AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF CLIMATE CHANGE EFFECTS AND AGRICULTURE VULNERABILITY

This review describes that due to rapid globalization, vulnerability in different areas affects human life. With rapid population growth, securing the inherent vulnerability of this relationship, whether social, economic, or environmental, has to be central to efforts to achieving sustainable development. The vulnerability of agricultural systems varies with geographic location, time, socioeconomic conditions, and environmental resources. The capacity to mitigate and to adapt to climate-change impacts is strongly related to the future development paths. The socioeconomic and, even more so, the technological characteristics of different futures strongly affect emissions, hence the extent and pace of the impacts of climate change, as well as the capability of societies to adapt to and mitigate climate change. The presented review gives a brief idea about empirical analysis of climate change and agricultural vulnerability and how it affects human life.climate change, vulnerability, adaptivity, food security, stress, Agricultural and Food Policy, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management,

Usability of OPAC in University Libraries

The present study describes the review of literature on the usability of card catalogue, OPAC and web OPAC such as visit of the Library, awareness and use of OPAC, learning, frequency of use of OPAC, purpose of use, use of various searching options while using OPAC, satisfaction level on the use of OPAC, problems faced while using OPAC, suggestions for the improvement of OPAC System and its various features. Some national and international levels of such studies have been reviewed in this article

Design and development of small scale pea depoding machine by using CAD software

Agriculture mechanization played a significant economic role by increasing agriculture production and reducing cost of cultivation.  Agricultural mechanization has improved productivity to great extent, still post-harvest value addition to the raw product in India is very less as compared to other countries, which may be mainly due to lack of technologies.  There is a dire need to develop more processing machinery for value addition of agricultural produce with a reduction in time and labour.  Pea is an important cool season, leguminous crop of India.  Manual removal of peas from pods is a labourious and time consuming job.  In view of non-availability of efficient pea depoding machine work on design and fabrication of pea depoding machine was undertaken by Punjab Agricultural University during 2009-2011.  Computer aided design of machine was made by using “SolidWorks” software.  This design helps to find out the typical dimensions of various components of machine with great accuracy in small time and also gives fine representation of pea depoding machine by using simulation.  The machine was fabricated by using the low cost material available in market.  Main components of this machine are – frame, sieve, L-shaped blades, conveying blades, hopper, trays, motor and gear box.  Depoding of pea grain is based on the principle of friction generated by rubbing action of blades with the pea pods on sieves which helps in opening the pods of peas and cutting action of conveying blades.  Initial tests were done on the designed machine and it was observed that 60 r/min of blade shaft was best suited for depoding of pea from pods.  The average throughput capacity of the machine was 30 kg/h.  This machine will surely help farmers by adding the value to agricultural products.Keywords: pea depoder, pea sheller, computer aided designing, solid modelling and simulation, shelling machines designing, designing of machine

Seasonal incidence and efficacy of botanical insecticides against Painted bug, Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) in Indian mustard (Brassica juncea genotype RH 725)

Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister) is a serious pest of Brassica crops in the North-Western region of India, inflicting crop yield losses. Therefore, the present study was conducted on seasonal incidence and management of B. hilaris in Brassica juncea genotype RH 725 at farmer’s field, Kolana village, Aravalli Hills Region, Rewari, Haryana, India during Rabi, 2019-20 and 2020-21. This study laid out the trial in a randomized block design with three replications and six treatments viz., Neem Seed Kernel Extract (NSKE) @ 7%, Nimbecidine @ 0.03%, Neem oil @ 5%, NSKE @ 5%, Neem oil @ 7% and control (unsprayed). Observations on the incidence of B. hilaris showed that it appeared from 5th Standard Meteorological Week (SMW) (0.34 bugs plant-1) and attained peak during 10th SMW with 5.77 bugs plant-1. The incidence of B. hilaris exhibited significant positive correlation with maximum (r=0.852, p<0.05) and minimum (r=0.900, p<0.05) temperature, rainfall (r=0.763, p<0.05) and wind velocity (r=0.959, p<0.05). Spray of Neem oil @ 7% (83.01 %) was the most effective in reducing the B. hilaris population over control followed by NSKE @ 7% (81.48 %), while NSKE @ 5% (68.85 %) confirmed least effective. Seed yield in different treatments varied from 1440.5 kg ha-1 (NSKE @ 5%) to 1590 kg ha-1 (Neem oil @ 7%) against 1216 kg ha-1 in control. The highest incremental cost-benefit ratio was registered with NSKE @ 7% (1: 7.70) followed by Nimbecidine @ 0.03% (1: 7.41) and NSKE @ 5% (1: 6.25). The present investigation signified that the study on the seasonal incidence of B. hilaris in relation to weather parameters could provide information for planning pest control and management strategies. The botanicals could be used as eco-friendly and economical substitutes for chemical insecticides at farmer’s fields against this insect pest

