Land-site suitability evaluation for tea, cardamom and rubber using Geo-spatial technology in Wayanad district, Kerala

Kerala is one of the important states contributing to the production of plantation crops and spices in the country. Soil and Land evaluation in various land utilization types has been carried out to assess the land suitability for tea, cardamom and rubber in Wayanad district of Kerala. Different soil physico-chemical parameters like, pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon and physical attributes database of soil mapping units developed in inventorying of soil resources at 1:50K scale using LISS-III satellite data on soil series and its association used to evaluate soil site suitability for tea, cardamom and rubber. The results indicated that for tea around 55.79% area is suitable for cultivation of which 14.62 %, 25.51 % and 15.66 % found highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3), respectively. About 26.92 % and 12.10 % found moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3) for cardamom and about 32.48 % area marginally suitable (S3) for rubber. The area unsuitable for cultivation (N) of tea, cardamom and rubber were found to be 11.69 %, 28.46 % and 34.99 %, respectively, due to constraints like relief, topography, soil physico-chemical attributes such as base saturation, pH and soil moisture regime etc. The study proposed an integrated methodology for mapping and assessing suitability of land using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Land-site suitability evaluation for tea, cardamom and rubber using Geo-spatial technology in Wayanad district, Kerala

Kerala is one of the important states contributing to the production of plantation crops and spices in the country. Soil and Land evaluation in various land utilization types has been carried out to assess the land suitability for tea, cardamom and rubber in Wayanad district of Kerala. Different soil physico-chemical parameters like, pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon and physical attributes database of soil mapping units developed in inventorying of soil resources at 1:50K scale using LISS-III satellite data on soil series and its association used to evaluate soil site suitability for tea, cardamom and rubber. The results indicated that for tea around 55.79% area is suitable for cultivation of which 14.62 %, 25.51 % and 15.66 % found highly suitable (S1), moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3), respectively. About 26.92 % and 12.10 % found moderately suitable (S2) and marginally suitable (S3) for cardamom and about 32.48 % area marginally suitable (S3) for rubber. The area unsuitable for cultivation (N) of tea, cardamom and rubber were found to be 11.69 %, 28.46 % and 34.99 %, respectively, due to constraints like relief, topography, soil physico-chemical attributes such as base saturation, pH and soil moisture regime etc. The study proposed an integrated methodology for mapping and assessing suitability of land using remote sensing and GIS techniques

New Approximability Results for the Robust k-Median Problem

We consider a robust variant of the classical $k$-median problem, introduced by Anthony et al. \cite{AnthonyGGN10}. In the \emph{Robust $k$-Median problem}, we are given an $n$-vertex metric space $(V,d)$ and $m$ client sets $\set{S_i \subseteq V}_{i=1}^m$. The objective is to open a set $F \subseteq V$ of $k$ facilities such that the worst case connection cost over all client sets is minimized; in other words, minimize $\max_{i} \sum_{v \in S_i} d(F,v)$. Anthony et al.\ showed an $O(\log m)$ approximation algorithm for any metric and APX-hardness even in the case of uniform metric. In this paper, we show that their algorithm is nearly tight by providing $\Omega(\log m/ \log \log m)$ approximation hardness, unless ${\sf NP} \subseteq \bigcap_{\delta >0} {\sf DTIME}(2^{n^{\delta}})$. This hardness result holds even for uniform and line metrics. To our knowledge, this is one of the rare cases in which a problem on a line metric is hard to approximate to within logarithmic factor. We complement the hardness result by an experimental evaluation of different heuristics that shows that very simple heuristics achieve good approximations for realistic classes of instances.Comment: 19 page

Sistem Perencanaan Pengelolaan Sampah B3 Rumah Tangga Di Kecamatan Semarang Barat, Kota Semarang

Tujuan perencanaan ini adalah untuk menentukan sistem pengelolaan sampah B3 rumah tangga yang tepat sehingga akumulasi sampah B3 rumah tangga tidak mencemari lingkungan dan tidak membahayakan kelangsungan hidup manusia. Hasil sampling sampah B3 rumah tangga menunjukkan timbulan sebesar 0,009 kg/orang/hari dengan volume sebesar 0,056 liter/orang/hari. Hasil perencanaan merekomendasikan pewadahan di rumah tangga dengan wadah berkapasitas 40 liter, pengangkutan dengan motor boks berlabel khusus B3 , penyimpanan sementara sampah B3 rumah tangga dengan wadah berkapasitas 2000 liter dan 6000 liter. Studi skenario pengelolaan dibagi menjadi (i) skenario 1 dengan pemilahan sampah di rumah tangga, (ii) skenario 2 pemilahan di tempat penyimpanan sementara masing-masing kelurahan

