Physiological Efficiency of some Weeds Species under Hill Farming Systems of Subtropical Meghalaya

Weeds are integral part of any farming system. Weeds are more aggressive in their ability to utilize limited moisture and nutrients in the soil relative to cultivated crops. Weeds grow more profusely in high rainfall areas such as subtropical Meghalaya owing to favourable climatic conditions which favours the growth of weeds particularly in uplands and limits the crop yields due to increased crop-weed competition for nutrients and light. The weed species such as Ageratum conyzoides, Spilanthus acmella, Galinsoga parviflora, Bidens pilosa, Crassocephalum crepidioides, Polygonum capitatum, Alternanthera philoxeroides, Amaranthus spinosus and Mikania micrantha are very common in most of the cultivated crops. These weeds are also very common in grazing lands, wastelands, agroforestry systems, abandoned fields etc. in northeast India and some of them are also consumed as green vegetables by the local inhabitants. Most of these weeds are also a menace in fodder cultivation and managing grasslands. A high rate of photosynthesis is always associated with higher productivity, unless sink capacity is limiting. However, studies on photosynthesis and its associated parameters in relation to crop-weed competition are limited. Therefore, an attempt was made to study the photosynthesis rate, transpiration rate, stomatal conductance and other associated parameters in major crops and the associated weed species under hill environment

Video synthesis from Intensity and Event Frames

Event cameras, neuromorphic devices that naturally respond to brightness changes, have multiple advantages with respect to traditional cameras. However, the difficulty of applying traditional computer vision algorithms on event data limits their usability. Therefore, in this paper we investigate the use of a deep learning-based architecture that combines an initial grayscale frame and a series of event data to estimate the following intensity frames. In particular, a fully-convolutional encoder-decoder network is employed and evaluated for the frame synthesis task on an automotive event-based dataset. Performance obtained with pixel-wise metrics confirms the quality of the images synthesized by the proposed architecture

Soil health as affected by altered land configuration and conservation tillage in a groundnut (Arachis hypogaea) - toria (Brassica campestris var toria) cropping system

A field experiment was conducted during the year 2009-11 at ICAR Research Complex for North Eastern Hill Region (NEHR), Meghalaya to study the influence of land configuration and conservation tillage on soil health in a groundnut-toria cropping system. The experiment consisted of seven treatments [i. flat bed farmer’s practice (FP) no residue; ii. broad beds and furrows (BBF) with residue incorporation; iii. BBF with residue + hedge leaves (Tephrosia sp) incorporation; iv. BBF with residue + hedge leaves (no tillage, NT); v. raised bed (RB) with residue incorporation; vi. RB with residue + hedge leaves incorporation; vii. RB with residue + hedge leaves (NT)] laid out in randomised block design and replicated thrice. The conservation treatments were found to significantly improve biological activity and chemical properties of soil. However, physical properties such as texture and bulk density were not significantly affected by any of the treatments. Infiltration rate and hydraulic conductivity were 108% and 46% higher, respectively, in the treatments under RB with residue + hedge leaves (NT) as compared to FP. Soil microbial biomass carbon was 67% higher under RB with residue + hedge leaves incorporation than FP after the harvest of both the crops in the second year while dehydrogenase activity was 135% higher in RB with residue + hedge leaves (NT) after the harvest of groundnut and RB with residue incorporation after the harvest of toria than FP, respectively. System productivity under RBs were significantly higher than that recorded under BBF and FB. Conservation treatments showed better soil health at the end of the cropping cycles and it is concluded that raised beds along with residue management can provide an alternative and sustainable technology contributing to sustainable agriculture in the NEHR of India which can be extrapolated to other similar areas

Rethinking feasibility analysis for urban development: a multidimensional decision support tool

Large-scale urban development projects featured over the past thirty years have shown some critical issues related to the implementation phase. Con-sequently, the current practice seems oriented toward minimal and wide-spread interventions meant as urban catalyst. This planning practice might solve the problem of limited reliability of large developments’ feasibility studies, but it rises an evaluation demand related to the selection of coali-tion of projects within a multidimensional and multi-stakeholders deci-sion-making context. This study aims to propose a framework for the generation of coalitions of elementary actions in the context of urban regeneration processes and for their evaluation using a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis approach. The proposed evaluation framework supports decision makers in exploring dif-ferent combinations of actions in the context of urban interventions taking into account synergies, i.e. positive or negative effects on the overall per-formance of an alternative linked to the joint realization of specific pairs of actions. The proposed evaluation framework has been tested on a pilot case study dealing with urban regeneration processes in the city of Milan (Italy)

The Labour of Love: Seasonal Migration from Jharkhand to the Brick Kilns of Other States in India

Seasonal casual labour migration in India has conventionally been understood as the result of extreme poverty whereby villagers are forced to become migrants for the dry six months to subsist or merely survive. This article draws on fieldwork in a village in Jharkhand and a brick kiln in West Bengal to argue that migrants do not understand their movement in economic terms alone. Many see the brick kilns as a temporary space of freedom to escape problems back home, explore a new country, gain independence from parents or live out prohibited amorous relationships. It is suggested that Jharkhandi activists and policy-makers’ construction of such migration as a ‘problem’ is as much about their vision of how the new tribal state ought to be as about exploitation. Migration to the kilns is seen by them as a threat to the purity and regulation of the social and sexual tribal citizen. This moralising perspective creates a climate that paradoxically encourages many young people to flee to the brick kilns where they can live ‘freely’. In this way, the new puritanism at home helps to reproduce the conditions for capitalist exploitation and the extraction of surplus value

Adapting to climate change in The Netherlands: an inventory of climate adaptation options and ranking of alternatives

In many countries around the world impacts of climate change are assessed and adaptation options identified. We describe an approach for a qualitative and quantitative assessment of adaptation options to respond to climate change in the Netherlands. The study introduces an inventory and ranking of adaptation options based on stakeholder analysis and expert judgement, and presents some estimates of incremental costs and benefits. The qualitative assessment focuses on ranking and prioritisation of adaptation options. Options are selected and identified and discussed by stakeholders on the basis of a sectoral approach, and assessed with respect to their importance, urgency and other characteristics by experts. The preliminary quantitative assessment identifies incremental costs and benefits of adaptation options. Priority ranking based on a weighted sum of criteria reveals that in the Netherlands integrated nature and water management and risk based policies rank high, followed by policies aiming at 'climate proof' housing and infrastructure

Responses of marine benthic microalgae to elevated CO<inf>2</inf>

Increasing anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere are causing a rise in pCO2 concentrations in the ocean surface and lowering pH. To predict the effects of these changes, we need to improve our understanding of the responses of marine primary producers since these drive biogeochemical cycles and profoundly affect the structure and function of benthic habitats. The effects of increasing CO2 levels on the colonisation of artificial substrata by microalgal assemblages (periphyton) were examined across a CO2 gradient off the volcanic island of Vulcano (NE Sicily). We show that periphyton communities altered significantly as CO2 concentrations increased. CO2 enrichment caused significant increases in chlorophyll a concentrations and in diatom abundance although we did not detect any changes in cyanobacteria. SEM analysis revealed major shifts in diatom assemblage composition as CO2 levels increased. The responses of benthic microalgae to rising anthropogenic CO2 emissions are likely to have significant ecological ramifications for coastal systems. © 2011 Springer-Verlag