BSC109 Biology for Engineers

3 credits

Module 1 - Introduction
Purpose: To convey that Biology is as important a scientific discipline as Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry
Bring out the fundamental differences between science and engineering by drawing a comparison between eye and camera, Bird flying and aircraft. Mention the most exciting aspect of biology as an independent scientific discipline. Why we need to study biology? Discuss how biological observations of 18th Century that lead to major discoveries. Examples from Brownian motion and the origin of thermodynamics by referring to the original observation of Robert Brown and Julius
Mayor. These examples will highlight the fundamental importance of observations in any scientific inquiry.

Module 2. (3 hours)- Classification
Purpose: To convey that classification per se is not what biology is all about. The underlying criterion, such as morphological, biochemical or ecological be highlighted. Hierarchy of life forms at phenomenological level. A common thread weaves this hierarchy Classification. Discuss classification based on (a) cellularity- Unicellular or multicellular (b) ultrastructure- prokaryotes or eucaryotes. (c) energy and Carbon utilization -Autotrophs, heterotrophs, lithotropes (d) Ammonia excretion – aminotelic, uricoteliec, ureotelic (e) Habitata- acquatic or terrestrial (e) Molecular taxonomy- three major kingdoms of life. A given organism can come under different category based on classification. Model organisms for the study of biology come from different groups. E.coli, S. cerevisiae, D. Melanogaster, C. elegance, A. Thaliana, M. musculus

Module 3. (4 hours)-Genetics
Purpose: To convey that “Genetics is to biology what Newton’s laws are to Physical Sciences”
Mendel’s laws, Concept of segregation and independent assortment. Concept of allele. Gene mapping, Gene interaction, Epistasis. Meiosis and Mitosis be taught as a part of genetics. Emphasis to be give not to the mechanics of cell division nor the phases but how genetic material passes from parent to offspring. Concepts of recessiveness and dominance. Concept of mapping of phenotype to genes. Discuss about the single gene disorders in humans. Discuss the concept of complementation using human genetics.

Module 4. (4 hours)-Biomolecules
Purpose: To convey that all forms of life has the same building blocks and yet the manifestations are as diverse as one can imagine

Molecules of life. In this context discuss monomeric units and polymeric structures. Discuss about sugars, starch and cellulose. Amino acids and proteins. Nucleotides and DNA/RNA. Two carbon units and lipids.

Module 5. (4 Hours). Enzymes
Purpose: To convey that without catalysis life would not have existed on earth
Enzymology: How to monitor enzyme catalyzed reactions. How does an enzyme catalyzereactions. Enzyme classification. Mechanism of enzyme action. Discuss at least two examples. Enzyme kinetics and kinetic parameters. Why should we know these parameters to understand biology? RNA catalysis.

Module 6. (4 hours)- Information Transfer
Purpose: The molecular basis of coding and decoding genetic information is universal Molecular basis of information transfer. DNA as a genetic material. Hierarchy of DNA structure- from single stranded to double helix to nucleosomes. Concept of genetic code. Universality and degeneracy of genetic code. Define gene in terms of complementation and recombination.

Module 7. (5 hours). Macromolecular analysis
Purpose: How to analyses biological processes at the reductionistic level
Proteins- structure and function. Hierarch in protein structure. Primary secondary, tertiary and quaternary structure. Proteins as enzymes, transporters, receptors and structural elements.

Module 8. (4 hours)- Metabolism
Purpose: The fundamental principles of energy transactions are the same in physical and biological world.
Thermodynamics as applied to biological systems. Exothermic and endothermic versus endergonic and exergoinc reactions. Concept of Keq and its relation to standard free energy. Spontaneity. ATP as an energy currency. This should include the breakdown of glucose to CO2 + H2O (Glycolysis and Krebs cycle) and synthesis of glucose from CO2 and H2O (Photosynthesis). Energy yielding and energy consuming reactions. Concept of Energy charge

Module 9. (3 hours)- Microbiology
Concept of single celled organisms. Concept of species and strains. Identification and classification of microorganisms. Microscopy. Ecological aspects of single celled organisms. Sterilization and media compositions. Growth kinetics.

Module 10: Plant Physiology covering, Transpiration; Mineral nutrition (3 Lectures)

Module 10B: Ecology covering, Ecosystems- Components, types, flow of matter and energy in an ecosystem; Community ecology- Characteristics, frequency, life forms, and biological spectrum; Ecosystem structure- Biotic and a-biotic factors, food chain, food web, ecological pyramids; (3 Lectures)

References:
1. Biology: A global approach: Campbell, N. A.; Reece, J. B.; Urry, Lisa; Cain, M, L.; Wasserman, S. A.; Minorsky, P. V.; Jackson, R. B. Pearson Education Ltd
2. Outlines of Biochemistry, Conn, E.E; Stumpf, P.K; Bruening, G; Doi, R.H., John Wiley and Sons
3. Principles of Biochemistry (V Edition), By Nelson, D. L.; and Cox, M. M.W.H. Freeman and Company
4. Molecular Genetics (Second edition), Stent, G. S.; and Calender, R.W.H. Freeman and company, Distributed by Satish Kumar Jain for CBS Publisher
5. Microbiology, Prescott, L.M J.P. Harley and C.A. Klein 1995. 2nd edition Wm, C. Brown Publishers

EC117 Computer Organization and Architecture 

3 Credits

1 Introduction: Computer Arithmetic, Instruction sets, Introduction to computer organization, CPU Design. Micro programmed Control: Control Memory, Address sequencing, Micro programming, sequencing and execution of microinstructions.

