A Hydro-Geochemical Evaluation of Groundwater Suitability for Irrigation and Domestic Purposes: A Case Study from Narmada Mahi Inter-Stream Region of Gujarat, India

Groundwater Hydrology, Irrigatio

An Integrated Geochemical and Geospatial Approach for Assessing the Potential Ground Water Recharge Zones in Mahi -Narmada Inter Stream Doab Area, Gujarat, India

Mahi-Narmada inter-stream region (Doab) in Gujarat is a unique landscape bounded by rivers Mahi and Narmada in the north and south respectively followed by the physiographic truncation by the eastern highlands comprising mainly the Deccan flood basalts and abruptly ending along the western margin due to the Cambay gulf. These distinct hydro-geological boundaries have controlled the ground water regime in the region. The region being part of the Golden Quadrilateral has witnessed highest industrial growth in India. Use of groundwater for irrigation, industrial development and urban expansion have stressed the aquifers and even the surface water bodies are also over utilized; thus adversely affecting the quality and quantum of the water resource of the region. A study was carried out to understand the gravity of the problem stated and also to propose a strategy of monitoring and management of the water resource of the region. The pre- and post-monsoon groundwater sampling of 2002 was carried out and corresponding physical and chemical data generated has established that the groundwater in the study area has unusually high concentration of major, minor and trace elements. A multi-parametric dataset comprising satellite data and other conventional maps including Survey of India (SoI) topographic maps (1:50,000 scale), drainage density, landforms, slope, soil and land use maps, etc. were integrated into Geographic Information System (GIS) environment to generate various thematic maps such as; recharge and discharge zone maps, groundwater quality maps finally culminating into water resource management scheme for the region. The maps so generated have been very close to the field conditions, the study has thus helped in the development of ground water monitoring and managing strategy. The study indicates that periodic monitoring of the groundwater resource with the help of GIS will help in proper management of groundwater resource by identifying the zones/areas of recharge that shall be required to be protected from being converted into built up areas. Moreover, such area also needs to be protected for being used for extensive cultivation as this can leads to contamination of groundwater resource by use of insecticide, pesticides and other chemicals. The study puts emphasis on conjunctive use of surface and groundwater by applying proper management practices so that there is effective use of water. Keywords: Hydro geochemistry, GIS, groundwater, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS

State of the Art in Dense Monocular Non-Rigid 3D Reconstruction

3D reconstruction of deformable (or non-rigid) scenes from a set of monocular2D image observations is a long-standing and actively researched area ofcomputer vision and graphics. It is an ill-posed inverse problem,since--without additional prior assumptions--it permits infinitely manysolutions leading to accurate projection to the input 2D images. Non-rigidreconstruction is a foundational building block for downstream applicationslike robotics, AR/VR, or visual content creation. The key advantage of usingmonocular cameras is their omnipresence and availability to the end users aswell as their ease of use compared to more sophisticated camera set-ups such asstereo or multi-view systems. This survey focuses on state-of-the-art methodsfor dense non-rigid 3D reconstruction of various deformable objects andcomposite scenes from monocular videos or sets of monocular views. It reviewsthe fundamentals of 3D reconstruction and deformation modeling from 2D imageobservations. We then start from general methods--that handle arbitrary scenesand make only a few prior assumptions--and proceed towards techniques makingstronger assumptions about the observed objects and types of deformations (e.g.human faces, bodies, hands, and animals). A significant part of this STAR isalso devoted to classification and a high-level comparison of the methods, aswell as an overview of the datasets for training and evaluation of thediscussed techniques. We conclude by discussing open challenges in the fieldand the social aspects associated with the usage of the reviewed methods.<br

Atomic Layer Deposition of 2D Metal Dichalcogenides for Electronics, Catalysis, Energy Storage, and Beyond