A Distributed Weighted Voting Approach for Accurate Eye Center Estimation

This paper proposes a novel approach for accurate estimation of eye center in face images. A distributed voting based approach in which every pixel votes is adopted for potential eye center candidates. The votes are distributed over a subset of pixels which lie in a direction which is opposite to gradient direction and the weightage of votes is distributed according to a novel mechanism.  First, image is normalized to eliminate illumination variations and its edge map is generated using Canny edge detector. Distributed voting is applied on the edge image to generate different eye center candidates. Morphological closing and local maxima search are used to reduce the number of candidates. A classifier based on spatial and intensity information is used to choose the correct candidates for the locations of eye center. The proposed approach was tested on BioID face database and resulted in better Iris detection rate than the state-of-the-art. The proposed approach is robust against illumination variation, small pose variations, presence of eye glasses and partial occlusion of eyes.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(3), pp.292-297, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.276

Economic sustainability and methodological evaluation of air asset

Sustainability is focused on balancing environmental, economic and social concerns in order to “meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Poor air quality threatens not only the well-being of city-dwellers but our long -term productivity, as well, especially in terms of the quality of life, material and vegetation damage, reduced tourism to the country, discouraged foreign investments, among others. Further, loss of productivity due to pollution-related illnesses becomes a direct economic cost also. Peoples face the greatest health risk due to prolonged exposure to vehicular pollution inevitable in their livelihood. Continued exposure to high levels of common air pollutants such as ozone (O3), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and particulate matter (PM) can result in serious health impacts. In this preliminary study, we analyze the methodological questions raised related with the cost of clean air asset valuation.</jats:p

Comparative evaluation of efficacy of autogenous platelet rich plasma versus visco supplementation in treatment of early osteoarthritis of knee

Background: Osteoarthritis is a very common chronic degenerative disease most commonly affecting the knee joints. In present study we compared the efficacy of autogenous platelet rich plasma (PRP) versus visco supplementation in treatment of early osteoarthritis of knees.Methods: 30 patients (56 knees) were registered and divided into two groups. Out of which PRP in 28 knees and visco supplementation in 28 knees injected during. Visual analogue scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index (WOMAC) scores were measured. These scores were measured at first visit, 6 weeks, 12 weeks and at 24 weeks.Results: All registered patients were randomized in two groups. Group I (total 16 patients and 28 knees) for intraarticular PRP injection and group II (total 14 patients and 28 knees) for intraarticular viscosupplement injection. Out of 28 knees of group I; 12 (42.85%) knees belonged to grade II and 16 (57.15%) of grade III. Out of 28 knees of group II; 15 (53.57%) knees of grade II and 13 (46.45%) of grade III. None of the knees belonged to grade I and grade 0. There was significant difference in outcome of two treatment groups (p&lt;0.05) at 24 weeks.Conclusions: Treatment with PRP showed a significantly better clinical outcome compared with viscosupplemention at 24 weeks follow up. Although patients achieved lower WOMAC and VAS scores in PRP group at 6 and 12 weeks follow up that was statistically insignificant. We conclude that long term results of PRP are better than viscosupplementation

Mechanical and Explosive Properties of Plastic Bonded Explosives Based on Mixture of HMX and TATB

This paper describes formulation of plastic bonded explosives (PBXs) compositions based on 2,4,6- triamino-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene (TATB), Octahydro l,3,5,7-tetranitro- 1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX) by varying their relative amounts with Viton A as polymeric binder by slurry coating technique. These PBXs compositions are studied for mechanical and detonic properties. It has been observed that sensitivity and explosive performance of PBXs based on mixture of HMX and TATB were varied over a wide considerable range by varying relative amounts of TATB and HMX. The detonation study revealed there was increased in velocity of detonation (VOD) and detonation pressure with increasing amount of HMX from 10-80 % by weight. The sensitivity test results exhibited that insensitivity to impact for PBXs compositions was found to decrease with increasing HMX amount.  Friction sensitivity study showed that no reactions were observed upto 36 kg load for PBXs compositions namely HT6030, HT5040, HT4050, HT3060, HT2070 and HT1080. The compressive strength of these PBXs compositions was found within the range of 9-11 MPa.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(6), pp.622-629, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.576