June 2, 2020 | Adamas University

A gateway to clean and green energy

Introduction

India’s economic revival post the two-and-a-half-month lockdown period could be channelized into searching for cleaner sources of energy that would benefit both nature and its inhabitants. To start with, the central government should look for ways to utilize abundant solar energy available in most parts of the country. In this case, the focal point should be to energise the nearly 39,000 unelectrified healthcare centres as well as numerous primary and secondary schools in the Indian countryside.

As of now, the Indian government hands out heavy subsidies to the fossil fuels sector. Instead of this, in an effort to kick-start the much needed clean energy revolution, the government may transfer the subsidies to the renewable energy sector, thereby enabling it to take small strides that could lead to giant leaps in the coming decades. United Nations climate body chief Patricia Espinosa said on April 22, “With this restart, a window of hope and opportunity opens, an opportunity for nations to green their recovery packages and shape the 21st century economy in ways that are clean, green, healthy, safe and more resilient”. In fact, India’s own energy research centres, the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) and Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), echoed similar views. A research fellow at CEEW, Karthik Ganesan, said, “There is a phenomenal opportunity for India in re-thinking if there is a better way of spending these (coal and oil and gas) subsidies to make them investment-worthy”.

Utilization

The present realities exhibit that organization enrichments for limitless power have trebled over the last five years to Rs 9,930 crore in 2019 from Rs 3,224 crore in 2014, as it were, driven by India’s assurance of setting up plants that could help generate an estimated 175 Giga Watt (GW) by 2022, according to the CEED report. In comparison, India spent more than Rs 80,000 crore towards subsidies for the coal, oil and gas industry. It is, therefore, apparent that, at present, India is spending an enormous amount of money towards non-renewable energy sources, which needs to change soon. In fact, the subsidies for the non-renewable sources exceed by seven times when compared to the renewable sources. Unless this is reversed, it will be extremely difficult to promote clean energy in India.

As of now, 56% of India’s electricity needs are generated from coal, 36% from oil and gas while about 3% is obtained from cleaner sources. However, India has made rapid strides in terms of utilizing renewable sources of energy – Renewables now amount to around 20% of India’s total installed power capacity, up from just 13% in 2014.

A good time to promote the use of renewable energy is now, after the resumption of industrial activities, post removal of lockdown, in an effort to meet any shortfall through renewable energy. Decisions and strategies made now will define the future since the benefits from these decisions will be visible only after 1-2 decades from now. Therefore, a judicious use of fossil fuels on one hand and an aggressive promotion of renewables are a good way forward.

Volatility of fossil fuels

Industries that are mostly run from power generated by coal and other fossil fuels had a period of nearly 10-15 years that were quite stressful. Case in point is the underperformance of the Indian coal-mining and coal-fired companies. In December 2018, Greenpeace reported an average loss of 10% per year from 2013, costing a total of Rs 25,000 crore in losses.

One among several research set-ups that study the usage and financial benefits of renewable energy source, Matt Gray from Carbon Tracker estimated the economic feasibility of countries that have invested their energy dependence on coal and also in order to recover from the effects of the lockdown imposed by COVID-19. In fact, he specifically cautions India against using coal to spur its industries back after the lockdown and cites a reason for it to support his claim. In India, 2% of the current 222 GW coal fleet is running at a loss; an additional 66 GW is in the pipeline anyway 23% of this will enter the market with a negative cash flow, the Carbon Tracker report said. Matt Gray’s report also adds, “51 percent of operating coal power costs more to run than building new renewables”.

Setting up the renewable energy network

In order to effectively distribute the benefits of renewable energy, small units of solar power supply units may be supplied to small and medium scale industries as well as small residences in towns and cities. On the other hand, in remote rural areas of the country, electricity generated from solar cells could be used to power small rural schools, hospitals, etc. Although relatively higher initial capital costs tend to deter people from using solar or other renewable energy, funding for these may be allotted from government agencies as well as from Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds in order to popularize such schemes. In fact, massive funding schemes, called KUSUM (meant to promote solar pumps), have been launched in order to promote use of solar power in far-reaching areas of the country.

Some caveats must also be mentioned which deal with strengthening the existing electricity grid so that the grids are able to absorb introduction of electricity supply from renewable energy sources. Moreover, it may take at least a few years before tangible benefits from renewable energy are financially visible. In addition, adequate training needs to be provided to workers who would be at the forefront of this massive changeover from conventional energy sources to unconventional sources. Ultimately, these actions could help steer India towards a path of recovery, make the air cleaner and, make sure that the inhabitants may experience clean, breathable air in the recent future.

Worldwide coal use in power generation must fall 80% below the 2010 levels by 2030 in order to limit global temperature rise to 1.5°C, as per an examination conducted by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The hitherto unexpected benefits obtained from a prolonged near-global lockdown will go to a complete waste unless coal and fossil fuel usage is limited and more and more renewable energy sources are promoted at an aggressive rate. It would only be possible if more countries realise the benefits as well as the urgency of the situation in tackling the disastrous effects of global warming and, therefore, take necessary steps that can mitigate damages done to the environment from unabated use of fossil fuels.

