Automated classification of sloan digital sky survey (SDSS) stellar spectra using artificial neural networks

Automated techniques have been developed to automate the process of classification of objects or their analysis. The large datasets provided by upcoming spectroscopic surveys with dedicated telescopes urges scientists to use these automated techniques for analysis of such large datasets which are now available to the community. Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) is one of such surveys releasing massive datasets. We use Probabilistic Neural Network (PNN) for automatic classification of about 5000 SDSS spectra into 158 spectral type of a reference library ranging from O type to M type stars.     

Evaluation of groundwater resources in wide inundation areas of the Mekong River basin

Severe floods can have disastrous impacts and cause wide ranging destruction in the Mekong River basin. At the same time groundwater resources are significantly influenced and extensively recharged by flood water in inundation areas of the basin. This study determines the variation of groundwater resources caused by flooding over inundated areas located in lower part of the Mekong River basin using numerical modeling and field observations. The inundation calculations have been evaluated using satellite image outputs. Comparing large, medium and small flood events, we conclude that flood control which reduces the area of inundation, results in a reduction of groundwater resources in the area. In 1993, a 19% reduction in inundation areas resulted in a 31% reduction in groundwater storage. In 1998, a 44% reduction in inundation areas led to a 42% reduction in groundwater storage. Thus, while flood control activities are vital to reduce negative flood impacts in the Mekong River basin, they also negatively impact groundwater resources in the area.     

Performance of Counterfort Walls with Reinforced Granular and Fly Ash Backfills: Experimental Investigation

Experimental investigations on model counterfort retaining walls have been carried out to study the lateral movement of the walls and the nature of the failure modes. Mild steel plates of size 1,000 × 900 × 8 mm were used as model retaining walls and were placed in a tank of size 900 × 900 × 670 mm. Ennore sand, obtained from Madras India, and Fly ash, obtained from Panki Thermal Power Plant, India were used as backfill material. Tests were carried out both with and without reinforced backfill. Two types of loading conditions were applied: (i) line load and (ii) uniform surcharge. The shape and size of the failure wedge was studied by observing displacement of bands of colored through a Perspex plate fixed on one side of the tank. Plots of overturning moment against the rotation of a wall top show that with the increase in rotation of wall, the overturning moment decreases. The minimum value of overturning moment is taken as the limiting value. The failure surfaces obtained in different cases are linear and parabolic in shape.     

Study of variation of aerosol optical properties over a high altitude station in Indian Western Himalayan region,palampur using raman lidar system

A Raman lidar system was operated along with the Microtops sunphotometer measurements to carry out the study of the variation of the optical properties of aerosols over Palampur (32.11° N and 76.53° E), India from 17th April to 11th May 2019. The lidar system is furnished with Raman (N₂) channel and depolarization channel allowing independent measurement of Lidar Ratio (LR) and linear depolarization ratio. The study reveals that the majority of the aerosols approximately were restricted within the planetary boundary layer (PBL) and very less loading was present in the free troposphere over the study location. The particle loading over the study period was found to be very less with aerosol backscatter coefficient (at 355 nm) ranging from ～0.13 Mm^?1sr^?1 to ～7.25 Mm^?1sr^?1 with mean value of 2.67?±?0.82 Mm^?1sr^?1 and it is well supplemented by the mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) of 0.37?±?0.13 obtained from Microtops Sunphotometer. The average lidar ratio values for 0-1 km altitude (L1) 72?±?13sr, for 1-2 km (L2) altitude 55?±?8sr, for 2-3 km (L3) 54?±?15sr were observed as suggesting dominance of the biomass burning aerosols and anthropogenic aerosols. The particle depolarization ratio (355 nm) values were found from approximately 4.8?±?2.7% to 11.5?±?1.9% with the mean value of 7?±?1.3% suggesting the presence of non-spherical particles. To trace the sources of the pollution, we derived the HYSPLIT trajectory which shows the majority of the movement was from local sources.

     

Development of CityGML Application Domain Extension for Indoor Routing and Positioning

CityGML is an open data model for storage and exchange of 3D city models. It is categorised into thirteen thematic classes, i.e., buildings, tunnels, bridges, etc., lacking the other themes such as indoor routing and positioning. With the amplified use of indoor routing and positioning, the need for prerequisite notion of detailed semantic, as well as geometric information of the 3D building data has grown. We intend to extend the CityGML schema to add attributes of indoor features using the facility of Application Domain Extension (ADE) provided by the OGC CityGML 2.0. In this study, we aim to showcase the formation of Indoor Routing and Positioning ADE along with the process concerning its development, such as the 3D model design, network dataset creation, routing, positioning and Unified Modeling Language based ADE application schema generation. This research would help the users to easily store and exchange 3D city data on which they can perform routing and positioning inside the buildings with enhanced semantic and geometric properties.     

