Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

About: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta is a education organization based out in Kolkata, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supply chain & Emerging markets. The organization has 415 authors who have published 1354 publications receiving 21725 citations. The organization is also known as: IIMC & IIM Calcutta.

Location management in mobile wireless networks

Abstract: Location management schemes are essentially based on users' mobility and incoming call rate characteristics. The network mobility process has to face strong antagonism between its two basic procedures: location update (or registration) and paging. The location update procedure allows the system to keep location knowledge more or less accurately in order to find the user in case of an incoming call, for example. Location registration also is used to bring the user's service profile near its location and allows the network to rapidly provide the user with services. The paging process achieved by the system consists of sending paging messages in all cells where the mobile terminal could be located. A detailed description of the means and techniques for user location management in present cellular networks is addressed.A network must retain information about the locations of endpoints in the network in order to route traffic to the correct destinations. Location tracking (also referred to as mobility tracking or mobility management) is the set of mechanisms by which location information is updated in response to endpoint mobility. In location tracking, it is important to differentiate between the identifier of an endpoint (i.e., what the endpoint is called) and its address (i.e., where the endpoint is located). Mechanisms for location tracking provide a time-varying mapping between the identifier and the address of each endpoint. Most location tracking mechanisms may be perceived as updating and querying a distributed database (the location database) of endpoint identifier-to-address mappings. In this context, location tracking has two components: (1) determining when and how a change in a location database entry should be initiated; and (2) organizing and maintaining the location database. In cellular networks, endpoint mobility within a cell is transparent to the network, and hence location tracking is only required when an endpoint moves from one cell to another. Location tracking typically consists of two operations: (1) updating (or registration), the process by which a mobile endpoint initiates a change in the location database according to its new location; and (2) finding (or paging), the process by which the network initiates a query for an endpoint's location (which also may result in an update to the location database). Most location tracking techniques use a combination of updating and finding in an effort to select the best trade-off between update overhead and delay incurred in finding. Specifically, updates are not usually sent every time an endpoint enters a new cell, but rather are sent according to a predefined strategy so that the finding operation can be restricted to a specific area. There is also a trade-off, analyzed formally between the update and paging costs.Location management methods are most adapted and widely used in current cellular networks, e.g., GSM, IS-54. IS-95, etc. The location management methods are broadly classified into two groups. The first group includes all methods based on algorithms and network architecture, mainly on the processing capabilities of the system. The second group contains the methods based on learning processes, which require the collection of statistics on subscribers' mobility behavior, for instance.

A Formal Analysis of Fraud in Banking Sector

Abstract: With the proliferation of CBS (Core Banking Service) into various digital channels, the Indian banking sector has witnessed an alarming spectre of fraud. Information asymmetry amongst different agents is the root cause of fraud. In this paper, we propose a logical framework involving multiple agents of different personality types. The agents have different trust quotients for co-agents and information coming from various trust-deficit channels connecting them. A procedural framework based on third party independent authentication on agents' activities is proposed. We also present a case study on customer reimbursement patterns in automobile loan segment. We show how a robust credit appraisal model, coupled with strict monitoring of loan reimbursement and loan recovery strategies achieve reduction of NPA (Non-Performing Assets) of the bank to an acceptable level.

Are Medicine Prices High and Unaffordable after Trips? Evidence from Pharmaceutical Industry in India

Abstract: The TRIPS agreement has been one of the most contentious agreements of WTO. The pharmaceutical industry has been central to this debate, especially the case of India, which did not recognize product patents in pharmaceuticals before TRIPS and evolved as a major pharmaceuticals manufacturer and exporter. During the AIDS pandemic when patented products were exorbitantly priced, supply of these drugs from India dramatically made medicines affordable and accessible. After the re-introduction of product patent protection in pharmaceuticals in India in line with the TRIPS agreement, considerable speculation and controversy have surrounded the potential impact. Rather than speculation, this paper examines a comprehensive database covering all the products in the market. We contest the claims that there would be, and there has been little negative impact of TRIPs. Our study shows that firms have started selling products at high and unaffordable prices particularly in some therapeutic groups such as cancer. Cancer is not yet a pandemic like AIDS but it is now recognized as one of the greatest public health challenges globally. Our study highlights the gravity of the situation with several cancer medicines much more expensive than the annual cost of US$ 10,000 per person for HIV/AIDs medicines which led to an international outcry in the early 2000s. Another important finding is that prices are high not only because of legal patent barriers to entry of generics but also because of manufacturing and regulatory barriers especially in biologic products. This has implications for policy intervention to make medicines more affordable for universal healthcare. What is important is not only that flexibilities such as compulsory licensing and price control which TRIPS permits are utilized but also that regulatory barriers are simplified as in the case of biologics.

Restoration of Ecological Status of Himalayan Rivers in China and India: The Case of the Two Mother Rivers—The Yellow and the Ganges

Abstract: This chapter first introduces the contribution of the Himalayas as the Water Tower of Asia, especially for the large countries of China and India. For the role of the Himalayan rivers of the Yellow and the Ganges, in giving birth and sustaining human civilizations in these countries, they are revered as the respective “Mother Rivers.” With rapid growth in the population in the two most populated countries with very rapidly growing economies, these two rivers have been impacted badly in terms of quality and quantity of their flows. Governmental and nongovernmental concerns over the decline of the ecological status of all rivers in China and India have led to important social innovations. The chapter reviews the research and innovations in policy and institutions made in China and India for ecological restoration of their rivers. In this context, the chapter reviews the status of clarification and articulation of environmental flows in the rivers in general but in the Yellow and the Ganges rivers in particular.