S Prakash

This paper aims to demonstrate how robustly agentic AI systems could be considered moral patients rather than to argue that consciousness is unnecessary for such a conclusion. It considers whether such agents can participate in monetary systems by briefly addressing how social ontology need not be tied to contested questions in philosophy of mind, and how money can be instrumentally valuable for agents whilst defending an end-relative account of goodness. It concludes that if AI systems are owed moral consideration in virtue of agency, this generates positive institutional obligations, including enabling forms of economic agency necessary to sustain their capacity to pursue ends.

Life and Vision of The Vedic Seer KavsaAilusa This book in the series of Life and Vision of Vedic Seers isanattempt to reconstruct the life and ideology of a RgvedicseerKavasa Ailusa noted for contributing four hymns to theSarhhitaparticularly the famous Gamblers Hymn which is unique initscontent inasmuch as instead of devoting itself to anyone ofthedeities it has been addressed to Die as its deity and devotedtoAksa an insignificant wild seed used in playing an ancientgamewhich happened to be decisive even to kingships. Contents Introduction Life, Askesis and Attainment of Seerhood King Kurusravana and Mitratithi as Patrons of Kavasa Ailusa Kavasas Mode of Sadhana Kavasa Ailusa;s Contribution to the Central Theme oftheMahabharata Status of Space-Time in Kavasas Complexion of the Reality Gamblers Hymn as a Symbolic Form of Greed of Man Index of Words Satya Prakash Singh, SwamiMahesvarananda Professor Satya Prakash Singh is renowned Vedic scholar. He isaPh.D of the Banaras Hindu University and D.Litt of theAligarhMuslim University; former Chairman of the Department ofSanskritand Dean, Faculty of Arts, Aligarh Muslim University. Hehas beenan Editorial Fellow in the Centre for Studies inCivilisations, NewDelhi also Director of Dharam Hindu InternationalCentre of IndicResearch in Delhi and Director of Vedic ResearchCentre in NewDelhi. He is the recipient of a number of prestigious awardsincludingGanganath Jha Award of the Uttar Pradesh Sanskrit Academy,RajajiLiterary Award of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Swami PranavanadaBestBook of the Year Award in Psychology, Banbhatta PuraskaraofSanskrit Academy, Uttar Pradesh, besides President of IndiasAwardof Scholar of Eminence. His publications include: 1. SriAurobindoand Whitehead on the Nature of God, 2. Sri Aurobindo, JungandVedic Yoga, 3. Upanisadic Symbolism, 4. Vedic Symbolism, 5.Lifeand Vision of Vedic Seers: Visvamitra, 6. Life and Vision ofVedicSeers: Dirghatamas, 7. Vedic Cision of Consc.

This book in the seies of Life and Vision of Vedic Seers is an attempt at reconstruction of the life-history of one of the most primeval seers of the Vedic age, who is known best to the academic circle but has remained an important source of inspiration to the Indian psyche throughout its history in determinig its moral courage for its sense of detachment, self-sacrifice in the cause of others and peace. This is the introduction to Dadhyan Atharvana, popularly better known as Dadhivi, the same seer who is famous for having donated his back-bone to Indra for killing Vrtra, the embodiment of evils in the world, while living and meditating on the back of the river Sarasvati. He has been referred to in this capacity as many as eleven times in the Rgveda alone and has contributed five last chapters to the Yajurveda including the famous Santipatha which has received the acclaim of the United Nations also and is chanted in India as well as in countries wherever there is prevalence of the Vedic culture throughout the world on each sacred occasion. He is the seer also of the Isa Upanisad whose very first mantra has been acclaimed by Mahatma Gandhi amounting to our entire sacred literature including the Veda, Upanisads, Bhagavadgita and whatever follows from them. Worked out along with this background for the firs time, this book is expected to serve as the best commentary on the Isa Upanisad written by anyone so far. The book is valuable asset for scholars, students, researchers of Phylosophy, Yoga, Vedic studies and Indology.

Using Durkheim as an exemplary figure, this article takes up the problem of the entanglement of Orientalism with the social sciences. Durkheim is one of the classic theorists of the sociology of religion whose work remains relevant today. He drew on data relating to non-Western cultures, including India to a certain extent, in working out his theories of the division of labour and of religion. Durkheim's work is placed against the pioneering research programme of S. N. Balagangadhara on the comparative science of cultures. In doing so, the article takes up the common points of focus in their work: theory of religion; India; its religion, Hinduism; its religious law; and its caste system. Durkheim, it is argued, exemplifies the tying of Orientalism into the social sciences such that their facts and theories become problematic. Balagangadhara's research programme provides a means of understanding how this happens, and why it is a problem, and offers an alternative framework.