Antibacterial and qualitative phytochemical analysis of Giloy extract for application of herbal finish on cotton fabric

The current study was planned to prepare antibacterial finish for grey cotton fabric using Giloy stem extract for healthcare applications. The selected grey cotton fabric was pretreated prior to application of the extract. For the extraction of the herb, maceration process was employed and the solution prepared was further subjected to soxhlet extraction to congeal the extract. Giloy extract was assessed for its phytochemical and antibacterial properties, to find out the bioactive components responsible for such activity. The application of the extract was carried out on pretreated cotton fabric using exhaust and pad dry cure methods (5 g/L). The treated fabric was assessed for its efficacy against the selected bacterium (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) using AATCC-100 Test method employing Agar well diffusion method. It is discernible from the results of the study that there was good antibacterial activity of Giloy stem extract treated fabric against Pseudomonas aeruginosa which was determined on the basis of zone of inhibition. It was also found that the finish nearly retained upto ten wash cycles and can be used for medical purposes

Participatory evaluation of advanced potato (Solanum tuberosum) clones for water stress tolerance

An attempt was made to introduce potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) in hot arid water scarce zone of Western Rajasthan, India. Eight CIP-bred potato clones were evaluated along with two controls, viz. Kufri Pukhraj and Kufri Surya on farmer’s field at Jodhpur, Rajasthan under normal and moderate water stress regime during three winter crop seasons (2012-15). Pooled analysis revealed that CIP clone 397006.18 (34.0 tonnes/ha) out yielded Kufri Pukhraj (26.8 tonnes/ha) and Kufri Surya (20.2 tonnes/ha) for marketable tuber yield. This clone maintained yield under normal and deficit irrigation and attained 26.9% higher marketable yield under normal irrigations, which further improved by 31.3% under deficit water stress regime over the best control Kufri Pukhraj. This clone recorded highest tuber dry matter content (22.7%), statistically superior to both control Kufri Pukhraj (17.9%) and Kufri Surya (21.4%). Clone 397006.18 had highest mean drought tolerance index value (1.16) and least total weight loss under normal irrigation (4.9%) and water stress conditions (8.6%) up to 60 days of storage. Preference yield analysis by potato growers showed that they liked this clone most and its overall acceptability was fairly better for all organoleptic traits. Results of field study and participatory varietal selection indicated that clone 397006.18 performed better for tuber productivity under deficit water management, exhibited drought tolerance traits and achieved overall acceptance by the farmers in Western Rajasthan

Faktor Penentu Alih Fungsi Lahan Sawah di Tingkat Rumah Tangga Petani dan Wilayah di Provinsi Bali

Determinants of Paddy Land Conversion in Household Level and Regional in Bali Province. Land conversion of paddy area for other purposes has become a serious threat to the sustainability of food security and existence of Subak institutional in Bali. The intensity of land conversion is still difficult to be controlled, and most of the wetland conversions are actually at the high-productivity categories. The objective of this research was to identify factors causing rice land conversion at the regional and farmer level. The research was conducted in March-November 2015. In this study, primary data was enriched with secondary data. The primary data was collected through individual interviews with 90 farmers in three rice center production areas which were Tabanan regency, Badung regency and Buleleng regency. Moreover, the secondary data was taken from Statistics Indonesia using the data period of 1993-2013. Multiple linear regressions with Ordinary Least Square method (OLS) was used to analyse the data at the regional level whereas logistic regression was employed to examine the household level data. The results showed that the growth rate of non-agricultural Gross Domestic Product (GDP), rice production, population, hotels and other accommodations and Farmers Exchange Rate had a significant affect to the land conversion at the regional level. Local regulation related legislation at the provincial level did not affect the growth rate of land conversion. Meanwhile, the probability of farmers to sell or convert their lowland rice fields was affected by the tax value of the land, the productivity of paddy rice, the selling value of the land, and the proportion of paddy farm income to total household income. In addition, the probability of farmers to sell their farms was also greater if the condition of damaged irrigation and paddy location was close to the road