Water distribution rules and water distribution performance: a case study in the Tambraparani Irrigation System

Irrigation management / Irrigation systems / Performance / Irrigation operation / Irrigation scheduling / Water distribution / Water allocation / Water delivery / Water users' associations / Legislation / Large-scale systems / Bananas / Case studies / India / Tamil Nadu / Tambraparani Irrigation System

Methods and Approaches for Characterizing Learning Related Changes Observed in functional MRI Data — A Review

Brain imaging data have so far revealed a wealth of information about neuronal circuits involved in higher mental functions like memory, attention, emotion, language etc. Our efforts are toward understanding the learning related effects in brain activity during the acquisition of visuo-motor sequential skills. The aim of this paper is to survey various methods and approaches of analysis that allow the characterization of learning related changes in fMRI data. Traditional imaging analysis using the Statistical Parametric Map (SPM) approach averages out temporal changes and presents overall differences between different stages of learning. We outline other potential approaches for revealing learning effects such as statistical time series analysis, modelling of haemodynamic response function and independent component analysis. We present example case studies from our visuo-motor sequence learning experiments to describe application of SPM and statistical time series analyses. Our review highlights that the problem of characterizing learning induced changes in fMRI data remains an interesting and challenging open research problem

A Multi-disciplinary Approach to the Investigation of Aspects of Serial Order in Cognition

Serial order processing or Sequence processing underlies many human activities such as speech, language, skill learning, planning, problem solving, etc. Investigating the\ud neural bases of sequence processing enables us to understand serial order in cognition and helps us building intelligent devices. In the current paper, various\ud cognitive issues related to sequence processing will be discussed with examples. Some of the issues are: distributed versus local representation, pre-wired versus\ud adaptive origins of representation, implicit versus explicit learning, fixed/flat versus hierarchical organization, timing aspects, order information embedded in sequences, primacy versus recency in list learning and aspects of sequence perception such as recognition, recall and generation. Experimental results that give evidence for the involvement of various brain areas will be described. Finally, theoretical frameworks based on Markov models and Reinforcement Learning paradigm will be presented. These theoretical ideas are useful for studying sequential phenomena in a principled way

Innovations in irrigation financing

"Financing for water projects, especially for irrigation, has been moving towards collapse in recent years due to declining donor and government funding. Some Indian states have undertaken innovative institutional reforms by setting up financially autonomous corporations to mobilise required funds from the domestic bond market. This analysis of the performance of one such corporation, Karnataka's Krishna Bhagya Jal Nigam Limited, indicates that although adequate funds were mobilised, and physical works are on schedule, the new institution did not attempt to enhance overall irrigation performance and to move towards financial sustainability of the irrigation project. This paper describes the background of this institution, its achievements, inadequacies and potential of the innovative efforts made in irrigation financing reforms." Authors' AbstractIrrigation India ,Irrigation projects India ,Finance ,Government spending policy ,

Dynamic Soil – Pile Parameters

Results of lateral dynamic load tests conducted on precast driven concrete piles at two Project sites, one in South India (two individual piles) and another in Western India (one individual pile and two numbers of two-pile groups) are reported in the Paper. Shear wave velocities were determined from Cross Hole tests at the pile cut-off level at the test pile locations at the two sites. These values are compared with those reported in literature for two similar types of soils, namely, alluvial clay and alluvial sand. The subsoil conditions including Standard Penetration Test data and Static Cone Penetration Test data and also the pile driving record are presented along with the results of soil-pile stiffness

Secure and Efficient DiDrip Protocol for Improving Performance of WSNs

Wireless Sensor Networks consists of a set of resource constrained devices called nodes that communicate wirelessly with each other. Wireless Sensor Networks have become a key application in number of technologies. It also measures the unit of vulnerability to security threats. Several Protocols are projected to make them secure. Some of the protocols within the sensor network specialize in securing data. These protocols are named as data discovery and dissemination protocols. The data discovery and dissemination protocol for wireless sensor networks are utilized for distributing management commands and altering configuration parameters to the sensor nodes. All existing data discovery and dissemination protocols primarily suffer from two drawbacks. Basically, they are support centralized approach (only single station can distribute data item).This approach is not suitable for multiple owner-multiple users. Second, the protocols are not designed with security in mind. This Paper proposes the first distributed knowledge discovery and dissemination protocol called DiDrip which is safer than the existing one. The protocol permits multiple owners to authorize many network users with altogether totally different priorities to at an equivalent time and directly flow into data items to sensor nodes

DiDrip: A Secure and Distributed Protocol for Updation and Dissemination of Data in WSN

A data discovery and dissemination protocol for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is responsible for updation of configuration parameters and distribution of management commands to the sensor nodes. The existing data discovery and dissemination protocols faces several drawbacks. The idea behind the project is to use the first secure and distributed data discovery and dissemination protocol named DiDrip for WSN. DiDrip allows the network owners to authorize multiple network users with different privileges to directly and simultaneously disseminate data items to the nodes. Extensive security analysis shows that DiDrip is probably secure

ADIPONECTIN A PLEIOTROPIC BIOMARKER IN MULTISYSTEM PATHOLOGIES & INFLUENCE OF AYURVEDIC HERBS: A SCIENTIFIC APPRAISAL

The understanding of metabolic pathologies is made easy with the emergence of the most luring cytokine - Adiponectin, which is produced exclusively by adipocytes and which enhances insulin sensitivity and inhibits many steps in the inflammatory process by exerting its action through its receptors AdipoR1, AdipoR2, and T-cadherin. AdipoR1 is expressed abundantly in muscle, whereas AdipoR2 is predominantly expressed in the liver. In liver, Adiponectin inhibits the expression of gluconeogenic enzymes and the rate of glucose production. In muscle, Adiponectin increases glucose transport and enhances fatty acid oxidation, partially due to activation of AMP kinase. These above physiological activities and many more are performed with the normal or high levels of Adiponectin in the blood whereas the decreased levels of the same leads to various metabolic disorders. The present article encompasses various researches and recent progress made in understanding the biological effects of Adiponectin. These studies confer Adiponectins role as biomarker and mediator in multiple systemic pathophysiologies, thereby establishing its clinical and therapeutic value in the conditions ranging from metabolic syndrome to malignancies. Also presented in this paper is the contribution of Ayurveda in the form of single herbal drugs which show the therapeutic modulation on Adiponectin

Effects of Radiation Absorption and Mass Transfer on the Free Convective Flow Passed a Vertical Flat Plate through a Porous Medium in an Aligned Magnetic Field

This article analyses the effects of radiation absorption and mass transfer on the steady free convective flow of a viscous, incompressible and electrically conducting fluid past an infinite vertical flat plate through a porous medium with an aligned magnetic field. Analytical solutions for concentration, temperature, and velocity are obtained by solving the governing equations in two cases namely (i) when the plate is at uniform temperature and concentration and (ii) when the plate is at constant heat and mass flux. Further the rate of mass transfer in terms of the Sherwood number, rate of heat transfer in terms of Nusselt number and skin friction in terms of shear stress are also derived. The effects of various flow parameters on concentration, temperature, velocity, Sherwood number, Nusselt number and skin-friction affecting the flow field are discussed and analyzed