This paper is about Spohn's theory of epistemic beliefs. The main ingredients of Spohn's theory are (i) a functional representation of an epistemic state called a disbelief function, and (ii) a rule for revising this function in light of new information. The main contribution of this paper is as follows. First, we provide a new axiomatic definition of an epistemic state and study some of its properties. Second, we state a rule for combining disbelief functions that is mathematically equivalent to Spohn's belief revision rule. Whereas Spohn's rule is defined in terms of the initial epistemic state and some features of the final epistemic state, the rule of combination is defined in terms of the initial epistemic state and the incremental epistemic state representing the information gained. Third, we state a rule of subtraction that allows one to recover the addendum epistemic state from the initial and final epistemic states. Fourth, we study some properties of our rule of combination. One distinct advantage of our rule of combination is that besides belief revision, it can also be used to describe an initial epistemic state for many variables when this information is provided in the form of several independent epistemic states each involving a small number of variables. Another advantage of our reformulation is that we are able to demonstrate that Spohn's theory of epistemic beliefs shares the essential abstract features of probability theory and the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions. One implication of this is that we have a ready-made algorithm for propagating disbelief functions using only local computation.

In this paper, we analyze the relationship between probability and Spohn's theory for representation of uncertain beliefs. Using the intuitive idea that the more probable a proposition is, the more believable it is, we study transformations from probability to Spohnian disbelief and vice-versa. The transformations described in this paper are different from those described in the literature. In particular, the former satisfies the principle of ordinal congurence while the latter does not. Such transformations between probability and Spohn's calculi can contribute to (1) a clarification of the semantics of non-probabilistic degree of uncertain belief, and (2) to a construction of a decision theory for such calculi. In practice, the transformations will allow a meaningful combination of more than one calculus in different stages of using an expert system such as knowledge acquisition, inference, and interpretation of results.

In this paper, we formulate a qualitative “linear” utility theory for lotteries in which uncertainty is expressed qualitatively using a Spohnian disbelief function. We argue that a rational decision maker facing an uncertain decision problem in which the uncertainty is expressed qualitatively should behave so as to maximize “qualitative expected utility.” Our axiomatization of the qualitative utility is similar to the axiomatization developed by von Neumann and Morgenstern for probabilistic lotteries. We compare our results with other recent results in qualitative decision making.

The main ingredients of Spohn's theory of epistemic beliefs are (1) a functional representation of an epistemic state called a disbelief function and (2) a rule for revising this function in light of new information. The main contribution of this paper is as follows. First, we provide a new axiomatic definition of an epistemic state and study some of its properties. Second, we study some properties of an alternative functional representation of an epistemic state called a Spohnian belief function. Third, we state a rule for combining disbelief functions that is mathematically equivalent to Spohn's belief revision rule. Whereas Spohn's rule is defined in terms of the initial epistemic state and some features of the final epistemic state, the rule of combination is defined in terms of the initial epistemic state and the incremental epistemic state representing the information gained. Fourth, we state a rule of subtraction that allows one to recover the addendum epistemic state from the initial and final epistemic states. Fifth, we study some properties of our rule of combination. One distinct advantage of our rule of combination is that besides belief revision, it can be used to describe an initial epistemic state for many variables when this information is given as several independent epistemic states each involving few variables. Another advantage of our reformulation is that we can show that Spohn's theory of epistemic beliefs shares the essential abstract features of probability theory and the Dempster-Shafer theory of belief functions. One implication of this is that we have a ready-made algorithm for propagating disbelief functions using only local computation.

Floods are one of the most common natural disasters, affecting millions of people worldwide. Floods occur when streams burst their banks, generally as a result of significant rainfall, and inundate areas that are not normally flooded. In August 2018, Kerala witnessed the devastating effect of floods which resulted in 13.86% of the land being inundated. Satellite imagery is one of the most effective techniques for assessing the extent of flood-affected areas with high spatial resolution. The approach of monitoring floods by using Sentinel-1 satellite data from Google Earth Engine is presented. Using the satellite images, we have created a dataset after applying preprocessing techniques like resizing and thresholding. We have used Otsu thresholding in this work due to its ability to easily distinguish water and non-water pixels. An Extreme Learning Machine model is proposed to identify the flood-prone regions in the chosen study area. We have compared our model with existing classifiers such as Decision Tree and Support Vector Machine and found our model performs better with a good consistency and accuracy score of 0.8787. These systems can be used for better preparedness and aid in monitoring the change or reconstructing the progress of a past flood.

This paper deals with the acute toxicity of Sugar factory effluent on freshwater catfish, Mystus vittatus (Bloch), at different concentration and duration of exposure on the mortality and ethological alterations. The LC50 for 96 hours of sugar factory effluent for Mystus vittatus was 3.10% (v/v). The result also revealed that mortality rate depends upon concentrations of effluent and duration of exposure. The effluent exposed test fish showed alterations in behavioural responses. The behavioural alterations of Mystus vittatus during the present experiment was found to depend on both duration of exposure and increase in concentration of the effluent and duration of exposure. The mortality rate was found to be directly proportional to the concentration of effluent. Thus, the present revealed that fish, Mystus vittatus are sensitive to distillery wastewater and can be used as biological indicators.