Desert locust concern and trail frontward

As their name proposes, desert locusts regularly live and breed in semi-parched/desert locales. For laying eggs, they require exposed ground, which is once in a while found in regions with thick vegetation. In this way, they are bound to raise in Rajasthan than in the Indo-Gangetic fields or Godavari and Cauvery delta.

While green vegetation is useful for container advancement – the phase between the fairy that has brought forth and before its transforming into a winged grown-up moth – such spread isn’t far-reaching enough in deserts to permit the development of enormous locust populaces.

Locusts aren’t risky as long as they are singular containers/moths or little separated gatherings of creepy crawlies, in what is known as the “single-stage”. It is the point at which their populace develops to huge numbers – the resultant swarming prompts conduct changes and change from the “singular” to the “gregarious” stage – that they begin framing swarms. A solitary multitude contains up to 40-80 million grown-ups in one square km and these can venture out up to 150 km in one day.

The above huge scope reproducing and swarm development, nonetheless, happens just when conditions turn truly positive in their normal natural surroundings, for example, desert and semi-parched areas. These regions ought to get downpours that will deliver enough green vegetation to empower both egg-laying and container improvement.

It creates the impression that such conditions have been there since the beginning of this current year. The principle locust reproducing territories in the Horn of Africa, Yemen, Oman, Southern Iran, and Pakistan’s Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions recorded broad rains in March-April. East Africa, truth be told, had its wettest precipitation season in more than four decades in any event, during October-November.

The container groups and youthful grown-up bunches coming about because of this enormous scope reproducing – itself a result of bizarrely substantial downpours – are the ones that began showing up in Rajasthan during the main fortnight of April. The Union Agriculture Ministry’s Locust Warning Organization at that point watched “low-thickness I and II instars gregarious/transient containers” at Jaisalmer and Suratgarh in Rajasthan and Fazilka in Punjab connecting the Indo-Pakistan outskirt.

Accordingly, there has been an appearance of multitudes from the heart rearing regions. What’s more, these multitudes have come not exclusively to western Rajasthan, yet besides, they moved toward the eastern pieces of the state and even Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. Quite a bit of this development, it appears, was supported by the solid westerly breezes from Cyclone Amphan in the Bay of Bengal.

Consequently, we have had two meteorological drivers behind the ebb and flow locust attacks: one, unseasonal substantial rains in the fountainhead rearing tracts in March-April, and, two, in number westerly breezes.

The United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization have additionally said that “few progressive influxes of attacks can be normal until July in Rajasthan with eastbound floods across northern India to the extent Bihar and Orissa”. Be that as it may, after July, there would be westbound developments of the multitudes, as they will profit to Rajasthan for the rear of the changing breezes related to the southwest rainstorm.

Something essential to note is the present multitudes are all of “youthful locusts”. These are locusts that insatiably feed on vegetation, however, they have not yet laid eggs. When they begin rearing, the multitude of development will stop or moderate. Additionally, the rearing will happen essentially in Rajasthan. Up until this point, the multitudes haven’t caused a lot of harm, since the rabi crop has just been gathered and ranchers are yet to begin Kharif sowings.

One purpose behind the multitudes relocating eastwards – regularly they are found in India simply after July post the rainstorm’s appearance while keeping themselves for the most part to the desert territories of West Rajasthan where they breed and exist as lone bugs or in disconnected gatherings – has been their quest for food. Keep in mind, this creepy crawlies need to chomp enough – generally their load in new food consistently – before being prepared for mating. Without any yields in fields now, they have wound up attacking green spaces, including parks, in Jaipur and orange plantations close Nagpur.

The peril would be the point at which the multitudes that have as of now or are going to come will begin reproducing. A solitary gregarious female insect can lay 60-80 eggs multiple times during its normal life pattern of 90 days. On the off chance that their development is coterminous with that of the Kharif crop, we could well have a circumstance like what maize, sorghum, and wheat ranchers of Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia experienced in March-April.

A proactive exercise of control, through elevated showering of the ultra-low volume of moved bug sprays in all potential reproducing destinations, is required, alongside constant observing of the harvests during the following Kharif season. Fortunately, there is sufficient lead time for the administration to deflect an emergency it can’t manage the cost of – on top of managing Covid-19 and an exceptional financial constriction.

Children’s Literature in a Quarantined Community

In the current quarantine times it is important to support each other and to build up a stronger and healthier community feeling. Together as a team and with immense cooperation we can win over such difficult and trying times. These words are not new. These are the survival strategies which human beings have taken up from the time immemorial.

It is only that our current illusion of remaining connected to the world that has turned us into lonely beings and has made us forget these old survival tactics. It seems that the current crisis of the human existence has again reminded human beings of humanity. As human beings we were suddenly reminded of our co existence in the community together.

The lessons of coexistence have to be learnt afresh. These age old values of sharing, compassion and a concept of collective experience is the essence of various oral narratives around the world. These oral narratives were basically designed to educate the children of the community. But this wonderful world of oral narratives has always fascinated people of every age group.

