Key Concepts

• • Steps involved for developing sustainable organizations

• • Case study on a university campus

• • Integration of green sources of energy

• • Implementation of energy efficiency measures

• • Ensuring participation of stakeholders for energy conservation

Introduction

The achievement of SDGs defined under the Paris Agreement requires concerted efforts at the international, national, state, organization, and individual levels. The organizations which follow the principles of sustainable development can serve as a role model for others to follow.

Colleges for higher education and the universities also have an important role to play in achieving the SDGs in general and in the adoption and promotion of green sources of electricity in particular. Goal 4 of SDGs, although, is specific to the availability of quality education to all, but these institutions can play a much broader role in realizing the wide-ranging SDGs. For example, Goal 9: Industry, infrastructure and innovation; Goal 12: Responsible production and consumption; and Goal 13: Climate Action cannot possibly be achieved without the mindful and positive influence of higher education institutions.

More importantly, these institutes need to work on the creation of awareness about the need for sustainable development and SDGs, a crucial requirement for their achievement. The institutes should also make sustainable development an integral part of their future plans. Green and renewable sources of energy like solar PV should be adopted for existing buildings, and these should be made mandatory for the new buildings. The academic institutes, more importantly, should practice on their campuses what they are preaching in the class.

Key Concepts

• " Working of solar PV power plants and their benefits

• " Different configurations of solar PV systems, such as grid-connected, stand-alone, and hybrid solar PV plants

• " Metering mechanisms, such as net metring and gross metring

• " Working and classification of different types of inverters used in solar energy generation

• " Different performance evaluation parameters for solar PV power plants and effect of environmental conditions

• " Components used in solar PV power plants

• " Challenges related to the large-scale integration of solar PV plants with the power grid

Introduction

Solar energy is a renewable source of energy, and when electricity is produced from solar, it does not lead to any CO2 emissions. Apart from being a green and renewable source of energy, solar is the simplest system of electricity generation. As described by Professor Martin Green, ‘The whole photovoltaic technology itself is a bit magical. Sunlight just falls on this inert material and you get electricity straight out of it.’ This technology has emerged as the most powerful solution for decarbonizing the energy system.

The solar PV plants can be installed in two modes: grid-connected and off-grid system. At present, grid-connected solar PV (GCSPV) plants are the most commonly used systems. Although solar PV cells, were discovered in the year 1953, solar PV plants for generating electricity did not gain widespread acceptance primarily because of the panel cost as well as the issues with the batteries involved. GCSPV technology has removed the weak link, the battery from the system, making it an efficient, economical, and durable system with minimum maintenance requirements. These benefits have made the solar PV the fastest rising system in the world.

3.1 STATE OF STRESS AT A POINT [LO1]

When a body is subjected to external forces, its behavior depends on the magnitude and distribution of forces and properties of the body material. Depending on these factors, the body may deform elastically or plastically, or it may fracture. The body may also fail by fatigue when subjected to repetitive loading. Here we are primarily interested in elastic deformation of materials.

In order to establish the concept of stress and stress at a point, let us consider a straight bar of uniform cross-section of area A and subjected to uniaxial force F as shown in Figure 3.1. Stress at a typical section A - A′ is normally given as σ = F/A. This is true only if the force is uniformly distributed over the area A, but this is rarely true. Therefore, definition of stress must be considered by progressively reducing the area until it is small enough such that the force may be considered to be uniformly distributed.

To understand this, consider a body subjected to external forces P1, P2, P3, and P4 as shown in Figure 3.2. If we now cut the body in two pieces,

Internal forces f1, f2, f3, etc. are developed to keep the pieces in equilibrium. Now consider an infinitesimal element of area ΔA Dat the cut section and let the resultant force on the element be Δf.

Introduction

A current mirror is a transistor-based circuit that the current level is controlled in an adjacent transistor, and the adjacent transistor essentially acts as a current source. Such circuits are now considered a commonly used building block in a number of analog integrated circuits (IC). Operational amplifiers, operational transconductance amplifiers, and biasing networks are examples of such circuits that essentially use current mirrors. Analog IC implementation techniques such as current-mode and switched-current circuits use current mirrors as basic circuit elements.

A significant advantage associated with the current mirrors is that they act as a near-ideal current source while fabricated using transistors and can replace large-value passive resistances in analog circuits, saving large chip area.

The later part of the chapter discusses another important analog circuit, namely, differential amplifier. As the name suggests, differential amplifiers amplify the difference between two signals that are applied to their two inputs. In addition to the differential amplification, it is also required that differential amplifiers suppress unwanted signal, which is present on the two input signals in the form of a common-mode signal. A differential amplifier is a particularly very useful and essential part of operational amplifiers. A differential pair is the basic building block of a differential amplifier that comprises of two transistors in a special form of connection.