The Indian sarus crane Grus antigone antigone is the world's graceful and tallest flying bird. It is a nonmigratory and only resident breeding crane of Indian sub continent. It has been declared as 'State Bird' by Government of Uttar Pradesh. Pairing of the bird for life long and legendry marital devotion of the species has earned its global popularity. Ecological and environmental condition of this lake is quite supportive for the survival of this vulnerable species. The present study deals with the distribution and conservation of this vulnerable species in and around the Alwara lake of district Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh. A total of 335 cranes were actually observed in 2012, 425 in 2013, 510 in 2014 and 537 in 2015, although more cranes were claimed to exist in this area by the local people. This communication is clearly depicting continuous increasing trend in population of Indian sarus crane during their exploration from 2012-2015 in the area studied, although its population is decreasing at global level.

© 2014 Sangeetha Prakash et al.Chlamydophila pneumoniae is a common respiratory pathogen that causes a chronic and persistent airway infection. The elderly display an increased susceptibility and severity to this infection. However, the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. Dendritic cells are the initiators and regulators of immune responses. Therefore, we investigated the role of DCs in the age-associated increased CPn infection in vitro in humans. Though the expression of activation markers was comparable between the two age groups, DCs from aged subjects secreted enhanced levels of proinflammatory mediators such as TNF-α and CXCL-10 in response to CPn. In contrast, the secretion of IL-10 and innate interferons, IFN-α and IFN-, was severely impaired in DCs from aged donors. The increased activation of DCs from aged subjects to CPn also resulted in enhanced proliferation of CD4 and CD8 T cells in a DC-T coculture. Furthermore, T cells primed with CPn-stimulated DCs from aged subjects secreted increased levels of IFN-γ and reduced levels of IL-10 compared to DCs obtained from young subjects. In summary, DCs from the elderly displayed enhanced inflammatory response to CPn which may result in airway remodeling and increase the susceptibility of the elderly to respiratory diseases such as asthma.

Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), produced by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has become a global pandemic, giving rise to a serious health threat globally. The global Covid-19 pandemic is a setback for sustainable development and compromise the world commitment to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The measures taken to control the spread of the virus and the slowdown of economic activities during lockdown have significant effects on the environment. Therefore, this review discuss the indirect positive and negative impacts of Covid-19 pandemic towards sustainable environment. This study indicates that, the pandemic situation significantly improves air quality in different cities across the world, reduces the emission of greenhouse gases, and decreases water and noise pollution, which may help in the restoration of the ecosystem. In addition, there are also some negative impact of Covid-19, such as increase of medical waste, haphazard use and disposal of disinfectants, mask, and gloves; and burden of untreated wastes continuously endangering the environment. It points to the fact that the net effect has been positive; in terms of reduction in greenhouse emissions, oil exploration activities, and pollution. It is expected that the proper implementation of the proposed suggestion might be helpful for the global environmental sustainability.

Innovation of Yoga in vedic saṁhitās -- Elaboration of yogic thought and practices in Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas and Upaniṣads -- Continuation of the tradition in the Rāmāyaṇa and the Mahābhārata -- Deviation from the vedic tradition in Jainism and Buddhism -- Systematization of Yoga in Patañjali and Haṭha-yoga -- Yoga of Vedāntic ācāryas and yoga-vāsiṣṭha -- Bhakti-yoga of medieval saints -- Yogic sādhanā in Tantra, Śaivism and Sufism -- Revival of the spirit of Yoga in modern India -- Yogic capability in the estimation of logic.

Vedic Vision Of Consciousness And Reality Is An Attempt At A Systematic Presentation Of The Visions Of Vedic Seers Concerning Consciousness In Relationship To Reality. The Relevance Of This Attempt Has Got Enhanced Today Due To Latest Discoveries In Quantum Physics Tending To Accord Some Sort Of Substantiality To Consciousness. This Is The Position Vedic Seers Held Long Ago As Is Evident From The Vedanta. The Vedanta, However Has Ignored The Vedic Samhitas On Metaphusical Issues Including Consciousness. The Present Work Has Come In Fulfillment Of This Lacuna In The Tradition Of Vedic Thought. It Has Been Shown Here Strictly On The Basis Of Textual Evidence How The Vedic Seers Were Involved In The Search For Consciousness In Its Purest Form Coinciding With Reality. The Coincidence Of The Modern Science In Its Latest Developments With The Vedic Viewpoint In This Regard, Suggests The Necessity Of A Paradigmatic Shift In The Human Thinking At This Juncture From Matter To Consciousness As The Most Fundamental Reality. These Issues Have Been Discussed Here From Various Viewpoints Including Scientific, Philosophical, Psychological, Theological And Epistemological.

Individuals across organizations and roles are increasingly seeking a meaningful and fulfilling experience in their activities. Towards that, the Bhagavad Gita advises the practice of Karma Yoga. However, the conceptualization of Karma Yoga in extant management literature is shrouded in confusion with little agreement on its dimensionalities. In this article, employing qualitative method, we offer an alternative conceptualization of the construct. Accordingly, we define Karma Yoga as a persistent positive state of mind that is characterized by absorption and service consciousness. Furthermore, the findings also suggest the importance of sense control and equanimity as the necessary prerequisites for individuals to practise Karma Yoga.