These oral narratives from around the world have one trait in common. Most of these narratives talk about the responsibilities which human beings have towards their community and towards nature. These narratives always remind us that we are a part of nature. Most of these narrative uses incidents and symbols to imply that human beings are not born to dominate or exploit nature rather we exist to nurture our natural surroundings.

Almost all communities around the world have got narratives of origin. For instance some origin stories of certain indigenous communities in Canada describe the aid of the natural elements given to the human beings to secure land and to thrive on it. Such narratives also talk about the sense of eternal gratitude which human beings must have towards nature and all its sources. Ancient Indians believed in worshipping all the natural resources which later on took the form of gods. Same is the case with the Egyptian stories of origin and Mesopotamian cultural discourse. Of course one cannot forget the Greco-Roman tradition and the oral narratives which describe the story of origin and now are a part of the Greco-Roman mythology.

Again coming back to the idea that children’s literature is a blanket term. Generally the oral narratives we are talking about are accommodated under the broad category of children’s literature, of which the art of storytelling is the key component. Storytelling is considered to be a fascinating medium of instruction till date. Children learn to think and evaluate incidents around them from these oral narratives. These narratives have an objective to train the children of their respective community but at the same time they are also valuable pieces of knowledge for grownups. For example Jataka Tales told by Gautama Buddha to preach the lessons of life.

Keeping the idea of instruction in mind let us now look into the aspect of nature in these oral narratives. We have discussed that how these narratives try to train the children about their responsibilities towards their community and society with an emphasis towards the fact that human beings are a part of nature.

In this digital world where we all are netizens, survive under the illusion of remaining connected to each other. In our fancy to remain virtually connected to the big bright world outside we generally forget to remain connected with the little yet bright world around us sometimes even neglecting that. Children nowadays hardly go out to play. They hardly listen to any story. The art of oral story telling is gradually losing its grounds. Yes though it sounds bad yet we have to accept the fact that we live and depend on digital world for our survival. Thus we cannot do away with this virtual world around us but maybe we can look for a way out to harmonize and to strike a balance between the digital and the natural world.

At present the term quarantine seemed to be very popular. Delve deep in thought and we will probably end up realizing that how quarantined we actually were in our digital world long before COVID-19 invaded our real world. Today as we are literally unable to make it outside our home, thus these digital tools are literally connecting us. Our long lost connection with the nature around us may get reconnected n the current hard times and the digital tools around us may play a vital role in truly reminding us of the real natural world around us and our responsibilities towards the same.

Today’s digital platforms are introducing some animated audio-visual series based on oral narratives. These series are technically meant to cater the child audience though anybody can watch and enjoy them. These audio-visual initiatives for children, which are inspired from oral narratives, are trying to remind the child of the digital world about his/her responsibilities towards the real and the natural world around him/her.

Masha and the Bear (2009) by Oleg Kuzovkov, is one such creation. The stories of Masha depict a mischievous little girl and her animal friends from a wood nearby. She wonders around in the woods on her own. Masha’s family is never depicted in the stories, as if the forest and the animals in it are her family. She shares a very special bond with the Bear, who acts more like a guardian towards her, just like a parent.

Masha’s little stories and adventures with all her friends are inspired by various Russian oral narratives. Masha is very mischievous yet very helpful. She tries to make the bear happy though many a times she ends up in a mess. Similarly the bear happily cleans up and tolerates all her mess and in turn tries to make her happy. For instance, Masha’s desire to go to school inspired the bear to use his skills in carpentry, sewing, teaching and so on to prepare a school like atmosphere for Masha in his own house.

There are also instances when the bear wants to prepare Jams using fruits to keep them in store for his period of hibernation, but he feels very tiresome to do all that amount of work alone. Masha, with help of other animals, helps the bear to accomplish the task. Masha, though is little, she is very clear about her ideas of sharing the natural resources with other animals and to coexist with them. She is very responsible towards her friends in the woods. She tries to help them out whenever they are in need. Of course she gets the same in return.

Both Masha and the Bear compliment each other’s loneliness. This series is now available on digital platforms like Netflix, Youtube and so on. The series was translated into twenty five languages and was broadcasted in almost one hundred nations around the world. Masha depicts the concept of coexistence of humans with their natural surroundings and resources. She believes in sharing love, food and shelter with her little community of friends who are animals of a forest.

Through this series, Kuzovkov has tried to take us back to the long forgotten values of community feeling and sharing the natural resources and its importance for the human existence. Masha and the Bear is like an old wine in a new bottle. Like a well-wisher she portrays the fact that even when we remain glued to our computers we must not ignore our responsibilities towards the community as it is the key to overcome and survive any difficult time.

Sustainable and Resilient Growth of India: Post Covid: 19

We all need to accept the fact that COVID-19 is going to stay here for long and therefore we should all at the same point of time learn the art to living with it. But this crisis also demonstrates that governments and individuals are capable of strong and rapid action in the face of an overarching challenge. As India looks to boost up its economy, it is worth reflecting on the other systemic actions that are needed to shift towards a more sustainable and resilient economy. We need to overcome this crisis and take the situation in our hands to get best out of worst.