One of the difficulties we face is how to characterize the current regime headed by Narendra Modi, which has won back-to-back victories in three elections (2014–2024). The terminology within which we understand the regime is important, as what to expect from the regime flows from its nature and how to resist it will emerge from an understanding of its character. What is apparent about the regime is its pronounced authoritarianism, with the regime increasingly unaccountable to any constitutional authority.

The Spanish political scientist Juan Linz called such regimes, in which the leader has arbitrary and unlimited discretion, ‘sultanist’ and a species of authoritarianism. Linz (2000, p. 259) defines an authoritarian regime as ‘ruler-centred’ where the

What ‘sultanism’ implies is captured indelibly by Girish Karnad in his play Tughlaq. Karnad captures Mohammad Bin Tughlaq, who embodied this form of arbitrary and whimsical decision-making, be it the decision to issue currency in brass or the decision to shift the capital to Daulatabad. Clearly, the Modi regime has ‘sultanist’ characteristics, based on the personalized and arbitrary decision-making which characterizes the regime.

Armed conflict and the proximity of soldiers and other combatants shaped late ancient monastic communities in diverse ways that reflected not only the vulnerability of victims but also the resourcefulness of innovators. Monks were wounded, captured, and killed, and some became the objects of veneration as martyrs; monastic communities built walls and towers for protection and offered help to victims of violence; monks interacted with barbarians peacefully and violently and integrated their fears of barbarians into their spiritual lives; monks formed new and often beneficial relationships with military men, some of whom chose to become monks themselves; and the military may have provided one of the models for the organization of monastic communities. Monks saw themselves as soldiers of the heavenly king, not entirely different from the nearby soldiers of the earthly king.

Reforming Politics and Reform as Politics

The commissioner of excise asked his subordinates to gather information about the liquor Indians preferred most in the Presidency of Fort St George in 1905. He also wrote to laboratories to clarify whether toddy was indeed ‘a completely innocuous liquor containing a large proportion of food material’. Major Charles H. Bedford's report concluded that most of the toddy being consumed in the province was at an advanced fermentation stage. Samples sent for laboratory testing had revealed a high proportion of fusel oil – a known cause of indigestion, dysentery and rheumatism. With the hydrometer's use in testing the proof strength of alcoholic drinks in mid-eighteenth-century England, utilising technology to regulate alcohol had become an exercise in building public trust. The hydrometer's subsequent use to test and establish the proof strengths of different country liquors in India was comparable but much more significant in its impact. It demonstrates the colonial state's determination to penetrate an indigenous industry in order to bring it into alignment with Western scientific technologies, processes and practices. Remarkably, the Congress leadership would similarly show interest in ascertaining toddy's nutritional properties. As the president of the Prohibition League of India (PLI), Rajaji wrote to the heads of the Tropical School of Medicine in Calcutta and the Pasteur Institute in Coonoor in 1931. He sought to verify that ‘to drink beer in order to ensure efficient enzyme action in the body (was) as unnecessary as to drink toddy in order to ensure a sufficient supply of Vitamin B’.

Arbitration, whether domestic or international, has always been the preferred choice for ADR amongst the trade community. It is generally argued that the concept of international arbitration as an ADR mechanism originated and developed in Western Europe. But domestic arbitration as a private dispute resolution mechanism outside of the courts existed in different forms in all societies. In the Arab countries, Asia and Africa, traditional arbitration was known in a form that is close to amiable compositeur or conciliation in Western Europe. Since the 1990s, the world has seen a dramatic increase in the quantum and complexity of international business transactions. In contrast to the more traditional forms of international trade such as sale or transportation of merchandise, these transactions, dealing with complex technologies and frequently involving more than two parties, have typically expanded over time. The world is becoming smaller, and national boundaries are becoming more permeable and gradually losing their economic significance. Modern technologies and the continuing shift towards market economies and free trade are creating an increasingly globalised world economy. In addition, regional integration of markets in trading blocks is changing the parameters of business activities. Faced with the growing internationalisation of competition and escalating cost of technologies, individuals and organisations are witnessing a gradual increase in transnational business disputes. From the beginning, arbitration has been governed by national laws that differed from state to state. The need to unify the framework for international arbitration became evident during the 1920s when ideas were being developed for the unification of rules on international trade in general.

Arbitration is currently a global phenomenon. It has gained popularity among the international commercial community the world over. The significance of the study of commercial arbitration, especially international commercial arbitration, lies in the fact that in the contemporary world of changing economic dimensions, it has become an indispensable mechanism for consensually dealing with international disputes. Beyond its practical importance, international arbitration is worthy of attention because it involves a framework of international rules and institutions. This, with remarkable success, provides a fair, neutral, expert and efficient means for resolving difficult transactional problems. These rules have evolved over time through the joint efforts of national governments and international institutions.

However, arbitration is increasingly faced with complexities of parties and disputes originating from different countries and legal traditions. The laws applicable in these various jurisdictions may be less favourable towards arbitration, or even less flexible. How would the tribunals sitting in arbitration-friendly jurisdictions address the legal differences? There is anxiety among the world's different legal systems across countries that make it relatively easy to arbitrate unhindered by stringent regulatory framework and oversight by the national law.

