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Reimagining India’s Engineering Education for an AI-Driven Future

Dr. A. Shaji George — 2024-09-25

India produces over 1.5 million engineering graduates annually, yet many lack the practical skills and knowledge needed to thrive in an AI-driven future. IMF forecasts suggest AI could impact 40% of jobs globally by 2025. This paper examines the preparedness of India’s engineering education system for this AI transformation. Surveys show 67% of engineers worry AI will take their jobs; 60% of graduates are deemed unemployable by industry standards. The root causes include an oversupply of low-quality engineering colleges, curricula that focus on theory rather than application, and lack of integration of emerging technologies. Weaknesses in areas of actual technical knowledge, skill with artificial intelligence systems, and high-level problem solving capability abound. This has to be taken under consideration by changing engineering education. The research advises national legislative actions to better control quality and close down low-quality institutions. It supports fresh school curricula including artificial intelligence literacy, projectbased learning, increased software production and incubation of tech companies. Studies on well-known universities reveal that these kinds of events have previously produced favorable consequences. Based on the findings, India can become a talent hotspot if grassroots level policy changes and curriculum reforms follow. They emphasize that upgrading skills must be seen as a lifelong endeavor. Engineers, with their strong technical foundations and complex problem solving abilities, are well positioned to lead India’s AI revolution if given the right training. This not only requires revamping formal education but also access to on-the-job reskilling. The paper ultimately provides a roadmap for India’s engineering sector to harness AI, instead of being displaced by it, based on data-driven insights and global best practices tailored to the Indian context.

Realizing the Promise of Dynamic Pricing Through Responsible Innovation

Dr. A. Shaji George — 2024-09-25

Dynamic pricing, or the practice of altering rates in response to demand, is becoming more common in businesses such as air travel, hotels, and entertainment. While the economic idea of balancing supply and demand through pricing is sound, dynamic pricing implementations have sparked customer skepticism. The lack of transparency in demand metrics and price setting fuels the perception that the systems are manipulative ploys to overcharge clients. Though dynamic pricing tries to maximize revenue when demand spikes, customers believe the slant is exclusively upward during peak hours. Case studies on short-lived dynamic pricing trials for fast food and movie theaters, which sparked threats of boycotts, illustrate the consumer backlash. Thus, the application of dynamic pricing merits oversight given the asymmetries between producer and consumer interests. Opportunities exist to create fairness standards around transparency, monitoring to prevent predatory pricing levels devoid of real demand swings, and communicating the rationale behind dynamic pricing models. Dynamic pricing is expected to increase as digital transactions become more common and data-analytics capabilities develop. Even while inventory revenue management benefits from the practice, it should be regulated to provide acceptable limits and consumer protections against misuse. Demand-based pricing can mitigate the current climate of mistrust and prevent a race to the bottom for profit maximization by ensuring dynamic pricing lives up to its free market principles. Before adoption of this new pricing strategy may proceed unhindered, norms and governance surrounding it are required to strike a balance between producer income aims and customer perceptions of fairness.

India's Employment Crisis: Causes, Consequences, and Potential Solutions

Dr. A. Shaji George — 2024-09-25

India is facing a severe employment crisis despite being one of the fastest growing major economies globally. The paper provides an in-depth analysis of the lack of quality job creation across both the formal and informal sectors, leaving over 90% of India’s 470 million strong workforce vulnerable. Key statistics indicate elevated levels of unemployment, limited involvement in the workforce particularly among women, and unsatisfactory employment results even for well-educated young people. This study analyzes the several factors contributing to the crisis, including the insufficient private investment, a limited industrial sector, inflexible labor restrictions, and the inadequate quality of higher education and technical skills development. These factors have greatly limited India's capacity for economic growth and resulted in increasing levels of inequality and poverty. This article also examines the political economy repercussions, shown by the loss of the parliamentary majority in 2019 by incumbent Prime Minister Modi due to his inability to fulfill his commitments on employment creation. Researchers project that if India successfully narrowed the gender disparity in employment participation, its GDP might increase by 30% by 2050, underscoring the need for immediate action. In order to tackle the crisis, the paper proposes policy measures targeted at stimulating private sector investments and generating employment particularly in labor-intensive industries. Other key recommendations include reforms in India’s education and skills development ecosystem to make graduates more employable along with easing the regulatory burden on businesses. Active labor market and employment generation programs specifically targeting women, rural workers and educated unemployed youth have also been suggested. In conclusion, the paper strongly argues for multi-pronged policy efforts by the Indian government and closer public-private collaboration to resolve the country’s employment crisis, fulfill its economic growth potential and maintain socio-political stability.