Effect of potassium on soil conservation and productivity of maize/cowpea based crop rotations in the north-west Indian Himalayas

Plots under conservation tillage may require higher amount of potassium (K) application for augmenting productivity due to its stratification in upper soil layers, thereby reducing K supplying capacity in a medium or long-term period. To test this hypothesis, a field experiment was performed in 2002-2003 and 2006-2007 to study the effect of K and several crop rotations on yield, water productivity, carbon sequestration, grain quality, soil K status and economic benefits derived in maize (Zea mays L)/cowpea (Vigna sinensis L.) based cropping system under minimum tillage (MT). All crops recorded higher grain yield with a higher dose of K (120 kg K₂O ha^-1) than recommended K (40 kg K₂O ha^-1). The five years’ average yield data showed that higher K application (120 kg K₂O ha^-1) produced 16.4% (P<0.05) more maize equivalent yield. Cowpea based rotation yielded 14.2% (P<0.05) higher production than maize based rotation. The maximum enhancement was found in cowpea-mustard rotation. Relationship between yield and sustainable indices revealed that only agronomic efficiency of fertilizer input was significantly correlated with yield. Similarly, higher doses of K application not only increased the water use efficiency (WUE) of all crops, but also reduced runoff and soil loss by 16.5% and 15.8% under maize and 23.3% and 19.7% under cowpea cover, respectively. This study also revealed that on an average 16.5% of left over carbon input contributed to soil organic carbon (SOC). Here, cowpea based rotation with the higher K application increased carbon sequestration in soil. Potassium fertilization also significantly improved the nutritional value of harvested grain by increasing the protein content for maize (by 9.5%) and cowpea (by 10.6%). The oil content in mustard increased by 5.0% and 6.0% after maize and cowpea, respectively. Net return also increased with the application of the higher K than recommended K and the trend was similar to yield. Hence, the present study demonstrated the potential yield and profit gains along with resource conservation in the Indian Himalayas due to annual additions of higher amount of K than the recommended dose. The impact of high K application was maximum in the cowpea-mustard rotation.     

Size matters: experimental partitioning of the strength of fish herbivory on a fringing coral reef in Moorea,French Polynesia

While the importance of top‐down control by grazers in maintaining tropical reef community structure is well known, the effect of ‘fishing down the food web’, which simultaneously changes the abundance and size of herbivorous fishes, has received less attention. As many fishing practices target the biggest fish and regulations often set minimum size limits, understanding size‐dependency of this controlling force is important. We evaluated the hypothesis that reduction in the abundance and size of fish, regardless of species identity, reduces the role of herbivory in controlling algal abundance on reefs and assessed variation in efficacy of this top‐down control on different types of common macroalgae. We quantified herbivory rates within cages of differing opening sizes on assemblages of four common algal species (Padina boryana, Dictyota bartayresiana, Halimeda opuntia and Galaxaura fasciculata) on two fringing reefs in Moorea, French Polynesia. Small acanthurids (<15 cm length) were the dominant herbivorous fish while other herbivorous fish were rare. For the two most palatable algae, the majority of herbivory occurred in open plots, with herbivory reduced by >50% in the largest opening cages (6 × 6 cm) where the maximum size fish entering was 12 cm in length (mean = 7.6, SE = 0.4). Fish entering medium (4.5 × 4.5 cm openings, maximum fish length = 8 cm, mean = 6.3, SE = 0.4) and small (3 × 3 cm openings, no fish observed entering) cages had herbivory rates approximately equal to the control treatment (1 × 1 cm openings). Consumption varied among algal species, with minimal consumption of physically and chemically defended algae and no pattern across treatments. Our results demonstrate a need for management plans to not only maintain the overall abundance of herbivorous fish but to protect the largest sizes for effective top‐down control of algal communities.     

A proposed new approach for groundwater resources assessment in India

Assessment of groundwater resources in India is guided by National Water Policy (1987, 2002) which states that groundwater resources can be exploited only up to its recharge limit. The methodology for groundwater resources assessment in India is broadly based on Ground Water Resources Estimation Methodology, 1997 and it involves assessment of annual replenishable groundwater resources (recharge), annual groundwater draft (utilization) and the percentage of utilization with respect to recharge (stage of development). The assessment units (blocks/watersheds) are categorized based on stage of groundwater development (utilization) and the long term water level trend. The present methodology though useful in identification and prioritization of areas for groundwater management, falls short of addressing several critical issues like spatial and temporal variation of groundwater availability within the aquifer, accessibility of groundwater resources and quality of groundwater. This paper introduces a new categorisation scheme considering the above issues. The proposed scheme takes into account four criteria, viz. (i) stage of exploitation, (ii) extractability factor, (iii) temporal availability factor and (iv) quality factor. In comparison to the existing method used for categorisation, the proposed approach is more inclusive. The methodology is also equally suitable for both alluvial and hard rock terrain since it takes into consideration the variable characteristics of different types of aquifers and convergence of quantitative and qualitative assessment. The categorisation proposed here involves GIS based integration of different parameters/ themes. This allows better representation of spatial variability. The proposed methodology is demonstrated in this paper taking a case study from a hard rock terrain in central India.