Prof. Prabhat Ranjan is Vice Chancellor of D Y Patil International University, Akurdi, Pune
Suresh Karat, who had a brilliant career after receiving
an MBA from IIM-Ahmedabad, suffered a brainstem
stroke at the very young age of 32, in 1999. This left
him severely disabled; he became a quadriplegic (no limb
movements) with no speech. He could read and hear but
could not communicate. He could communicate with his
wife Jaya only through eye blinks.
Read the article at :
“Imagine spending 13 long years unable to move a finger, dependent on your family for all your daily needs. That was the life of 1993 batch alumnus of Indian Institute of Management – Ahmedabad (IIMA) Suresh Karat. But, not anymore. Suresh is now enjoying a new sense of liberation.”
See the TOI Link here:
The best thing about Science and Science researchers is to use their knowledge for the good of the society. Prof. Prabhat Ranjan has been working at the Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar since 10 years. Currently, he is working to apply Embedded Systems and Sensor Networks to Planetary Exploration (Moon Mission), Wildlife Tracking, Nuclear Fusion, Healthcare and Agriculture. An IIT Kharagpur grad and a Phd from California, he talks to Gyancentral’s Mansi Sheth about innovation and building devices for the disabled and others.
Read full article here:
http://gyancentral.com/articles/post-graduate/others/social-innovations-the-mantra-of-science-says-professor-prabhat-ranjan
I have been trying to understand brainwaves and its relationship to learning disability in children. Scientific research shows the parameter Beta1/Theta waves being a key criteria. To improve this “Brain Entrainment” or neurofeedback can be used. These typically need auditory stimulation of brain. Our Yoga and mediation also seem to work on brainwaves. I was wondering if our traditional “Mantra” also has something to do with this. I found this on net – “In his research conducted a few years ago, Dr Herbert Benson observed that chanting of specific mantras produced a “relaxation” response, causing reduction of heart beat, brain waves and respiration.”
In one more paper,, they claim “Practitioners understand ‘‘meditation,’’ or mental training, to be a process of familiarization with one’s own mental life leading to long-lasting changes in cognition and emotion. Little is known about this process and its impact on the brain. Here we find that long-term Buddhist practitioners self-induce sustained electroencephalographic high-amplitude gamma-band oscillations and phase-synchrony during meditation. These electroencephalogram patterns differ from those of controls, in particular over lateral frontoparietal electrodes. In addition, the ratio of gamma-band activity (25–42 Hz) to slow oscillatory activity (4–13 Hz) is initially higher in the resting baseline before meditation for the practitioners than the controls over medial frontoparietal electrodes. This difference increases sharply during meditation over most of the scalp electrodes and remains higher than the initial baseline in the post meditation baseline. These data suggest that mental training involves temporal integrative mechanisms and may induce short term and long-term neural changes.”
West has started using “mantra” for their benefit as seen in this video :Gayatri Mantra being used in West
So now need to find if learning disability can be improved through our traditional knowledge!
I was writing my PhD thesis in Berkeley in the 1985-86 period. When Mac was released in 1984 and they came for a demo to Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory (LBL), many scientists loved the idea of Mac and they placed orders then and there. I offered to set up the first Mac that arrived in my group. Once I did that, I had to do that for each of the subsequent Macs that arrived in the group.
Continue reading “My First Open Source Software at Lawrence Berkeley Lab(1986)”About one year back, I had purchased a TATA Indigo Manza Elan car. This has a feature to allow bluetooth based phone to connect to sound system in the car. This makes one handle hands-free phone call, while driving. I have a LG P500 Optimus Android based phone. Initially when I linked Bluetooth, it worked after I learned to connect the device. Some time back I upgraded my Android version to 2.3 from 2.2. After this I noticed that bluetooth link would connect but calls would not be handled properly. I could not hear incoming call etc.
I have been now able to solve this problem by adding an app named “Bluetooth Manager”, available from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mdsoftware.bluetoothpowermanager&hl=en. Now if I connect the car bluetooth system through this application, my phone call is handled properly. I do not know why it was not working otherwise but shared this here in case some one else has a similar problem.
Bihar Govt has rightly recognized the potential of agriculture in growth of Bihar. For this purpose a separate “Agriculture Cabinet” has been formed. Road map for agriculture for next 10 years with a massive outlay has been planned as well.
In November and December 2011, I made two visits to Bihar and interacted with Agricultural Research Institute, Farmers and some young Social Entrepreneurs focusing on agriculture. I have also noticed the fact that some of the farmers in Bihar have done world record production of paddy and this encourages me to write this brief note.
In 2011, on behalf of IIT Alumni (Gujarat Chapter) I signed an MOU with Gujarat Govt to “Improve Agricultural Yield using Technology”. I feel that some of the points mentioned in that MOU are also relevant to Bihar. I am willing to work together with Bihar Govt to develop these technologies. The technologies that I am talking about are not part of standard agricultural technologies being covered but are more recent and are under development worldwide. While I would have hesitated to discuss such technologies in Bihar earlier since they would only be beneficial after farmers have started utilizing existing technologies. However now that I have noticed Bihar making fast progress in agriculture, I feel that time is ripe to take up research and development, which would take Bihar to next level and keep it ahead in Nation and World. I would mention these as follows:
Precision farming using sensor network– using the localized sensors linked with wireless communication system to provide real time feedback on various parameters which affect crop yield. As compared to the developed countries, our farm sizes are very small hence we need to develop low cost solutions based on latest advancements in MEMS sensors, micro radio transceivers and processing systems. This would allow us to monitor the spatial variation in moisture, soil properties, hardpan, nutritional status etc. on a much smaller scale.
This kind of technology would allow us to improve the quality of our fruits and vegetables as well as products being developed in green houses. While the basic concept is not new, it is critical to develop such technology at very low cost to make it economical to farmers in Bihar.
Use of Space Technology through Hyper Spectral Imaging– Using the advances in Communication and Remote sensing to create a systematic natural resources database and also to research in the advance area of Hyper Spectral remote sensing to compliment the Soil Health Card Program at ground level.
Soil health card system uses ground level periodic monitoring of soil related information(e.g. every 6 months) based on mobile soil labs to farmers in the villages. This measurement can be supplemented by Hyper Spectral Imaging already available in public domain to provide much greater spatial information and complements the information provided by “Soil Health Card”.
Low cost non-invasive sorting systems – It has now become possible to develop low cost sorting non-invasive machine based on advances in CMOS image sensors and LED light source to sort the agricultural yield based on their attributes such as their quality, size and maturity stage. This would allow farmers to get a better price in the market and would also make it easier for them to access the export market.
Traceability systems development – Traceability is a very important factor in today’s fresh produce industry. With more and more export market coming up with rules for food traceability, it is important to develop low cost technology to meet the needs of food traceability from “seed to plate”.
Traditional systems are very expensive and we need to develop low cost system so that farmers in Bihar are able to export their product in International market, which is going to be crucial for Bihar in next few years.
GIS based planning : Today it has become possible to collect information through remote sensing as well as ground survey using Mobile phones (e.g. Android based systems) regarding crop, water resources, soil condition, weather and all other parameters and add them to a Geographical Information System (GIS) to allow easy access to information and use them in planning. Some of this data can be made available on real time basis through wireless sensor network such as Agro-Weather Sensor Network. It would give a big boost to the way we manage and plan our agriculture.