Economic crisis due to pandemic:

The world is facing probably humanity’s biggest crisis after World War II. Last month in New York Times Thomas Friedman wrote that the world history should henceforth be divided in B.C (before corona) and A.C (after corona). It’s too early to say on how the world will change after the covid-19 passes but one area to look at is global co-operation. Undoubtedly this pandemic has put the world economy at major risk.Covid-19 had already ravaged the economic foundation of global trade. Some specialists have identified this outbreak as an outcome of hyper globalization or starting of de-globalization.

The world is already facing recession and it is estimated that the global losses may exceed the losses which occurred in World War I and World War II in combined. At the same time falling of crude oil prices have added to additional anxieties. There are several estimates from the economist and the world economic forums which are already reflecting that world is facing a severe economic crisis.

Use of fiscal mechanisms for recovery and resilience:

If we try to be optimistic all crisis are a gateway towards the radical reforms. For realigning the priorities for the greater common good we need to take inspiration from US President Roosevelt book “New Deal” which is talking about three “R’s” , Relict for the vulnerable, Recovery for the economy and Reform for the financial system. These constructive principles by President Roosevelt should be kept in mind as the world has to stimulate the economy post COVID-19.

In the pursuit of relining the economy like other countries India is also trying to maneuver a judicious path between the need to safeguard the population (against unemployment and inflation) and revive the economy at the same point of time. The rigorous lockdown implemented has succeeded in slowing down the spread of the virus and now government is trying to start the economic activities in phases as per the situation of the area. Government is also trying to focus on the agriculture, manufacturing and service sector, while isolating the geographically identified hotspots of the virus contaminated areas. Ensuring that supply chain are re-opened as well as manufacturing and service sectors are free to operate by ensuring the social distancing and basic health hygiene guidelines.

From the very beginning our Honorable Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi seemed to be convinced that, the domestic economic situations will be a priority with some tough measures in the offering. India will have to make ease for global engagement and co-ordination. And therefore by calling a virtual SAARC summit and by pushing similar meet for the G-20 leaders, Indian government managed to bag various regional and multi-cultural engagements.

India’s external engagement has been suite substantially and its medical diplomacy in particular has highlighted the critical role India plays in global health matrix. By keeping in mind the media sources around mid-April India took the decision to export critical drugs like hydroxychloroquine and paracetamol to dozens of countries, these exports can be measured as humanitarian act for under-developed countries whereas for the developed nation it can be on the profit basis. It can be opined that this pandemic has brought various opportunities to solve the global crisis as well. And it goes without saying that the circumstances have potentials for proving India to be a leader in the global forefront of the nations.

The response to COVID-19 pandemic is simply the application of the dynamic that drives other social and ecological crisis. The intention here is not to minimizing the human cost of the tragedy that has unfolded although if we considered china as a worst affected nation initially USA, Italy, Spain, Germany have surpassed china in the death toll crisis. On the economic front, according to the most of the experts, global recession seems inevitable and which is giving rise to the vicious cycle of downward economy. Where companies are closing down, leading to further layoffs from the jobs and thus resulting in lower consumption level. A decline in GDP would follow and therefore to overcome this crisis a massive inflow of funds from the government side would be required with some changes in the industrial policies.

Global investors will be looking for the world for locations where strong states have shown themselves capable of managing black swan events effectively. And in the process stronger states will supply other important public goods that other international investors find valuable for instance infra-structure, macro-economic, social stability, skilled-labor and relatively open trade policies. Ideally India and Indonesia should top the list with all these criteria. Above and beyond India has proven itself extraordinarily effective in dealing with COVID-19 policies India seems to share values and interest that align closely with those of western democracies. Apart from that India has large international market and thriving private enterprises.

Clearly India needs a fundamental shift in is attitude towards trade and foreign investment, if it has to establish itself in the emerging post COVID-19 calculus of foreign investors. If the opportunity is attractive enough it will relocate various investors to India as well as to Asian countries moving away from china, and for this trend can already be seen.

Encouraging long-term Behavioral change:

If India compliments its state capabilities with moving towards more open trade and investment policies, it will prove to be a boon to the supply chain along with realignment with the foreign investors, no wonder. Indian government have launched the much-needed relief to the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, which is worried about the future in view of the Covid-19 outbreak. Greater intervention by the public sector will be justified by the emergency for as long as exceptional circumstances persist, but must be provided in a transparent manner and with clear sunset clauses. Transfers or subsidized loans which are given to a large corporation, they should be conditional on preserving jobs and limiting CEO compensation, dividends, and stock repurchases. Liquidity crisis can be solved by credit from the central banks through asset purchase programs or other government controlled financial intermediaries through loans and guarantees which has proven effective in previous crises. These domestic policies need to be supported by maintaining international trade and cooperation, which are essential to defeating the pandemic and maximizing the chances of a quick recovery. Limiting the movement of people is necessary for containment. But countries must resist the instinct of shutting down trade, especially for health-care items and the free exchange of scientific information.

