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Artificial groundwater recharge plays a vital role in sustainable management of groundwater resources. The present study was carried out to identify the artificial groundwater recharge zones in Bist Doab basin of Indian Punjab using remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) for augmenting groundwater resources. The study area has been facing severe water scarcity due to intensive agriculture for the past few years. The thematic layers considered in the present study are: geomorphology (2004), geology (2004), land use/land cover (2008), drainage density, slope, soil texture (2000), aquifer transmissivity, and specific yield. Different themes and related features were assigned proper weights based on their relative contribution to groundwater recharge. Normalized weights were computed using the Saaty’s analytic hierarchy process. Thematic layers were integrated in ArcGIS for delineation of artificial groundwater recharge zones. The recharge map thus obtained was divided into four zones (poor, moderate, good, and very good) based on their influence to groundwater recharge. Results indicate that 15, 18, 37, and 30 % of the study area falls under “poor,” “moderate,” “good,” and “very good” groundwater recharge zones, respectively. The highest recharge potential area is located towards western and parts of middle region because of high infiltration rates caused due to the distribution of flood plains, alluvial plain, and agricultural land. The least effective recharge potential is in the eastern and middle parts of the study area due to low infiltration rate. The results of the study can be used to formulate an efficient groundwater management plan for sustainable utilization of limited groundwater resources.

Software-defined networking (SDN) is a new approach that overcomes the obstacles which are faced by conventional networking architecture. The core idea of SDN is to separate the control plane from the data plane. This idea improves the network in many ways, such as efficient utilization of resources, better management of the network, reduced cost, innovation with new evolution, and many others. To manage all these changes, there is a great need for an efficient controller to improve the utilization of resources for the better performance of the network. The controller is also responsible for the analysis and monitoring of real-time data traffic. There is a great need for a high-performance controller in networking industries, data centres, academia, and research due to the tremendous growth of distributed processing-based real time applications. Therefore, it is crucial to investigate the performance of an open-source controller to provide efficient traffic routing, leading to improved utilization of resources for the enhanced performance metrics of the network. The paper presents an implementation of SDN architecture using an open-source RYU SDN controller for the network traffic analysis. The proposed work evaluates the performance of SDN architecture based custom network topology for a node to node performance parameters such as bandwidth, throughput and roundtrip time, etc. The simulation results exhibit an improved performance of the proposed work in comparison to the existing default network topology for SDN.

The Balasore coastal groundwater basin in Orissa, India is under a serious threat of overdraft and seawater intrusion. The overexploitation resulted in abandoning many shallow tubewells in the basin. The main intent of this study is the development of a 2-D groundwater flow and transport model of the basin using the Visual MODFLOW package for analyzing the aquifer response to various pumping strategies. The simulation model was calibrated and validated satisfactorily. Using the validated model, the groundwater response to five pumping scenarios under existing cropping conditions was simulated. The results of the sensitivity analysis indicated that the Balasore aquifer system is more susceptible to the river seepage, recharge from rainfall and interflow than the horizontal and vertical hydraulic conductivities and specific storage. Finally, based on the modeling results, salient management strategies are suggested for the long-term sustainability of vital groundwater resources of the Balasore groundwater basin. The most promising management strategy for the Balasore basin could be: a reduction in the pumpage from the second aquifer by 50% in the downstream region and an increase in the pumpage to 150% from the first and second aquifer at potential locations.

Natural climatic hazards like flood, an important hydro-geomorphic process of earth’s surface, have different regional and local impacts with significant socio-economic consequences. Similar was the case in Gujarat State, India during last week of June 2005. This study is about assessing the impact of Gujarat flood on river dynamics. It deals with extraction of water bodies information using radiance image and standard water indices i.e., Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) and Modified Normalized Difference Water Index (MNDWI) for pre- and post-flooding periods. Geomorphometric analysis along with drainage network extraction was done using two different Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) i.e., Advanced Space borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) and Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and compared. Finally, depressions mapping and comparative analysis of magnitude and directional change of drainage networks was carried out. Results confirmed better accuracy of MNDWI in separating water bodies. The water bodies area increased by 10.4 % in post-flood monsoon compared to pre-flood monsoon and by 3.8 % in post-flood dry season compared to pre-flood dry season. Geomorphometric analysis indicated that ASTER DEM gave more values of maximum slope, average slope, and standard deviation as compared to SRTM. Aspects distribution algorithm did not work well in low relief regions. The drainage network generated using SRTM DEM was more accurate. The depressions identified were more susceptible to flood events. Change analysis of drainage network (deviating 100–300 m) indicated that 5.22 % points deviated between October, 2004 and 2005 and 3.18 % between February, 2005 and 2006.