2 Memory system: Hierarchical memory structure, Cache memories, Set Associative memory, Virtual Memory, Paging, Segmentation, Input-Output Inter- face, Asynchronous Data Transfer, Programmed I/O, Interrupts, Direct Memory Access 

3 Input-Output Organization: Basic Input/Output Structure of Computers, serial and parallel communications, Asynchronous Data Communication, Programmed I/O, Interrupt Driven I/O, Interrupt Controller, DMA, Device Drivers, Buses. 

4 Introduction to Parallel Processing: Evolution of computer systems (RISC vs. CISC), Parallelism in uniprocessor systems, Architectural classification schemes. 

5 Principles of Pipelining and Vector processing: Pipeline strategy, Pipeline performance, Controls and Data paths, Overlapped parallelism, Principles of designing pipelined processors, Vector processing requirements

Name of Authors / Books /Publishers
1 Computer system architecture by M. Morris Mano
2 Computer Architecture and parallel processing by Kai Hwang, Briggs, McGraw
3 Hill
4 Computer Architecture by Carter, Tata McGraw Hill.
5 Computer System Organization and Architecture by John D. Carpinelli, Pearson Education

EC116 Electronics Instruments and Measurements

3 Credits

1 Introduction to Standards of Measurement, Errors and their evaluation. Calibration, Accuracy, Precision Sensitivity, Resolution, Noise, etc. 

2 Measurements of voltage, current, power and energy: Moving iron, moving coil, thermal, Induction and Rectifier type.
Measurements of power factor and frequency: Dynamometer and moving iron single and three phase power factor meters, Resonance, moving coil and moving iron frequency meters.
Range extension of voltmeter, ammeter, Wattmeter and Energy meter: Voltmeter multipliers, Ammeter shunt, Current and Potential Transformers

3 Galvanometer: D’ Arsonval, Vibration and Ballistic galvanometers

4 Bridges: D.C. bridges: Kelvin double bridge, Wheatstone bridge and Carey-Foster bridge; A.C. bridges: Maxwell Bridge, Hay and Owen bridges, Anderson Bridge, Wien Bridge, Schering Bridge and Heaviside-Campbell Bridge

5 Potentiometer’s Principle, Standardization and application: D.C. Potentiometers: Crompton and Vernier potentiometers, A.C. Potentiometers: Coordinate type and Polar type

6 Magnetic measurements: Measurement of magnetic flux by ballistic galvanometer and fluxmeter, Determination of B-H curve and hysteresis loop, Separation of iron loss into hysteresis and eddy current losses, Measurement of iron loss and its separation on Lloyad- Fisher squares

7 Digital measurements: Digital voltmeter and multimeter Universal counter and its uses for measurements of frequency, ratio of two frequencies, Time period and Pulse width.

Name of Authors / Books /Publishers
1 “Measurement System, Application and Design”, E O Doeblin, TMH
2 “Course in Electrical and Electronic Measurement and Instrumentation”, A K Sawhney, Dhanpat Rai and Sons
3 “Electronic Measurements and Instrumentation”, Rajendra Prasad, Khanna Publishers
4 “Basic Electrical Measurements”, M.B. Stout, Prentice Hall

EC115 Digital Communication

3 Credits

1 Introduction: Block Diagram of Digital Communication System, Advantages of Digital communication system over Analog communication systems, Sampling theorem, Signal reconstruction in time domain, Practical and Flat Top Sampling, Sampling of Band-pass Signal, Aliasing Problem, Uniform and Non-uniform quantization. Signal to Quantization ratio of Quantized Signal.

2 Baseband Transmission: Line Coding and its properties, Various types of PCM waveforms. Attributes of PCM waveforms, Mary Pulse Modulation waveforms, Differential Pulse Code Modulation, Multiplexing of PCM signals, Delta modulation, Idling noise and slope overload, Adaptive Delta Modulation, Adaptive DPCM, Comparison of PCM and DM

3 Baseband Detection: Error performance degradation in communication systems, Eb/NO parameter, Matched filter and its derivation, Inter-Symbol Interference (ISI), Nyquist criterion for zero ISI and raised cosine spectrum, Correlation detector : Decision threshold and Error probability for Binary, Unipolar (on-off ) signalling

4 Band-pass Modulation and Demodulation: Types of digital modulation, Waveforms for Amplitude, Frequency and Phase Shift Keying, Method of generation and detection of coherent and non-coherent binary ASK, FSK and PSK, Differential phase shift keying, Quadrature modulation techniques, M- ary FSK, Minimum Shift Keying (MSK), Probability of error and comparison of various digital modulation techniques

5 Error: A base band signal receiver, Probability of error, The Optimum filter, Matched Filter, Probability of error in Matched filter, Coherent reception, Coherent reception of ASK, PSK and FSK, Non-Coherent reception of ASK, FSK, PSK and QPSK, Calculation of bit error probability of BPSK and BFSK, Error probability for QPSK 

6 Multiple Access Techniques: Time division multiplexing, Frequency division multiplexing, Code division multiplexing, Introduction to upcoming techniques of transmission

Sl. No. Name of Authors / Books /Publishers
1. “Communication Systems”, Simon Haykin, Wiley publication, 4th Edition, 2004
2. “Digital Communication Fundamentals and Applications”, Bernard Sklar, Pearson Education India, 2nd Edition, 2009

3. “Modern Electronic Communication”, Miller Gary M, Prentice-Hall, 6th Edition, 1999
4. “Digital Communications”, John Proakis, Tata Mc Graw Hill, 5th Edition, 2007
5. “Electronic Communication Systems, Fundamentals Through Advanced”, Wayne Tomsi, Pearson Education, 4th Edition, 2001