Need for sustainable infrastructure investment:

Infrastructure investments are an effective way to boost economic activity and create jobs. And if we take up examples from the past we can very well relate to the fact that South Korea to overcome the 2008-09 financial crisis has directed almost 70% of it GDP towards green measures has rebounded faster than other economies in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Not only this USA had launched Great Recession recovery package in 2009, in which investments in sustainable energy and public infrastructure has created more jobs than traditional investments.

India too should take this opportunity to increase support for renewable energy, particularly rooftop solar, through appropriate policies and business models. Decentralized solar power can help spread various basic facilities (banking, hospitals, schools, electricity, cottage industry) in remote regions if the sincere capital constraints is addressed.

Similarly, increase in electrification and adoption of public transport will be very vital for reducing traffic congestion and air pollution. This should involve closer coordination with the electricity sector and a greater focus on vehicle charging infrastructure. Sustained investment in electrification in remote areas will lead to increase in cold storage facilities and supply chains will ensure the preservation and timely delivery of agricultural produce and reduce losses to farmers. Thus letting the rural India grow and positively contribute in countries economy.

Euclidean to Fractal……Geometry of Nature…

Most of the physical systems of nature are not regular geometric shapes of standard geometry derived from Euclid. Most of the shapes we deal with Euclidean or classical geometry are smooth shapes like circles, triangle, rectangular volume, spheres, arc, cylinder, lines, planes etc and are classified to have integer dimensions 1, 2 or 3. A line is one dimensional because we need only one number to uniquely define any point on it. This number may be the distance from any point. This also includes curve, boundary etc. In surface we need two numbers to specify any point on it and for volume it is three numbers. Concept of dimension is basically described by two ways. The number of co-ordinates we need to describe the system or number of dynamical variables needed to specify the system. But the fact is that the natural objects we see around us are strikingly different. Randomness is natural ingredients of most Natural phenomena. A different geometry is needed to describe them. Concept of dimensions seems to be different in such systems. ‘Clouds are not sphere, mountains are not cone, coast lines are not circles, bark is not smooth nor does the lightening travel in straight line’. How dimension can be defined to describe such systems? B. Mandelbrot gave a deeper thought into it.

How long is Coast of Norway?

This is the most interesting question asked about the length of the coast of Norway. If we go for a straight cut answer it will be it depends how closely you look at it or how long your measuring stick is.

Fig-1 –Coast of Norway

Fig-2- Measured length in log-log plot

In Fig-1 the deep fjords in western coast of Norway is shown clearly. If one takes the map and measure with a ruler one can get certain value but if one opt for walking along the coast and measure the steps, one will arrive at a very different and larger value of the perimeter. While passing one could walk a divider with steps ‘δ’ km each along the coast line on the map and count the number of steps. If N (δ) number of steps are needed to move from one end to other in the map, the estimated length will be L (δ) = N(δ).δ. Every time we increase the resolution δ, we will observe increase in the measure of length of the coastline. Fig-2 shows the measured length L (δ) as function of size δ of the δ x δ square to cover the coastline on the map and shows that the coastline does not have any fixed value of length as we reduce the yardstick length δ. It is interesting to observe the curve fitted well with the expression L (δ ) = A. δ^1-D with D ~1.52. For ordinary curve the ‘A’ should be equal to total length i.e. for sufficiently small δ exponent D equals to1 but here it is 1.52.The coast line curve is a Fractal with fractal Dimension 1.52. Fractal dimensions are usually non-integers.

Fractal Dimension: Koch Curve:

Once we leave the secure ground of conventional geometry a whole zoo of fractal dimension appears! The fractals are defined in several ways. It is found that objects, curves, function and sets are fractal when their form is extremely irregular and/or fragmented at all scales. Fractals are characterized by the fact that they show structures at all scales as shown in Fig-4. Such fragmentation at all scale indicates a scale dependence of various properties of fractals.

Fig-3successive approximation Koch curve D_T=1, D_F= ln4/ln3

Fig-4 -Zoom of fractal curve.

Fig-3 describes a typical Koch curve. The line-1 is called initiator. We then remove middle third of initiator replacing it by two lines each of length (1/3) as the remaining lines in each sides (2^nd line in Fig-3). This is called the Generator which generates the new form. We repeat the process for level-2 and level-3. The length of the curve increases with each iterations. It has infinite length! The fractal dimension is found here to be D_F=1.2628 (ln4/ln3) and length may be expressed as L(δ) = δ ^1-D = δ^D^T^-D^Fwhere D_Fis fractal dimension and D_T is topological dimension which is integer. One of the basic characteristics of fractal is geometry is its dependence on resolution.

