The Indian COSMOS Network (ICON): validating L-band remote sensing and modelled soil moisture data products

Availability of global satellite based Soil Moisture (SM) data has promoted the emergence of many applications in climate studies, agricultural water resource management and hydrology. In this context, validation of the global data set is of substance. Remote sensing measurements which are representative of an area covering 100 m2 to tens of km2 rarely match with in situ SM measurements at point scale due to scale difference. In this paper we present the new Indian Cosmic Ray Network (ICON) and compare it’s data with remotely sensed SM at different depths. ICON is the first network in India of the kind. It is operational since 2016 and consist of seven sites equipped with the COSMOS instrument. This instrument is based on the Cosmic Ray Neutron Probe (CRNP) technique which uses non-invasive neutron counts as a measure of soil moisture. It provides in situ measurements over an area with a radius of 150–250 m. This intermediate scale soil moisture is of interest for the validation of satellite SM. We compare the COSMOS derived soil moisture to surface soil moisture (SSM) and root zone soil moisture (RZSM) derived from SMOS, SMAP and GLDAS_Noah. The comparison with surface soil moisture products yield that the SMAP_L4_SSM showed best performance over all the sites with correlation (R) values ranging from 0.76 to 0.90. RZSM on the other hand from all products showed lesser performances. RZSM for GLDAS and SMAP_L4 products show that the results are better for the top layer R = 0.75 to 0.89 and 0.75 to 0.90 respectively than the deeper layers R = 0.26 to 0.92 and 0.6 to 0.8 respectively in all sites in India. The ICON network will be a useful tool for the calibration and validation activities for future SM missions like the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR)

Cosmic-ray soil water monitoring: the development, status & potential of the COSMOS-India network

Soil moisture (SM) plays a central role in the hydrological cycle and surface energy balance and represents an important control on a range of land surface processes. Knowledge of the spatial and temporal dynamics of SM is important for applications ranging from numerical weather and climate predictions, the calibration and validation of remotely sensed data products, as well as water resources, flood and drought forecasting, agronomy and predictions of greenhouse gas fluxes. Since 2015, the Centre for Ecology and Ecology has been working in partnership with several Indian Research Institutes to develop COSMOS-India, a new network of SM monitoring stations that employ cosmic-ray soil moisture sensors (CRS) to deliver high temporal frequency, near-real time observations of SM at field scale. CRS provide continuous observations of near-surface (top 0.1 to 0.2 m) soil volumetric water content (VWC; m3 m-3) that are representative of a large footprint area (approximately 200 m in radius). To date, seven COSMOS-India sites have been installed and are operational at a range of locations that are characterised by differences in climate, soil type and land management. In this presentation, the development, current status and future potential of the COSMOS-India network will be discussed. Key results from the COSMOS-India network will be presented and analysed

Health Profile Of Aged Persons In Urban & Rural Field Practice Areas Of Medical College, Amrisar

Research question: What is the health status of aged persons in urban and rural area? Objectives: 1. To study the socio-demographic profile. 2. To study the health status of aged persons in urban and rural areas and factors associated with it. Study design: Cross-sectional Participants: Persons aged 60 years and above. Sample size: 698 (423 males and 275 females) Study variables: Age, Sex, marital status, occupation, literacy status, addition, morbidity pattern and disability. Results: Among 698 aged persons, 423(60.60%) were males and 275(39.40%) were females, 393(56.3%) were in the age group of 60-65 years while only 34(4.8%) were more than 80 years. Majority (58.45%) belonged to Sikh community followed by Hindus (39.9%). 61.37% aged persons were literate and 38.63% were illiterate. 73.74% of all aged were living in joint families. 68.39% aged persons were engaged in one or other works while 31.61% were dependent on other family members. It was observed that 46.08% of rural aged and 32.97% of urban aged persons were going for morning/evening walk. 33.69% of urban aged and 20.69% of rural aged were reading newspapers or books. Out of total 423 males, 363(85.81%) were addicted to one or the other intoxicants. 374(53.58%) were feeling satisfactory at this age while 324(46.42%) were not feeling so. Majority of them were ill at the time of survey. Arthritis (60.60%) being the commonest cause of illness followed by cataract or visual impairment (54.01%). 16.62% of the aged were hypertensive, it was more (19.35%) in urban aged as compared to rural aged (13.79%). Diabetes mellitus was observed in 5.3% aged persons and it was more commonly seen in urban area (6.81%) than in rural area (2.51%). Prevalence of peptic ulcers/chromic gastritis was found to be 5.87% (6.09% in urban area (6.27%) in rural area aged). The problems due to socio-psychology causes were minimal, probably because majority (73.74%) of them were residing with their familie

Proceedings of International Conference on Women Researchers in Electronics and Computing

This proceeding contains articles on the various research ideas of the academic community and practitioners presented at the international conference, “Women Researchers in Electronics and Computing” (WREC’2021). WREC'21 was organized in online mode by Dr. B R Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar (Punjab), INDIA during 22 – 24 April 2021. This conference was conceptualized with an objective to encourage and motivate women engineers and scientists to excel in science and technology and to be the role models for young girls to follow in their footsteps. With a view to inspire women engineers, pioneer and successful women achievers in the domains of VLSI design, wireless sensor networks, communication, image/ signal processing, machine learning, and emerging technologies were identified from across the globe and invited to present their work and address the participants in this women oriented conference. Conference Title: International Conference on Women Researchers in Electronics and ComputingConference Acronym: WREC'21Conference Date: 22–24 April 2021Conference Location: Online (Virtual Mode)Conference Organizers: Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, Punjab, INDI