2D transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are among the most exciting materials of today. Their layered crystal structures result in unique and useful electronic, optical, catalytic, and quantum properties. To realize the technological potential of TMDCs, methods depositing uniform films of controlled thickness at low temperatures in a highly controllable, scalable, and repeatable manner are needed. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is a chemical gas-phase thin film deposition method capable of meeting these challenges. In this review, the applications evaluated for ALD TMDCs are systematically examined, including electronics and optoelectonics, electrocatalysis and photocatalysis, energy storage, lubrication, plasmonics, solar cells, and photonics. This review focuses on understanding the interplay between ALD precursors and deposition conditions, the resulting film characteristics such as thickness, crystallinity, and morphology, and ultimately device performance. Through rational choice of precursors and conditions, ALD is observed to exhibit potential to meet the varying requirements of widely different applications. Beyond the current state of ALD TMDCs, the future prospects, opportunities, and challenges in different applications are discussed. The authors hope that the review aids in bringing together experts in the fields of ALD, TMDCs, and various applications to eventually realize industrial applications of ALD TMDCs.Peer reviewe

GPS measurements on pre-, co- and post-seismic surface deformation at first multi-parametric geophysical observatory, Ghuttu in Garhwal Himalaya, India

We investigate the surface deformation pattern of GPS station at MPGO Ghuttu (GHUT) to find out the cause of anomalous behavior in the continuous GPS time series. Seven years (2007-2013) of GPS data has been analyzed using GAMIT/GLOBK software and generated the daily position time series. The horizontal translational motion at GHUT is 43.7 ± 1 mm/yr at an angle of 41°± 3° towards NE, while for the IGS station at LHAZ, the motion is 49.4 ±1 mm/yr at 18 ± 2.5° towards NEE. The estimated velocity at GHUT station with respect to IISC is 12 ± 1 mm/yr towards SW. Besides, we have also examined anomalous changes in the time series of GHUT before, after and during the occurrences of local earthquakes by considering the empirical strain radius; such that, a possible relationship between the strain radius and the occurrences of earthquakes have been explored. We considered seven local earthquakes on the basis of Dobrovolsky strain radius condition having magnitude from 4.5 to 5.7, which occurred from 2007 to 2011. Results show irrespective of the station strain radius, pre-seismic surface deformational anomalies are observed roughly 70 to 80 days before the occurrence of a Moderate or higher magnitude events. This has been observed for the cases of those events originated from the Uttarakashi and the Chamoli seismic zones in the Garhwal and Kumaun Himalaya. Occurrences of short (< 100 days) and long (two years) inter-seismic events in the Garhwal region plausibly regulating and diffusing the regional strain accumulation

A geospatial technique for demarcating ground water recharge potential zones: A study of Mahi -Narmada Inter stream region, Gujarat

ABSTRACT With the current pace of development and utilization of resources at various levels of human development, the demand for water is ever increasing. But the fact remains the same i.e. natural resources are limited and especially water resource are depleting at an alarming rate. This includes both quality and quantity aspects which to a large extent depends upon the geologic/geographic location of the resource. The conventional approach for groundwater recharge assessment has some limitations in spite of its simplicity and wide applicability in varied hydro-geological setup. Whereas in case of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) application, spatial distribution of the variables are taken into account, thus preparing an information layer for an area under consideration. In the present study, weighted indexing method has been used to identify and demarcate the potential zones for groundwater recharge which can also be used as sites for artificial recharge. Thus, multiple thematic layers of influencing parameters like geology, soil, slope, drainage density and land use are prepared and assigned on a scale of 1 to 5 based on their influence on the groundwater recharge process. The final map suitable for ground water recharge thus obtained categorizes study area into three zones, viz., poor, moderate and good according to their suitability for ground water recharge.Present study deals with the efficiency of RS and GIS techniques to identify groundwater recharge sites. It further envisages generating a regional model for development and management of water resources with a view to apply at local level

Wear Response of Aluminium 6061 Composite Reinforced with Red Mud at Elevated Temperature

The present work is focused on the investigations on dry sliding wear behaviour of aluminium metal matrix composite at room and elevated temperature. Aluminium metal matrix composites reinforced with red mud are prepared by stir casting method. The experiments are planned using Taguchi technique. An orthogonal array, analysis of variance and signal to noise ratio are used to check the influence of wear parameters like temperature, percentage of reinforcement, mesh size, load, sliding distance and sliding speed on dry sliding wear of composites. The optimal testing parameters are found and their values are calculated which are then compared with predicted values. A reasonable agreement is found between predicted and actual values. The model prepared in the present work can be effectively used to predict the specific wear rate of the composites