Definition of Fractals:

An irregular geometric object with an infinite nesting of structure at all scales are defined as fractals. B. Mandelbrot, the father of fractal dimension has defined the fractals in several ways. He defined the fractal a set for which Housdorff- Besicovitch dimensions strictly exceeds the topological dimension. Another definition offered by him is as Fractal is a shape made of parts similar to the whole in some way which is termed as self similarity. An object is self-similar if it is congruent to a uniformly scaled piece of itself. Fractals are characterized by non differentiability and non integer dimensions. They are defined as sets of topological dimension D_Tand Fractal dimension D_F such that D_F> D_T. Sometimes fractals are characterised by their scale divergence. This means that they are metric spaces for which a finite measure can be defined but whose standard measure which correspond their topological dimension like length of the curve, area of the surface etc. tends to infinite as resolution tends to zero. This includes power law divergences.

Similarly Fractal surfaces are characterized by surface fractal dimension greater than 2. Menger sponge is a 3d fractal but its fractal dimension is less than 3. Several kinds of fractals are defined. This includes usual fractal (power law divergence), underfractal (logarithmic divergence) and superfractal which shows exponential divergence. Usually fractal dimensions are non-integer but there are several kinds of fractals which has integer fractal dimension such as Brownian motion which has fractal dimension 2. However there are disagreement concerning the exact definition of fractal among mathematicians and it is suggested to use fractals without a pedantic definition.

Fractals-applications:

Fractals have wide range of application in almost every domain of science, engineering and bio sciences. There are lots of natural phenomena that can be defined and predicted using fractals. Some of these shapes include clouds, vegetables, colour patterns, lightning, and snowflakes. Fractal can define images that are not otherwise can be defined by Euclidean

geometry. Trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains, clouds, lightning, snowflakes and hurricanes, earthquake are all displaying or obeying fractal rules. A fractal description of many things is a story about how they grow. The fractal patterns are used by artists for a long time. The image created by a fractal is complex yet striking. Fractals are used to capture the complex organic structure and to analyze various biological processes or phenomena such as the growth pattern of bacteria. In lungs and blood vessels fractal structure can be observed with larger passages branching into smaller passages which branch again into yet smaller ones. It is widely used in image processing. Fractals are related to chaos as they are complex systems that have definite properties. Many disordered media are fractal structures. A number of works are done on deterministic fractal lattices by investigating random walk on them. It has been used to study the scattering of electromagnetic wave or scalar wave by random variation of refractive index. One of the interesting areas is the study of physics underlying irreversible growth phenomena that generates fractal structures or Kinetic Critical phenomena. New research has discovered that fractals can be put to good use in photonics by creating transparent ultrathin metallic electrodes with superior optoelectronic properties. Our world is fractal world. Its uses ranges from the branching of tracheal tubes, leaves, trees, vegetables, veins in hand, water swirling and twisting out of a tap, a puffy cumulus cloud, turbulent flow, tiny oxygen molecule or the DNA molecule and finally film and stoke market too!! There are many surprises in generating fractals and investigating their properties. It proves to be a useful tool despite all its intricacies.

A new approach to microphysics started with Fractals. The particle distribution in High Energy collision often show self similarity and power law behaviour which in turn can be related to the fractal structure of hadrons. Many works focuses on the path of the quantum particles and fundamental physics. The internal fractal structure of the path of quantum particle may be attributed to the non-differentiable space –time. In that respect laws nature can be replaced by scale relativity. This generalizes Einstein’s principle of (motion) relativity to scale transformation. Fractal is deeply related to in-homogeneity. Fractal approach has been made to study large scale distribution of galaxies which is a new approach for understanding galaxy clustering. Universe is suggested to have fractal structure at all scales. Fractals seem to prevail in nature starting from macro to micro scale. In the end if we ask why fractals? Possible answer could be structural manifestation of the fundamental non differentiability of Nature which leads to the fact that Laws of Nature are non-differentiable!!

References:

Feder : Fractals, Plenum Press, (1989)
B. Mandelbrot: Fractal Geometry of Nature, W.H Freeman and Co (1982).
Nottale: Scale Relativity and Fractal Space Time. Imperial College Press (2011)

Pictures; Courtesy Google picture.

Decoding the Pharmacological aspects in the arena of COVID-19, with insights of Pharmaceutical Markets globally

Introduction:

The pandemic, novel (COVID-19) is caused by a severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,which got it’s spread bifurcated from Wuhan, China, in December 2019, and has spreaded largely worldwide. This Beta-coronavirus bears similar characteristics of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), based on its genetic labels, which is originated from bat-derived coronaviruses via the unknown intermediate cause to host humans.

Currently, there is no evidence based monitoring available as from randomized clinical trials (RCTs) , that may suggest any potential therapy improvising the outcomes in suspected or confimed patients with COVID-19. There are no clinical trial data that can support various prophylactic therapies. The structured proteins are synthesized profiling to aggregation of assembly and release of viral particles.The viral lifecycle somehow provide potential targets for drug therapy.The promising drug targets include nonstructural proteins. Reference: (Daniel S. Streetman, PharmD, MS)

As news about COVID-19 gets modified and updated each and every day and the world awaits the distant promise of a defined marketed vaccine, healthcare workers are now focused on the monotonous realities of treating the disease. Every day there are new whims and ideas, new evidences, old possibilities of disapprovals and clinicians and researchers in trenches sharing the benefit of their experiences.

