Penalty guided genetic search for redundancy optimization in multi-state series-parallel power system

This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) for parallel redundancy optimization in series-parallel power systems exhibiting multi-state behavior, optimizing the reliability subject to constraints. The components are binary and chosen from a list of products available in the market, and are being characterized by their feeding capacity, reliability, cost and weight. System reliability is defined as the ability to satisfy consumer demand and is presented as a piecewise cumulative load curve. In GA, to handle infeasible solutions penalty strategies are used. Penalty technique keep a certain amount of infeasible solutions in each generation so as to enforce genetic search towards an optimal solution from sides of, both, feasible and infeasible regions. We here present a dynamic adaptive penalty function which helps the algorithm to search efficiently for optimal/near optimal solution. To evaluate system reliability, a fast procedure, based on universal generating function, is used. An example considering a multi-state series-parallel power system is solved considering both homogeneous and heterogeneous types of redundancy. Also an example considering price discounts is solved. The effectiveness of the penalty function and the proposed algorithm is studied and shown graphically.     

Action Learning in the Indian Village as an Alternative to the Traditional Field Practicum in the Foundation Year of the MSW

This paper captures the experiences of the faculty members of a relatively new graduate social work program situated in the largely rural state of Haryana India in reframing the foundation year practicum through community-based and engaged action learning in small villages. Located within Bhagat Phool Singh Vishwavidyalaya (BPSMV), north India's first all women public university, the mission of which is to enhance women's engagement in the greater society through post-secondary, professional and character education, the department is educating social workers for community engagement in social development and in the development of women as an empowered group in society, particularly at the village level. Over a three-year period, the faculty has successfully launched and sustained action learning as an alternative to the traditional practicum in social work education, enhanced civic engagement among students and faculty in three rural villages, and further developed community social work as a principal focus of social work education in India. The paper offers a rationale for action learning in the graduate social work curriculum, describes and documents the department's strategy of action learning, and lays out lessons learned from action learning as a central focus of pedagogy, research, and service within BPSMV Department of Social Work and the rural villages it serves.     

Consumer bankruptcy and default: The role of individual social capital

In this paper, we empirically assess the role of individual social capital on personal bankruptcy and default outcomes in the consumer credit market. After controlling for a borrower’s risk score, debt, income, wealth, and legal and economic environments, we find that default/bankruptcy risk rises and then falls over the lifecycle, while a borrower who owns a home or is married has a lower risk of default/bankruptcy. Moreover, a borrower who migrates 190 miles from his “state of birth” is 17% more likely to default and 15% more likely to file for bankruptcy, while a borrower who continues to live in his state of birth is 14% and 10% less likely to default and file for bankruptcy, respectively. A borrower who moves to a rural area is 9% and 7% less likely to default and declare bankruptcy, respectively. We also find that measures of social networks, norms, and cooperation and trust (i.e., aggregate social capital) are inversely related to consumer bankruptcy.     

Smallholder Preferences for Agri‐environmental Change at the Bhoj Wetland,India

Incentive‐based approaches have gained policy interest in linking change in agricultural land management with environmental conservation. This article investigates how scheme design influences smallholder farmers' decisions to switch to organic farming to reduce water pollution, drawing on a study at a Ramsar wetland site providing water for the city of Bhopal. Results from a choice experiment suggest that transitional payments are necessary to overcome farmer constraints to adopt organic farming, and that effective land certification has the potential to act as a self‐enforcing mechanism linking farmer incomes with wetland conservation benefits.     

Testing a main effect in a three factor mixed model

In the present paper, the author has considered and compared the power of three test procedures, based on two preliminary tests of significance (PTS), for testing a main effect in a three factor factorial experiment. Davenport and Webster (1973) type test statistics are used in the final test. Recommendation for a suitable size of PTS has been made so that the power of a test procedure is adequately high.     

The Role of Innovation Characteristics and Perceived Voluntariness in the Acceptance of Information Technologies

The often paradoxical relationship between investment in information technology and gains in productivity has recently been attributed to a lack of user acceptance of information technology innovations. Diverse streams of research have attempted to explain and predict user acceptance of new information technologies. A common theme underlying these various research streams is the inclusion of the perceived characteristics of an innovation as key independent variables. Furthermore, prior research has utilized different outcomes to represent user acceptance behavior. In this paper we focus on individual's perceptions about the characteristics of the target technology as explanatory and predictive variables for acceptance behavior, and present an empirical study examining the effects of these perceptions on two frequently used outcomes in the context of the innovation represented by the World Wide Web. The two outcomes examined are initial use of an innovation and intentions to continue such use in the future, that is, to routinize technology use. Two research questions motivated and guided the study. First, are the perceptions that predict initial use the same as those that predict future use intentions? Our results confirm, as hypothesized by prior research, that innovation characteristics do explain acceptance behavior. The results further reveal that the specific characteristics that are relevant for each acceptance outcome are different. The second research question asks if perceived voluntariness plays a role in technology acceptance. Results show that external pressure has an impact on adopters' acceptance behavior. Theoretical and practical implications that follow are presented.     

Skewed Sex Ratios in India: “Physician, Heal Thyself”

Sex selection, a gender discrimination of the worst kind, is highly prevalent across all strata of Indian society. Physicians have a crucial role in this practice and implementation of the Indian Government’s Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act in 1996 to prevent the misuse of ultrasound techniques for the purpose of prenatal sex determination. Little is known about family preferences, let alone preferences among families of physicians. We investigated the sex ratios in 946 nuclear families with 1,624 children, for which either one or both parents were physicians. The overall child sex ratio was more skewed than the national average of 914. The conditional sex ratios decreased with increasing number of previous female births, and a previous birth of a daughter in the family was associated with a 38 % reduced likelihood of a subsequent female birth. The heavily skewed sex ratios in the families of physicians are indicative of a deeply rooted social malady that could pose a critical challenge in correcting the sex ratios in India.     

Ethical Climate in Nonprofit Organizations: Propositions and Implications

The authors discuss a number of variables that may influence the perception of ethical climate in the nonprofit sector, including individual, organizational, and significant other (peers, coworkers, and superiors) variables. The basis of this discussion is the model developed by Agarwal and Malloy (1999) identifying a framework for nonprofits that is distinct from the for‐profit orientation. The authors provide ten propositions and discuss their implications.     

Alternative estimators for the population totals in multiple characteristic surveys

The problem of estimating the population totals of multiple characteristics using without replacement sampling design is addressed. The alternative estimators for the study characteristics which are unrelated or have the low correlations with the characteristic used in sample selection are suggested. The efficiency of the estimators under two super population models, approximating the situations in which both the characteristics are unrelated and also when they are related, is studed. A numerical investigation is also carried out to get insight into the performance of the estimators in real applications.