Effect of Lubrication on Sliding Wear of Red Mud Particulate Reinforced Aluminium Alloy 6061

In present study, Red mud, an industrial waste, has been utilized as a reinforcement material to fabricate Aluminium 6061 matrix based metal matrix composite. Taguchi L18 orthogonal array has been employed for fabrication of composite castings and for conducting the tribological experimentation. ANOVA analysis has been applied to examine the effect of individual parameters such as sliding condition: dry and wet, reinforcement weight fraction, load, speed, and sliding distance on specific wear rate obtained experimentally. It has been found that tensile strength and impact energy increases while elongation decreases, with increasing weight fraction and decrease in particle size of red mud. The percentage contribution of the effect of factors on SWR is Sliding condition (73.17), speed (7.84), percentage reinforcement (7.35), load (5.75), sliding distance (2.24), and particle size (1.25). It has also been observed that specific wear rate is very low in wet condition. However, it decreases with increase in weight fraction of reinforcement, decrease in load and sliding speed. Al6061/red mud metal matrix composites have shown reasonable strength and wear resistance. The use of red mud in Aluminium composite provides the solution for disposal of red mud and can possibly become an economic replacement of Aluminium and its alloys

Impact of Organic Farming on Sustainable Agriculture System and Marketing Potential: A Review

Organic farming helps to improve the health of agro-ecosystem by its holistic approach using on-farm agronomic, biological and mechanical methods in exclusion of all synthetic off-farm inputs. Although the organic farming is eco-friendly, question arises about&nbsp;possibility to adopt the organic farming for the large scale and its impacts on maintaining the productivity of land to meet the food security challenges from the ever-increasing population of the world.&nbsp;But at the same time, consumer’s behaviour and consciousness toward the safe and healthy food enforced the thinking of farmers toward the organic farming which is more lucrative due to high market demand and value of organic produce. This paper mainly addresses about the present status and future scope of organic farming especially in North eastern region of India, State of Sikkim, Indian and Global scenario and to investigate the major external and internal factors that influence the whole organic system including production and marketing of organic commodity

Overexpression of wbkF gene in Brucella abortus RB51WboA leads to increased O-polysaccharide expression and enhanced vaccine efficacy against B. abortus 2308, B. melitensis 16M, and B. suis 1330 in a murine brucellosis model.

Brucella abortus RB51 is an attenuated, stable, spontaneous rough mutant derived in the laboratory from the virulent strain B. abortus 2308. Previous studies discovered that the wboA gene, which encodes a glycosyltransferase required for synthesis of the O-polysaccharide, is disrupted in strain RB51 by an IS711 element. However, complementation of strain RB51 with a functional wboA gene (strain RB51WboA) does not confer it a smooth phenotype but results in low levels of cytoplasmic O-polysaccharide synthesis. In this study, we asked if increasing the potential availability of bactoprenol priming precursors in strain RB51WboA would increase the levels of O-polysaccharide synthesis and enhance the protective efficacy against virulent Brucella challenge. To achieve this, we overexpressed the wbkF gene, which encodes a putative undecaprenyl-glycosyltransferase involved in bactoprenol priming for O-polysaccharide polymerization, in strain RB51WboA to generate strain RB51WboAKF. In comparison to strain RB51WboA, strain RB51WboAKF expressed higher levels of O-polysaccharide, but was still attenuated and remained phenotypically rough. Mice immunized with strain RB51WboAKF developed increased levels of smooth LPS-specific serum antibodies, primarily of IgG2a and IgG3 isotype. Splenocytes from mice vaccinated with strain RB51WboAKF secreted higher levels of antigen-specific IFN-γ and TNF-α and contained more numbers of antigen-specific IFN-γ secreting CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes when compared to those of the RB51 or RB51WboA vaccinated groups. Immunization with strain RB51WboAKF conferred enhanced protection against virulent B. abortus 2308, B. melitensis 16M and B. suis 1330 challenge when compared to the currently used vaccine strains. Our results suggest that strain RB51WboAKF has the potential to be a more efficacious vaccine than its parent strain in natural hosts