For those of who tirelessly and monotonously monitors the work every day , evaluating the studies of different therapies, it is believed, that it is essential that even as the undermined monitoring information and best practices may lead to the most effective and efficacious treatments for COVID-19, it is judgemental to also pay attention in emerging evidences about potential interactions.

Likely they are as follows:

Remdesivir:

Remdesivir is a nucleotide analog with a broad-spectrum pharmacological action against several viruses that is being made available for treatment of some patients with COVID-19 infections , as part of a stage one of the clinical trial. The Pharmacokinetic interaction concerns states that a very little information about Remdesivir is available. Consequently, it is impregnated over the predictions whether other medications may impact its concentrations or distribution or bioavailability, or whether Remdesivir itself could alter the pharmacokinetics of other medications being administered. Remdesivir being sensitive to CYP3A4-mediated drug interactions , based on in vitro findings, no clinical interactions with CYP3A4 are expected, as it is primarily metabolized by hydrolase in vivo. Further, in rhesus monkeys, Remdesivir gets rapidly distributed through the peripheral mononucleated cells , where it gets converted to the active nucleotide triphosphate metabolites. These findings strongly support a progressive low risk and grading of significant pharmacokinetic interactions .

Hydroxychloroquine:

In proposed pharmacological manifestations, to its antimalarial and immunomodulating actions, Hydroxychloroquine has been able to show active against SARS-CoV-2. The major drug interaction bothers Hydroxychloroquine in prolonging the QT interval, possibly increasing the obligated factors of risk for arrhythmias An arrhythmia describes an irregular heartbeat. A person’s heart may beat too quickly, too slowly, too early, or with an irregular rhythm. Arrhythmias occur when the electrical signals that coordinate heartbeats does not work correctly. An irregular heartbeat may feel like a racing heart or fluttering. Despite the publications available, Hydroxychloroquine labeling recommends avoiding concurrent use of other medications that may prolong the QT interval, based on effects seen when administered in overdose. However, many publications in the past weeks have described the potential cardiac risks of Hydroxychloroquine, when co- administered combinely with Azithromycin, which itself is categorized as a moderate QT-prolonging drug, where the QT interval is an electrocardiogram representation of ventricular depolarization and repolarization. Another drug interaction concern with Hydroxychloroquine is its potential to lower blood glucose concentrations, which aroused concern in patients who are receiving other blood glucose-lowering medications. This effect has been regulated , observed and reported in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients and Hydroxychloroquine labeling states that patients taking Hydroxychloroquine should be warned about the adverse effects and signs/symptoms of hypoglycemia.

Chloroquine:

This antimalarial medication is similar to Hydroxychloroquine. One important area of strengthening the data regarding the QT-prolonging effects of Chloroquine are clear and broader, that is, there is less uncertainty regarding the increased risk for potentially drug interactions between Chloroquine and other QT-prolonging medications. Chloroquine is a moderate QT-prolonging medication and is recommended for contraindicated drug therapy avoided with high-risk QT-prolonging drugs and extra precaution and close monitoring with other moderate-risk QT-prolonging drugs are performed. Chloroquine also has being able to lower blood glucose concentration, leading to a possiblity with any concurrent use of antidiabetic drugs or other drugs capable of lowering blood glucose concentrations.

India pharma’s global standing: Reference: (James B. Cutrell, MD, Division of Infectious Diseases and Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Blvd, Dallas, TX 75390-9113As)

The impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdown triggered worldwide as well as Curfew, clearly makes visual impact on financial markets , but there is still no clarity on the deeper impact that it is having across businesses , monetary and industrial sectors. Based on assessments made by different analysts and industry bodies, Ficci, an impact analysis on the pharma sector is established. The Indian pharma industry has been a world leader in deliverables of generics drugs both globally and in domestic markets contributing significantly to the global demand for generics in terms of volume.

Risks from India pharma’s China linkages:

India’s large import dependence on China, has pose a pervedent and significant threat to India’s healthcare manufacturing and global supply chain. While Indian pharma rules over a time period that have steadily immigrated and raised up the chain to focus on value-added formulations with higher margins, but this over dependence on other developed countries has increased the threat to the nation’s health security as some of these critical Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients are crucial to mitigate or ban the leading growth of India’s growing disease burden.

Supply chain disruption for India pharma:

Any disruption in the supply chain of Ingredients results in significant shortages in the supply of essential drugs in India. Some of the critical APIs for high-burden disease categories such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes enlisted in National List of Essential Medicines, creates an over dependency of low-cost API , which mainly attributes to extensive efforts towards developing economies of scale, easing regulations for bulk manufacturing, availability of low-cost utilities, building efficiencies and manufacturers through regulated subsidy, low taxes and incentives. India has significantly lost out on the API manufacturing owing to the inadequate government support, API focused infrastructure with growing complexity , gets approvals for setting up a manufacturing plant, delayed pollution clearances, high cost with low availability of utilities, regulatory and price control regimes.Various multitudes are co-lined as the key challenges faced.

