Karnataka: Greenhouse Gas Inventory

Anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide weighted by global warming potentials,
constitute by far, the largest part of the emissions of greenhouse gases. Of these carbon dioxide emissions, those that are produced from fuel combustion make up the great majority. The carbon dioxide emissions from burning biomass that a majority of rural households use for cooking is not considered, as biomass is considered to be carbon neutral.

Data Visualisation: On Think Tanks

Increasing urbanisation and per capita GDDP:
Karnataka is one of the most urbanised states in India; 39% of the state consists of urban areas whereas the national urban area  average is 31%. Karnataka is expected to be 50% urbanised by 2026, and that would mean 33 million people to be accommodated
in the cities of Karnataka. Urbanisation and GDDP (Gross Domestic District Product) follow similar trends in growth. As the GDDP in the state has been growing, so has urbanisation. This relationship, however, also highlights the growing inter-regional disparity in economic

Civil Nuclear Liability Bill

With a growing nuclear power programme, it is essential for India to enact a legislation which covers all aspects of civil liability in a transparent manner In the unlikely event of an accident, the operator liability is absolute in international practice. This ensures timely availability and disbursement of compensation to the victims. Bearing in mind that the major accidents in the past were mainly due to gross error on the part of operations personnel, there should be a renewed emphasis on operators’ education and training.

Building Smart Cities in India: An opportunity for strategising urban development

Problem highlights:
Lack of clarity on smart city concept in the Indian context
Increasing intra and inter-regional disparity despite increasing urbanisation
Urban development strategies not effectively integrated with overall national/ state development agenda
Proposed solutions:
Constitute smart city working group at state and city level including all stakeholder representatives
Select pilot cities to achieve spatial inclusiveness and create exemplars for best practices

Guest Editorial: Special issue on Engineering Informatics

The paper titled “Engineering Complex, Information-based,Networked Industrial Systems: A Research Roadmap” by Albert Jones et al argues for a new and different approach to design and understand what they termed as complex information-based networked industrial _CINI_ systems. The authors borrow concepts and principles from physical systems and living systems to model and simulate CINI systems. They describe the four major model building activities of engineers that relate to CINI systems, namely, topology, behaviour, decisions, and information.