Dr Vivek Radhakrishnan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, SIAS, Krea University recently coordinated the Kant Studies in India panel for the Virtual Kant Congress with a Cosmopolitan Purpose (VKC), organised by Princeton University, the North American Kant Society and the Leuven Research Group in Classical German Philosophy. At this event, held on 29 July, 2024, Dr Radhakrishnan also presented a paper titled Kant and India: ‘Seeing through a Glass Darkly’.
The video of the 12th Session – Indian Kant Group, in which Dr Radhakrishnan spoke, can be seen on the conference website.
Dr Annu Jalais, Associate Professor of Anthropology, SIAS, Krea University has shared her expert insights on tiger conservation in a recent Deccan Herald article, titled A better way to save tigers?. Her perspective on the vital role of local communities in preserving ecosystems underscores the need for inclusive conservation strategies.
Author of the critically acclaimed anthropological account Forest of Tigers – People, Politics and Environment in the Sundarbans, Dr Annu Jalais has also appeared as an expert guest on the podcast titled The Story of Sundarbans. Along with the author and photographer Arati Kumar-Rao and the local entrepreneur Rajesh Kumar Shaw, she speaks about the forces that shape the unique socio-ecological system of the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest. This video is a production of InHERIT by Ashoka, an initiative by Ashoka University supported by the Helen Hamlyn Trust, dedicated to rediscovering and exploring the natural and culinary heritage of India.
Dr Rama Koteswara Rao Kamineni, Associate Professor of Physics, SIAS, Krea University has co-authored a paper titled Vector detection of ac magnetic fields by nitrogen vacancy centers of single orientation in diamond, published in the journal Physical Review B. The paper, selected as an ‘Editor’s Suggestion’, was co-authored with Pooja Lamba (Bennett University), Akshat Rana (Bennett University), Sougata Halder (IIT Jodhpur), Dr Siddharth Dhomkar (IIT Madras) and Professor Dieter Suter (Dortmund University).
About the paper: Nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers in diamond have useful properties for detecting both ac and dc magnetic fields with high sensitivity at nanoscale resolution. The vector detection of ac magnetic fields can be achieved by using NV centers having three different orientations. In this paper, the authors propose a method to achieve this by using NV centers of single orientation. In this method, a static magnetic field is applied perpendicular to the NV axis, leading to strong mixing of the mₛ = −1 and 1 electron spin states. As a result, all three electron spin transitions of the triplet ground state have nonzero dipole moments, with each transition coupling to a single component of the magnetic field. This can be used to measure both the strength and orientation of the applied ac field. To validate the technique, the authors perform a proof-of-principle experiment using a subset of ensemble NV centers in diamond, all having the same orientation. This method is equally applicable to single NV centers.
Arnav Bajoria, SIAS completed a trek to Kala Patthar and the Everest Base Camp
In some thrilling news from the mountains, Arnav Bajoria, SIAS Cohort of 2027, completed a trek to Kala Patthar (5645 m) and the Everest Base Camp (5364 m) on 29 May, 2024, coinciding with International Everest Day.
Deesha Jeppu, Tanvi Kadakol, and Nivedita Naveen from the Postgraduate Diploma Cohort of 2024, SIAS, Krea University, presented a poster at the Indian Wildlife Ecology Conference (IWEC) 2024. The conference was held at the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bengaluru, from 14-16 June, 2024. The title of their poster was Drivers of Diversity Differ Between Specialist and Generalist Avian Malaria Parasites.
Poster abstract: Elucidating the mechanisms shaping parasite diversity patterns is critical because parasites encompass about 40% of known species, and play crucial roles in maintaining ecosystem structure and function. In free-living species, patterns of diversity in the Anthropocene are known to be shaped by niche breadth because, as predicted by theory, environmental disturbance is more likely to negatively impact specialist vs. generalist taxa. Like free-living species, parasites too can be categorised as specialists or generalists according to their niche breadth (i.e., host taxonomic diversity). However, unlike free-living species, the effects of niche breadth on parasite diversity patterns remain unclear.
In this study, the students use avian haemosporidian parasites as a model system to identify the factors affecting parasite phylogenetic diversity patterns, and test if these patterns differ between specialist (Haemoproteus) and generalist (Plasmodium) parasites. Their results demonstrate that, in keeping with ecological theory, specialist vs. generalist parasites show: (i) higher α diversity and lower evenness, and (ii) higher β diversity due to changes in richness and lower β diversity due to taxon replacement. Their results also suggest that in specialist parasites diversity is primarily shaped by host-related variables, unlike generalists which are impacted by a variety of host- and environment-related factors. Their results have broad implications for understanding the role of parasites as indicators of ecosystem health, as well as the effects of anthropogenic environmental modification on the rise of emerging infectious diseases.
