India: mud banks, muddy waters

As mud banks along the southwest coast of India dwindle, several concerns and societal implications have been articulated regarding this unique oceanographic phenomenon

Service Level as Performance Indicator for Multiple Part Families in a Reconfigurable Manufacturing System

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems are recognized as next generation manufacturing systems capable of providing the exact functionality and capacity as and when required. The reconfiguration of the system depends upon the ease with which any machine can be added, removed or re-adjusted for upcoming configuration from any initial or outgoing configuration. The efforts required while changing any existing configuration to a new configuration have serious implications on the cost aspect as well. The complexity and economics involved in changing one configuration to another depend on the existing initial configuration and the new upcoming configuration required for subsequent production of part families. In the present paper, based on the different types of effort associated with the reconfiguration process, a new indicator of performance termed as “Service Level” is proposed. The proposed indicator is modeled for a multipart reconfigurable manufacturing system. The proposed methodology is demonstrated using a numerical example. The values obtained for service levels while switching from one configuration to another were calculated for a serial product flow line. Some of the important implications regarding service level evaluation and implementation are finally discussed

Mud Banks of Kerala: Mystery Yet To Be Unveiled!

38-41Mud Banks are areas of the sea adjoining the coast with calm water during the roughest monsoon conditions of the sea. They provide a rich catch of fishery too

ENSO signature in the sea level along the coastline of the Indian subcontinent

225-236Evidence for the signature of El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon in the monthly mean sea level at 8 tide gauge stations on the west coast and 7 stations on the east coast of the Indian subcontinent is presented. The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI, indicator of the ENSO phenomenon) available continuously from 1933 onwards, was utilized to examine the relationship between sea level and ENSO. The relationship between sea level and SOI is direct, with the sea level decreasing during El Nino years and increasing during La Nina years. The signature of ENSO is particularly conspicuous in the sea level records on the east coast as compared to those on the west coast. Reduced rainfall over the Indian subcontinent and resultant river discharges, remote forcing by interannual zonal winds along the equator and reduced Indonesian Throughflow could be the probable factors explaining the low sea level along the coastline of the Indian subcontinent during ENSO events. The interannual sea level along the coastline of the Indian subcontinent shows more or less synchronous movement-the rise and fall is nearly simultaneous. At low frequency, spatial coherence of sea level is very large

Statistical modelling of monthly mean sea level at coastal tide gauge stations along the Indian subcontinent

212-224This study investigates the suitability of statistical models for their predictive potential for the monthly mean sea level at different stations along the west and east coasts of the Indian subcontinent. Statistical modelling of the monthly mean sea level at 15 selected tide gauge stations (8 stations on the west and 7 stations on the east coast) along the coastline of the Indian subcontinent was attempted using autoregressive, sinusoidal and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) techniques. Statistics pertaining to the mean seasonal cycle as well as interannual variability are also presented. A strong domination of the annual cycle over the semi-annual cycle was seen at ten stations. The maximum seasonal sea level ranges were observed along the west coast at Bhavnagar (63 cm) and along the east coast at Sagar Island (48 cm). While the autoregressive and sinusoidal models were satisfactory, EWMA technique was found to be the best of all. Tuticorin on the east coast, and Mormugao on the west coast have shown minimum RMSEs for the corresponding coasts for all the three models, while Bhavnagar on west coast has shown very high RMSE values. The EWMA technique (which yields forecast with a lead time of only one month) gave the lowest root mean square errors relative to the verifying observations

Not Available

Not AvailableNot AvailableNot Availabl

Recent trends in the mobulid fishery in Indian waters

1265-1274Mobulidae are zooplanktivorous elasmobranchs, found circumglobally in tropical, subtropical and temperate coastal waters. It comprises of two recognized species of manta rays (Manta spp.) and nine recognized species of devil rays (Mobulaspp.). Although the reports of mobulid fisheryin India were only from 1960s, however it was commercially exploited only after 2007 for their valuable gillrakers. Mobuladiabolus, M. tarpacana, M. japonica, M. kuhlii, M. thurstoni, Manta birostris and M. alfredi are the seven species which contributes tomobulid fishery. White gilled Mobulatarpacana is highly targeted for its high priced gill raker which fetches uptoRs. 8,000 kg-1 in dry weight.Few mobulid species has already reached the IUCN Red list status. Thorough monitoring of mobulid fish exploitation level is essential in India. It is necessary to ensure standardized sampling and modelling methodologies to estimate the stock position of these fishes from Indian waters