Crop type mapping using high-resolution Sentinel-2 Satellite Data– A case study on Gujarat State

Mapping following products of Gujarat state using high-resolution Sentinel-2 satellite data 1. Crop type 2. Irrigated and Rainfed area Major Activities • Satellite imagery acquisition/ procurement and pre-processing (Sentinel-2, 10&20 m spatial resolution). • Field information (ground reference data) and farmer interviews at selected locations and collection of validation points. • Satellite Imagery analysis and interpretation for land use / land cover areas including irrigated and rainfed cultivated areas

Agricultural cropland extent and areas of South Asia derived using Landsat satellite 30-m time-series big-data using random forest machine learning algorithms on the Google Earth Engine cloud

The South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan) has a staggering 900 million people (~43% of the population) who face food insecurity or severe food insecurity as per United Nations, Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES). The existing coarse-resolution (≥250-m) cropland maps lack precision in geo-location of individual farms and have low map accuracies. This also results in uncertainties in cropland areas calculated fromsuch products. Thereby, the overarching goal of this study was to develop a high spatial resolution (30-m or better) baseline cropland extent product of South Asia for the year 2015 using Landsat satellite time-series big-data and machine learning algorithms (MLAs) on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform. To eliminate the impact of clouds, 10 time-composited Landsat bands (blue, green, red, NIR, SWIR1, SWIR2, Thermal, EVI, NDVI, NDWI) were derived for each of the three timeperiods over 12 months (monsoon: Days of the Year (DOY) 151–300; winter: DOY 301–365 plus 1–60; and summer: DOY 61–150), taking the every 8-day data from Landsat-8 and 7 for the years 2013–2015, for a total of 30-bands plus global digital elevation model (GDEM) derived slope band. This 31-band mega-file big data-cube was composed for each of the five agro-ecological zones (AEZ’s) of South Asia and formed a baseline data for image classification and analysis. Knowledgebase for the Random Forest (RF) MLAs were developed using spatially well spread-out reference training data (N = 2179) in five AEZs. The classification was performed on GEE for each of the five AEZs using well-established knowledge-base and RF MLAs on the cloud. Map accuracies were measured using independent validation data (N = 1185). The survey showed that the South Asia cropland product had a producer’s accuracy of 89.9% (errors of omissions of 10.1%), user’s accuracy of 95.3% (errors of commission of 4.7%) and an overall accuracy of 88.7%. The National and sub-national (districts) areas computed from this cropland extent product explained 80-96% variability when compared with the National statistics of the South Asian Countries. The full-resolution imagery can be viewed at full-resolution, by zooming-in to any location in South Asia or the world, atwww.croplands. org and the cropland products of South Asia downloaded from The Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS): https://lpdaac.usgs.gov/products/gfsad30saafgircev001/

Monitoring Changes in Croplands Due to Water Stress in the Krishna River Basin Using Temporal Satellite Imagery

Remote sensing-based assessments of large river basins such as the Krishna, which supplies water to many states in India, are useful for operationally monitoring agriculture, especially basins that are affected by abiotic stress. Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) time series products can be used to understand cropland changes at the basin level due to abiotic stresses, especially water scarcity. Spectral matching techniques were used to identify land use/land cover (LULC) areas for two crop years: 2013–2014, which was a normal year, and 2015–2016, which was a water stress year. Water stress-affected crop areas were categorized into three classes—severe, moderate and mild—based on the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and intensity of damage assessed through field sampling. Furthermore, ground survey data were used to assess the accuracy of MODIS-derived classification individual products. Water inflows into and outflows from the Krishna river basin during the study period were used as direct indicators of water scarcity/availability in the Krishna Basin. Furthermore, ground survey data were used to assess the accuracy of MODIS-derived LULC classification of individual year products. Rainfall data from the tropical rainfall monitoring mission (TRMM) was used to support the water stress analysis. The nine LULC classes derived using the MODIS temporal imagery provided overall accuracies of 82% for the cropping year 2013–2014 and 85% for the year 2015–2016. Kappa values are 0.78 for 2013–2014 and 0.82 for 2015–2016. MODIS-derived cropland areas were compared with national statistics for the cropping year 2013–2014 with a R2 value of 0.87. Results show that both rainfed and irrigated areas in 2015–2016 saw significant changes that will have significant impacts on food security. It has been also observed that the farmers in the basin tend to use lower inputs and labour per ha during drought years. Among all, access to water is the major driver determining the crop choice and extent of input-use in the basin