Hence, the harmonisation of international commercial arbitration law and its procedure continues to gradually develop. There has already been a plethora of international conventions, treaties and agreements that have assisted in attempting to achieve harmonisation of arbitration law and practice. This has further helped shaping international commercial arbitration as the primary means for global businesses to resolve their disputes.

From the mid-eighties of the last century, the neoliberal economic model, devised by the anti-collectivist theorists,1 which conceptually elevates competition as a high principle, has been favoured by the ruling classes. It remains nothing but a social Darwinist contrivance for accumulation by dispossession (Harvey 2004). Since the collapse of the Soviet system, it has become almost the default model sans alternative. The endemic crises it entails and the alienation it engenders necessitate increasingly authoritative responses and demagogic strategies from the rulers, using existing social divisions in the form of castes, religions, ethnicities, and so on, which lead to the fascization of societies.

While this trend is visible everywhere today, some countries have congenial ideological resources for the fascization of their societies. India, with a hegemonic Brahminist ideology (with its hierarchical ethos and the organizational dominance of its hegemons in the state apparatus as well as in civil society) is uniquely positioned. While fascization has been discernible since the 1990s in the overt majoritarian communalism whipped up by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it was somewhat muted by the lack of political consensus and the moral scruples of constitutional decencies.

This chapter examines the early development of Constantine’s religious imagery following his victory at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in 312 ce. It argues that Constantine’s administration swiftly began portraying the civil war against Maxentius as a religious conflict, with Constantine defeating Satan through the aid of the archangel Michael. The chapter highlights the apocalyptic nature of this imagery, emphasizing Michael’s role not only as a heavenly warrior but also as a herald of the end times and Christ’s millennial reign. Scholars have overlooked both the early emergence of this imagery and Michael’s significance within it. While the imperial court may have believed in this narrative, its promotion in the aftermath of civil war suggests that not all Christians in Constantine’s new territories necessarily welcomed their new emperor.

Synesius of Cyrene (b. ca. 373–d. ca. 410) was trained in the classical literature that depicted war as an event with armies opposing one another in battle, but he experienced a different kind of conflict in his own life – namely, the periodic and unpredictable raiding that troubled late ancient Libya. Synesius’ letters and his treatise On Kingship show that these conflicts brought sentiment to the surface as a kind of evidence about people that could be implicitly trusted; Synesius’ sentiment was palpably xenophobic, aligned against both “barbarians” and “Scythians,” and so strong as to circumvent rational examinations of the evidence around him. This essay examines the scaffolded construction of stereotype, built in Synesius’ advice to a hypothetical ruler, and demonstrates how knowledge, even knowledge that seems intimate and trustworthy, can be bent through engagements with violence.

Prohibitions, Permits, Power

A mill owner in Salem conducted his own social experiment in sobriety in February 1939. He assembled his workers and instructed them to sit and stand several times in rapid succession, noting that they would ‘never have been so responsive to orders in the days when they drank’. Salem went dry on 1 October 1937. Chittoor and Cuddapah followed suit a year later, and North Arcot went dry in 1939. Prohibition's introduction occurred at the convergence of state-directed reform, political competition, entrenched social anxieties and waves of resistance to the policy. Official assessments painted a glowing picture of its successes, reflecting the ‘idiom of enthusiasm’ so characteristic of Congress mass mobilisation. English and vernacular newspapers joined studies commissioned by Rajaji's government in heaping praise on prohibition for apparently improving the lives of former addicts. Much of the extant literature has echoed this bias while dismissing non-elite resistance to prohibition as ‘local nuisances’ to a policy of great societal importance.

That there would be such a bias is not surprising. Prohibition had been won after a long, hard struggle. By the time the policy was introduced, the priority was proving that it would work. Policymakers found themselves having to justify the sacrifices that had already been made and that were yet to come. Publicly, they feted prohibition. Privately, however, the policy continued to function as prohibitioning between political elites, between the authorities and society, and between different social groups. Prohibition thus developed a double life until the colonial government suspended it in September 1943.

This chapter argues that Augustine structured book 1 of the City of God according to the urbs capta motives. Urbs capta narratives (such as Livy’s), offer consolation for civilian populations that had suffered the sack of their city. They address captivity, looting, starvation, mass burials, but also sexual violence. In book 1, Augustine calls these afflictions (that is, the urbs capta motives) “law of war” (ius belli). Once recognized as the structuring device of book 1, it becomes evident that Augustine addresses sexual violence against women through the well-known case of Lucretian, but also against (elite) men. Augustine then uses the laws of war, and in particular sexual violence against men, to reframe traditional Roman virtues, especially pudicitia (modesty) and patientia (edurance) as Christian. As a result, patientia and humilitas (humility) become essential responses to war’s devastation, and Rome’s sack a sign of divine correction, while the urbs capta motives are Christianized.