Assessing the Strategic Merits of SD-LAN Adoption Across Complex Enterprises

Dr. A. Shaji George — 2024-09-25

For companies grappling with network performance, security flaws, and scalability restrictions, software-defined local area networks (SD-LANs) have become a fascinating fix. Decoupling network control operations from the underlying hardware helps SD-LANs offer centralized management, automation, dynamic policy setup, and simpler scalability. Nonetheless, conversions to SD-LAN may involve significant interruption, compatibility issues, and expenses. This study offers an impartial examination of the advantages, disadvantages, applications, and factors pertaining to SD-LAN adoption. We define SD-LAN characteristics and designs, compare them to traditional LANs, and emphasize key value propositions such increased reliability, security, efficiency, and scalability. We also look at restrictions including implementation complexity, transition risks, integration issues with legacy systems, and prices. Contextual analysis reveals that SD-LAN is most suited for organizations hampered by old LANs, requiring centralized control across several sites, concerned about security risks, or expecting rapid development. For each use case, we delineate practical measures to assess if SD-LAN investments justify the advantages. On the flip side, there may be no immediate need for SD-LAN capabilities for enterprises whose present networks adequately address performance, security, and scalability concerns. In order to help IT leaders decide if SD-LAN is a good strategic match, our research lays out criteria for considering costs, preparedness for transition, and alignment with organizational requirements. We wrap up by suggesting areas for further study and research, with an emphasis on how to measure hard return on investment and how to estimate the best possible transition timetables.

The Relevance of Micro and Macro Credentials for the 21st Century Workforce - A Gateway for Securing Job

Kirti Wadhawan — 2024-09-25

Gone were the heydays when grabbing a dream job is only a task of degree holders. Today the industry thrive on the skills of the candidate acquired from short-term learning instead of the traditional degrees they complete in years. The recruitment process is turning dynamic for each and every industry who are making a talent hunt for a kind of Human Resource, who hold versatility & requisite professionalism in the respective field of industry requirements. The requirements of industry is changing with a rapid pace, and to match the specific requirement educational institutions, vocational training centers and other personality development centers are preparing human resources with industry specific curriculum. In the lieu to make modern work force adaptive with modern industry needs and to open their gateways for the successful landing in job; it is important to prepare 21st century human resources with both Micro & Macro Credentials via their academic learning and training system. There is no doubt that in the modern times, CVs and Resumes has to be ATS (Applicant Tracking System) approved. The candidate must pose specific skills-set and knowledge to secure the best job for himself. And to raise the importance of one’s CV, these Nano degrees, certification, vocational training diploma courses, short-term courses & certification are truly making our CV more keywords friendly to be easily noticed and approachable by the recruiter during the time of hiring for a job. It’s been a global phenomenon these days that talent hunters had shifted their focus on navigating only those human resource, who have either of these certifications, diplomas, training, internship or volunteering experience along with regular graduate and post graduate degree. In fact, if the human resources have education system with the richness of both macro & micro credentials in their kitty of pedagogy as well as andragogy, there is proportionally high chances of their selection, if other things goes favourable as well. Considering the relevance of micro and macro credentials in the recruitment trends these, it is importance to shed light on the very concept via this research paper. This research paper is based on primary data sources and had taken the data inputs from the undergraduate and post graduate students, between the age-group of 20-25 years in majority. The research paper highlighted the changing credentials requirements from the human resource; for his/her selection in particular industry. The paper also present findings, suggestions as well as conclusion for the better understanding of the relationship between micro & macro credential with job selection.

Using Biogas Plant Slurry to Optimize pH Dynamics and Control Nitrification in Hydroponic Systems

Srinivas Kasulla — 2024-09-25

The biogas digestate liquid slurry used in hydroponic farming effectively brings in a large amount of organic matter along with several complementary nutrients, improving nutrient quality and enhancing microbial activities within the hydroponic medium to boost plant growth and productivity. Liquid slurry from biogas digestate, applied after liquid-solid separation, supports sustainable farming by recycling organic matter and nutrients derived purely from production wastes. Hydroponics: This process allows continuous plant growth without being affected by seasonal or environmental conditions, making it particularly beneficial in areas where agricultural land is too limited, such as small urban spaces. Growing soilless vegetables and recycling liquid slurry from biogas plants as fertilizers is highly advantageous for food production and sustainable organic waste management. We tested this by growing lettuce (Lactuca sativa capitata) with biogas digestate in a hydroponic nutrient film technology system, using cabbage (Brassica oleracea var.) as the test crop. We removed large amounts of ammonium from the digestate through nitrification, either outside the system or within an integrated hydroponic culture system using moving bed biofilm reactors. We looked at differences in pH, crop growth, shoot water content, and shoot mineral content between treatments with different amounts of nitrification and digestate input diameters. The results indicated that increasing the growing time by about one week (equivalent to 20%) resulted in yields in biogas-slurry-based hydroponics comparable to those obtained with synthetic fertilizers in conventional hydroponics. The addition of digestate with automatically adjusted pH showed no significant difference from the mineral fertilizer reference system, as evidenced by the shoot dry weight. However, when considering how well they fit into a circular system, the benefits become clearer. When designing a hydroponic system that uses liquid slurry from biogas plants as fertilizer, it is critical to consider the amount of ammonium and the pH at which the slurry works best. Additionally, it is worth thinking about the moment when nitrogen changes form.

Measure of Variation in Data of Ratio Type: Standard Multiplicative Deviation

Dhritikesh Chakrabarty — 2024-09-25

A measure of dispersion of data of ratio type has here been developed on the basis of the ratios of the observations to their geometric mean. This measure has here been termed as standard multiplicative deviation (SMD) of data. This measure can also be termed as standard geometric deviation (SGD) and/or standard ratio (SR) of data. The development of this measure has been discussed, in this article, with numerical example (application).