analysis Support System, http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass) is an open source GIS that works on Linux platform (freeware), but most of the applications are in command line argument, necessitating a user friendly and cost effective graphical user interface (GUI). Keeping these aspects in mind, Geographic Resources Decision Support System (GRDSS) has been developed with functionality such as raster, topological vector, image processing, statistical analysis, geographical analysis, graphics production, etc. This operates through a GUI developed in Tcltk (Tool command language / Tool kit) under Linux as well as with a shell in X-Windows. GRDSS include options such as Import /Export of different data formats, Display, Digital Image processing, Map editing, Raster Analysis, Vector Analysis, Point Analysis, Spatial Query, which are required for regional planning such as watershed Analysis, Landscape Analysis etc. This is customised to Indian context with an option to extract individual band from the IRS (Indian Remote Sensing Satellites) data, which is in BIL (Band Interleaved by Lines) format. The integration of PostgreSQL (a freeware) in GRDSS aids as an efficient database management system.

Ecological and Socio Economic Assesment of Varthur Wetlnd, Bengaluru (India)

Wetlands are the most productive ecosystems, recognized globally for its vital role in sustaining a wide array of biodiversity and provide goods and services. However despite their important role in maintaining the ecology and economy, wetlands in India are endangered by inattention and lack of appreciation for their role. Increased anthropogenic activities such as intense agriculture practices, indiscriminate disposal of industrial effluents and sewage wastes have altered the physical, chemical as well as biological integrity of the ecosystem. This has resulted in the ecological degradation, which is evident from the current ecosystem valuation of Varthur wetland. Global valuation of coastal wetland ecosystem shows a total of 14,785/ha US$ annual economic value. An earlier study of relatively pristine wetland in Bangalore shows the value of Rs. 10,435/ha/day while the polluted wetland shows the value of Rs.20/ha/day. In contrast to this, Varthur, a sewage fed wetland has a value of Rs.118.9/ha/day. The pollutants and subsequent contamination of the wetland has telling effects such as disappearance of native species, dominance of invasive exotic species (such as African catfish), in addition to profuse breeding of disease vectors and pathogens. Water quality analysis revealed of high phosphates (4.22-5.76 ppm) level in addition to the enhanced BOD (119-140 ppm) and decreased DO (0-1.06 ppm). The amplified decline of ecosystem goods and services with degradation of water quality necessitates the implementation of sustainable management strategies to recover the lost wetland benefits.

Ecological and socio-economic assessment of Varthur wetland, Bengaluru (India)

Wetlands are the most productive ecosystems, recognized globally for its vital role in sustaining a wide array of biodiversity and provide goods and services. However despite their important role in maintaining the ecology and economy, wetlands in India are endangered by inattention and lack of appreciation for their role. Increased anthropogenic activities such as intense agriculture practices, indiscriminate disposal of industrial effluents and sewage wastes have altered the physical, chemical as well as biological integrity of the ecosystem. This has resulted in the ecological degradation, which is evident from the current ecosystem valuation of Varthur wetland. Global valuation of coastal wetland ecosystem shows a total of 14,785/ha US$ annual economic value. An earlier study of relatively pristine wetland in Bangalore shows the value of Rs. 10,435/ha/day while the polluted wetland shows the value of Rs.20/ha/day. In contrast to this, Varthur, a sewage fed wetland has a value of Rs.118.9/ha/day. The pollutants and subsequent contamination of the wetland has telling effects such as disappearance of native species, dominance of invasive exotic species (such as African catfish), in addition to profuse breeding of disease vectors and pathogens. Water quality analysis revealed of high phosphates (4.22-5.76 ppm) level in addition to the enhanced BOD (119-140 ppm) and decreased DO (0-1.06 ppm). The amplified decline of ecosystem goods and services with degradation of water quality necessitates the implementation of sustainable management strategies to recover the lost wetland benefits.