Laparoscopic extraperitoneal mesh hernia repair is better approach for inguinal hernia with its low complication rate, early recovery and negligible recurrence rate. The aim of this case series is to study intraoperative complications, post-operative outcome and recurrence rate after laparoscopic total extraperitoneal mesh repair for inguinal hernias. This is a retrospective observational data. We have performed laparoscopic total extra peritoneal repair (TEP) for 152 consecutive patients presented with inguinal hernia at Surgical Outpatient Department, Command Hospital (Eastern Command), Kolkata, using 10-mm infraumbilical midline port and two 5-mm working lateral ports inserted lateral to the inferior epigastric artery. None of them required eTEP. All the hernias are repaired with flat, light-weight, macroporous polypropylene mesh 15 cm × 15 cm for unilateral hernias and 30 cm × 15 cm mesh for bilateral hernia covering myopectineal orifice and anchored with single absorbable tacker to lacunar ligament to each side. All patients were assessed for intraoperative complications such as bleeding, peritoneal breach, injury to vessels, vas deferens and bowel, total operative time and post-operative complications such as chronic pain, seroma, surgical site infection (SSI) and recurrence. Follow-up was done after 10 days, 1 month and 6 months. There were one hundred and fifty-two patients with a mean age of 47.8 years, oldest 78 and youngest 20 years; among them, 141 were males and 11 were females; 125 had unilateral and 27 had bilateral hernia. Four had minor intraoperative bleeding, 5 had intraoperative peritoneal breach and required accessor intra-abdominal port and required peritoneal repair. None of them had any chronic pain. Seven had seroma which is managed with serial aspirations. Seven patients developed SSI, of which 4 underwent mesh explanation and 3 resolved with ultrasonography-guided aspiration and pre-peritoneal amikacin infiltration. None of the patients had recurrence even after mesh explanation. The laparoscopic total extraperitoneal mesh repair for inguinal hernia is minimal invasive approach. With same port placement, bilateral inguinal hernias can be repaired with ease. Laparoscopic TEP repairs inguinal hernia with less post-operative complications, no pain and nil recurrence, less hospital stay and patients can get back to their routine activities since the next day. It can be considered as gold standard laparoscopic approach for inguinal hernia.

In the present investigation, an effort has been made to identify the critical sub-watersheds for the development of best management plan for a small watershed of Eastern India using a hydrological model, namely, AVSWAT2000. A total of 180 combinations of various management treatments including crops (rice, maize ground nut and soybean), tillage (zero, conservation, field cultivator, mould board plough and conventional practices) and fertilizer levels (existing half of recommended and recommended) have been evaluated. The investigation reveled that rice cannot be replaced by other crops such as groundnut, maize, mungbean, sorghum and soybean since comparatively these crops resulted in higher sediment yield. The tillage practices with disk plough have been found to have more impact on sediment yield and nutrient losses than conventional tillage practices for the existing level of fertilizer. Sediment yield decreased in the case of zero tillage, conservation tillage, field cultivator, moldboard plough, and conservation tillage as compare to conventional tillage. Lowest NO3-N loss was observed in zero tillage in all the fertilizer treatments, whereas field cultivator, moldboard plough and disk plough resulted in increase of NO3-N loss. As compared to conventional tillage, the losses of soluble phosphorus were increased in moldboard plough. The losses of organic nitrogen were also increased as fertilizer dose increased. After zero tillage the conservation tillage preformed better in all the fertilizer treatments as per loss of organic nitrogen and organic phosphorus is concerned. It can be concluded that the sediment yield was found to be the highest in the case of disk plough followed by moldboard plough, field cultivator, conventional tillage, field cultivator and least in zero tillage practices. The nutrient losses were found to be in different order with tillage practices, resulted highest in disk plough tillage practices. In view of sediment yield and nutrient losses, the conservation tillage practice was found to be the best as the sediment yield is less than the average soil loss whereas nutrient loss is within the permissible limit. (PUBLICATION ABSTRACT)

Minimum weight, Long fatigue life and adequate film thickness are some of the key design objectives in the optimum design of rolling element bearing (REB). The design approach by considering bearing envelop, fatigue life and wear life results in a low cost bearing. So a multi-objective constrained optimum design of deep groove ball bearing is proposed in this study. The weight, dynamic load capacity and minimum elasto-hydrodynamic film thickness of bearing are considered as the design objectives with some kinematic constraint. The optimum design has been solved by implementing a hybrid particle swarm optimization and teaching learning based optimization algorithm due to its convergence capability. A statistical test was performed to test the superiority of the proposed algorithm. The convergence study identifies the critical design variables. A constraint conformation study has been performed to investigate the relative importance of the constraints. In order to comprehend the changes in objective functions a response analysis is performed on the critical design variables. In addition, the optimum design variables obtained through the design optimization of the bearing are used for preparation of a CAD model. Then the stress analysis using the finite element method is performed on the bearing to identify the critical stress region in the optimized bearing.The validation of this optimum design of the rolling element bearing is performed by developing a prototype with a 3D printer (using rapid prototyping). An approach for simulation model updates and the interactive design is also suggested in this study.