Last November, Krea University hosted the release of a book titled For Now it is Night by Hari Krishna Kaul, published by HarperCollins India. This volume of short stories, translated from Kashmiri, features the work of a team of translators, including Dr Gowhar Fazili, Assistant Professor of Social Studies, SIAS, Krea University, along with Kalpana Raina, Tanveer Ajsi, and Gowhar Yaqoob.
We are pleased to announce that the book has recently been republished in the United States by Archipelago Books, a prestigious publishing house known for works in translation.
Dr R S Sathya Saminadan, Associate Professor of Practice & Area Chair – Marketing, IFMR GSB, Krea University has successfully completed the Post Graduation Program in Digital Marketing from Purdue University.
Dr Gowhar Fazili, Assistant Professor of Social Studies, SIAS, Krea University has published a book review in The Wire. The review, titled A Fragmented Memory of Independent India and the Kashmir That Once Was, delves into M K Raina’s memoir Before I Forget. The review provides a critique of the memoir’s reflections on India’s postcolonial history and the cultural changes in Kashmir.
Dr C P Anil Kumar, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, SIAS, Krea University authored a paper titled On Infinity Type Hyperplane Arrangements and Convex Positive Bijections, published in the Indian Journal of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IJPA).
About the Publication
Consider a hyperplane arrangement, i.e., a finite collection of hyperplanes, in an n-dimensional Euclidean space. We say that an arrangement is generic if there are at least n hyperplanes and a codimension k intersection is formed by exactly k many hyperplanes. This is an interesting arrangement – for example, for a fixed m ≥ n, a generic arrangement of m hyperplanes in an n-dimensional Euclidean space has the maximum number of regions. Two arrangements are (combinatorially) isomorphic (or equivalent) if there is an ambient linear homeomorphism which preserves incidences between strata and the polyhedral structure of each stratum. In general, it is an interesting (and difficult) problem to understand the isomorphism classes of arrangements.
In this paper, the author introduces and defines a new type of hyperplane arrangements called infinity type hyperplane arrangements. The concept of normal systems (which is a collection of normal directions to these hyperplanes) are used to uniquely identify such generic arrangements. The main theorem states that the equivalence of two infinity type generic hyperplane arrangements is equivalent to the isomorphism of corresponding normal systems. The author also considers the case of all generic arrangements and proves that equivalence of arrangements implies isomorphism of normal systems. Further, a counter example is provided to show that the converse need not be true.
Earth is protected from harmful radiation and energetic charged particles through its sufficiently dense atmosphere and invisible magnetic shield known as magnetosphere. Sometimes our host star Sun emits harmful radiation and particle bursts, alongside its life-sustaining light and warmth. When these particles reach Earth, they often break open the magnetic shield to some extent and interact with our atmosphere and ionosphere.
The ionosphere is a part of our atmosphere at higher heights wherein a small portion of the atmospheric atoms and molecules are stripped into charged particles by sunlight. Indeed, the ozone absorbs less energetic UV light than those creating the ionosphere. Hence the formation of the ionosphere consumes more powerful UV and x-ray from the Sun, thereby ensuring existence of life on Earth’s surface.
A part of the research activities of Dr Lakshmi Narayanan, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, SIAS, Krea University investigates the effects of the angry Sun on the Earth’s upper atmosphere and ionosphere.
Dr Narayanan participated in COSPAR 2024, the 45th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research held in Busan, Korea. At this major biennial international event amongst space sciences, on 17 July, 2024 Dr Narayanan delivered a talk titled Global response of topside ionosphere to the severe geomagnetic storm of April 2023, where he presented his research results on the case study of a magnetospheric breaking event that happened during 23-24 April 2023.
In addition, from 20 June to 23 July Dr Narayanan is visiting the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, Nagoya University, Japan for carrying out a collaborative research project tilted On the impact of geomagnetic disturbances in the gravity wave and tidal dynamics of the mesosphere in the auroral region, funded under the ISEE Joint Research Program, Japan. The project investigates the impact of space weather events caused by solar ejections on the Earth’s middle and upper atmosphere.