Major earnings cuts ahead for pharma firms:

Securities says the novel coronavirus pandemic has caused severe supply-side disruptions in earnings , which has devastated and a profound surge in cut by 10-15% is observed. Pharma as a sector has emerged as a strong contender and confines to drive the next pull of rally, whenever it comes. In anticipation, pharma stocks have seen the huge runs.This is not just true for India, but globally too the various pharma companies have performed. While in the short term, most companies will bounce back from the last few years of under-mined performance, this time around, the leader will be different.

Related Articles:

1.Coronavirus impact on India’s retail sector

2.Coronavirus impact on healthcare sector

READ MORE: Pharma |lockdown |ficci|coronavirus|

A prospective career within the forefront of the CROs: The Business Operation team

The very common notion of any student who has just stepped out the boundaries of school, is to select a career which assures a secured job for their future. No matter what is their subject preference, the job prospective of that course is always the primary question asked to any academic counsellors. Among thousands of courses of this present time, it has been surveyed that the pharmaceutical course is being considered as the most popular course amongst the budding talents, not only in India but also around the world. One of the major reasons behind this can be attributed to the tremendous development of job opportunities provided to the aspiring pharmacy professionalsin India. The highly skilled and trained pharmacy graduates can explore the different fieldright from drug designing, research and development, manufacturing, to finally marketing the drug and finally dispensing the drugs in hospital and clinical pharmacy.

A booming area of career prospect is the Contract Research Organizations (CROs) which have opened up new avenues for job seeking pharmacy graduates. The job opportunities for the pharmacy professional in the CRO industry have witnessed an exponential growth in India. The most highlighted sectors of CRO include Pharmacovigilance, Regulatory Affairs, Clinical Data Management, Medical Writing, Medical Coding, Statistical Analysis and many more. These highly decorative roles demand not only skills but also a great depth of knowledge about the subject. One of the specific department of CROs, which remains unheard or less unapproached to a job seeking candidate is the business development team which discovers an unparalleled path towards enhancement of career.

In this blog, I would like to give an insight of the Business Operation team that can be considered by an aspirant pharmacy graduate as a pillar for success in their career.

What are CROs?

Contract Research Organizations, better known as CROs, are the companies that carry out the research services of pharmaceutical, biotechnological and medical devices industries, on a contract basis. The CROs thus bridges the gap between the companies who are developing new drugs or medical devices and the market by providing services like biopharmaceutical development, commercialization, planning and execution of preclinical and clinical trials and pharmacovigilance.

The job roles at the CROs may vary, mainly due to the different categories of CROs. For an instance, the clinical CROs are more oriented towards the delivery of clinical research services, on the other hand the niche CROs are more focussed on a specific phase of clinical trial or deliver their services in a definite therapeutical areas such as oncology, or diabetes. The remaining bigger CROs covers a wide range of services spanning the entire process of drug development.

Thus, as a job seeker there are multiple options within the CRO industry and all of them is highly fulfilling owing to the multiple opportunities leading to a rapid progression in your career graph.

Let us now focus on the prime component of this blog:

Business Operation Team

For any CROs to carry out their operations, the primary objective is to collaborate with the sponsor company. The Business Operations team are the front liner that establishes collaborations with the sponsor thereby accomplishing the business for CRO industry.

What are the roles of Business Operation Team?

The business operation team, often known as the proposal team, are deemed to strategically plan the whole model of clinical trials involving different stakeholders to structure from front end to back end of clinical trial.
The model system incorporates budget development along with designing timelines in each of the services namely protocol writing, site start- up initiation, patient enrolment specifications, active treatment modules, data management, pharmacovigilance, biostatistics and medical writing.
The whole proposal is then passed to the relevant sponsor (pharmaceutical, biotechnological or medical devices companies).
If the sponsor finds the proposal affordable and falling in line with their requirements, they “award” the proposal, or in other words, the sponsor hires the CRO to carry out their clinical services.
Following to this the actual operational work begins often technically termed as the actual or live clinical trials.
The proposal team is headed by a proposal manager, who along with the whole team prepares the whole model or proposal generally within a timeline of 10- 15 days.
In a nutshell, it is the proposal team, who plays the crucial role of negotiating with the sponsor company with the budget of the clinical trial and thus are responsible for the providing the actual “business” to the CRO industry.

What are the minimum requirements for applying to the Business Operation Team?

The business operation team mainly seeks candidates that fall in either of the following criteria:

Masters in Pharmacy (Pharmacology/ Pharmaceutics)
Bachelors in Pharmacy with an additional degree in Masters in Business administration.

Before you jump into any conclusion of selecting this particular role for your career, ask yourself the following questions:

Are you ready to join the healthcare services?
Do you want to develop your skills and pursue advancements in drug development process?
Are you passionate about being the front faces of the CROs?
Are you eager to collaborate and exchange your knowledge with people around the world?

If you find all your answers as “Yes”, then just go for it, be an invaluable part of the global CRO industry and make your own success story.