The scope and feasibility of auxiliary storage reservoir in the outlet command of a flow based minor irrigation project was studied to overcome the inadequate irrigation water availability during the dry season. A multi objective optimization model was developed to determine the optimal size of auxiliary storage reservoir and optimal cropping pattern. Assuming that about 50% main reservoir capacity water will be available for irrigating dry season crops and fixing the first priority level of the objective function as maximization of net seasonal benefit and maximization of cropped area, the optimal surface area for auxiliary storage reservoir as the percentage of the command area was obtained as 17.40% and 10.92%, respectively. The performance of the minor irrigation project significantly increased due to provision of auxiliary storage reservoir. The economic analysis also revealed that the intervention is economically viable.

Spatially distributed potential and net recharge rates were assessed in the paddy dominated Hirakud command area (Eastern India) at 100 m grid resolution using surface water balance and Water Table Fluctuation (WTF) methods, respectively, for the period 2001–05. Net recharge estimated using the WTF method corresponding to observation well locations was further interpolated using kriging technique available in the ArcGIS software. Net recharge to potential recharge ratios (%) were also assessed spatially. Water balance components (i) runoff was estimated using the Natural Resources Conservation Service-Curve Number (NRCS-CN) method (ii) reference evapotranspiration by (Hargreaves and Samani, Applied Engineering Agriculture ASABE 1:96–99, 1985)), crop evapotranspiration by (Allen et al., Crop evapotranspiration: Guidelines for computing crop water requirements, FAO Irrigation and Drainage, Food and Agriculture Organization, Rome, Italy, 1998) and evaporation from uncultivated lands by Ritchie (1972) approaches, and (iii) canal seepage using simple canal flow model. Annual groundwater draft during Kharif and Rabi was found to be 144.41 and 112.49 ha-m, respectively. Nearly, 90% of the study area contributed runoff in the range of 200–400 mm during the years 2002–03, 2003–04, and 2004–05. The estimated seepage losses vary between 5 and 15% of irrigation depth for all distributaries. Potential groundwater recharge during wet, normal, and dry years ranges between 650 and 1033 mm, and equivalent to 67%, 78%, and 60% of annual rainfall, respectively. Net recharge ranges between 8 and 11% of the annual rainfall. Mean ratio between net recharge to potential recharge is nearly 30%, indicating that nearly 70% of potential recharge is accounted as outflow from the study area. Parmanpur distributary canal located at the centre of the study area that exhibited higher potential recharge can be scheduled at the end to avoid water logging problem. Further, extraction of groundwater during non-monsoon period for irrigation purpose not only helps in controlling waterlogging but also helps in maintaining stable groundwater level. Overall, spatio-temporal distribution of recharge in the command area indicated that the irrigation demands during non-monsoon season can be met through sustainable management of underexploited groundwater resources. Such an integrated management of surface and groundwater can help in improving water use efficiencies as well as agricultural productivity.

Ganga River Basin (GRB) is the second most populous river basin in the world, which has been undergoing rapid land-use change during the last few decades. Here, we analyse the landscape dynamics in Indian GRB (IGRB) using three indices, i.e. class area, mean patch size and number of patches for 14 land-use and land-cover (LULU) classes using multi-temporal Landsat satellite datasets of 1975 and 2010. Major change was observed with the expansion of agricultural lands and human settlements and depletion of forests. Agricultural lands covered the highest area (>75%), where low to medium-sized patches have increased and patches with larger size have been slightly reduced in size over past decades. The highest increase in percentage of built-up land has been appropriately captured on medium-resolution satellite imageries using visual interpretation technique. Degradation and loss of forest areas were reported in terms of landscape indices; however, the increase of plantation is a positive sign in the basin. In general, we observed aggregation of agricultural patches and reduction of forest patches in small to medium patch sizes. We argue the utility of 'onscreen visual interpretation' technique in favour of LULC mapping to achieve absolute accuracy in such a heterogeneous landscape, as it incorporates interpreter's knowledge. We appreciate the free availability of Landsat imageries having very good radiometry that has opened the doors for exercises with minimum cost. Located in one of the most fertile regions of India, the basin accommodates more than 400 million human population. This has led to expansion of agriculture and built-up land at the cost of forest and other land covers. Understanding landscape dynamics could help in designing an effective land-use policy for IGRB.