Planning southern Iraq: placing the progressive theories of Max Lock in Um Qasr, Margil, and Basra in the context of Iraqi national development, 1954–1956

Between 1954 and 1956, the architect, educator, and planner, Max Lock (1909–1988) produced a trilogy of plans to modernize the historical city of Basra and create new areas at Margil and Um Qasr in the south of Iraq. The New Basrah Plan was heavily inspired by the works of Patrick Geddes and aligned with contemporaries such as Lewis Mumford, Lock’s planning was progressive in scope and looked to differ from the planning of post-war principles in Britain through his notions of ‘civic surgery’. Contrary to this, his plans for Um Qasr and Margil focussed on infrastructure and the creation of more industrial areas not prioritizing people and place as highly as he did in the New Basrah Plan. Lock’s ‘Civic Surgery’ offered an alternative to mainstream thought by attempting to create usable, humanistic spaces, which hampered by politics and legislation, resulted in the plan’s shelving and were contradicted by his other works’ philosophies. New retrospective analysis of his underappreciated career reveals the complexities of his planning which this article demonstrates through the ‘failure’ of the New Basrah Plan and his plans at Um Qasr and Margil

Strengthening Food Security Post-COVID-19 and Locust Attacks: Supporting crop insurance in Pakistan

This study mainly focussed on linking Insurance and Technology. The study will use comprehensive exiting environmental, weather and management data along with satellite derived crop spatial data. This information will be modelled using crop models to assess crop yield assessment at gram panchayat (GP) and required spatial information generated from near real time high resolution satellite images

Strengthening Food Security Post-COVID-19 and Locust Attacks

This study mainly focussed on linking Insurance and Technology. The study will use comprehensive exiting environmental, weather and management data along with satellite derived crop spatial data. This information will be modelled using crop models to assess crop yield assessment at gram panchayat (GP) and required spatial information generated from near real time high resolution satellite images

Categorisation of thyroid lesions according to bethesda system and their histopathology correlation in a tertiary care hospital

Introduction: Thyroid is affected by variety of conditions, whose preoperative diagnosis is of great significance in appropriate management. Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) offers cellular level diagnosis with comparable sensitivity and specificity with respect to gold standard histopathological examination. Aim: To categories Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology of Thyroid lesions according to The Bethesda System of Reporting Thyroid Cytopathology and to correlate with histopathological findings wherever possible and to estimate diagnostic accuracy of FNAC. Materials and methods: A prospective study was carried out over a period of 2year, during which FNAC was done in 328 patients with thyroid swelling. Amongst whom 126 underwent surgery and histopathological correlation was done in those cases. Results: There was female preponderance with female to male ratio of 6.9:1, and mean age of 40.6 years. Out of 126 cases, 117 were non-neoplastic and 9 were neoplastic on histopathology. Among 117 non-neoplastic lesions, 106 cases showed cyto-histological concordance and 11 were discordant. Among the 9 neoplastic lesions, cyto-histological concordance was obtained in 4 cases and discordant in 5. Sensitivity and specificity of FNAC for non-neoplastic lesions were 93.8% and 69.2% respectively. Positive predictive value and negative predictive value were 96.3% and 56.2% respectively with a diagnostic accuracy of 91.2%. Conclusion: FNAC is simple, inexpensive and effective diagnostic modality with complications being minimal. Precise technique and rational use of USG guidance improves the adequacy and reduces the non-diagnostic rates. FNAC reporting according to TBSRTC aids clinicians and Pathologists in providing optimal management of patients