A simple, low-cost solar water purifier (SWP) for rural households, which does not require electricity or waste precious water has been developed. The SWP consists of four tubular solar water heaters attached to a manifold. Non-potable water is filled in the SWP after filtering with four-layered cotton cloth and heated in the stagnation mode by solar energy to make it potable. The cost of the SWP is around Rs 2500–3000 (~US$ 40–50) and is so simple that any small rural workshop can fabricate it. In large-scale production it is envisaged that the cost can come down to Rs 1500. 

Extensive erosion of high tidal mudflat along the northern parts of Gulf of Khambhat (GoK) was observed from the analysis of time series satellite images during the time period from March 2014 to September 2017. Around 28.66 sq. km area of high tidal mudflat eroded within this time period.

Original Source

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is the most important commercially grown fruit crop in India, available throughout the length and breadth of the country and aptly acknowledged as the ‘national fruit of India’. It enjoys a prominent place in the Indian fruit market, contributing more than 20% of total fruit production from 36% of the total fruit area.

Original Source

India’s only extant red deer species, the Kashmir red deer, or hangul (Cervus hanglu hanglu) is restricted today to the confines of the 141 sq. km Dachigam National Park (NP) in Jammu and Kashmir, with about 200 surviving individuals. A continual population decline of hangul has necessitated the identification of relict populations and suitable habitats outside Dachigam NP, so that a meta-population approach to its conservation may be employed.

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is propagated by irrational use of antibiotics by healthcare practitioners and the uninformed public. This study assessed a select cohort of 504 urban Indians for their knowledge, awareness and practice of antibiotic use and AMR. Forty seven per cent were unaware of the differences between over-the-counter drugs and antibiotics. One in four believes that dose-skipping does not contribute to AMR. One in ten tends to selfmedicate. One in five bought medicines without prescription or started an antibiotic course by calling a doctor.

The projected demand of maize production in India in 2050 is 4–5 times of current production. With the scope for area expansion being limited, there is need for enhancement of yield. This calls for identifying areas where huge unrealized yield potential exists. With a view to address the issue, the present study delineates homogeneous agro-climatic zones for maize production system in India taking district as a unit and using the factors production, viz. climate, soil, season and irrigated area under the crop.

Despite India’s enormous technological potential, indigenous medicinal knowledge and various initiatives by the government and industry at translational cycle, the country carries a global disease burden of 21%, majorly contributed by dual disease burden. Public health faces the major anomalies of 3A (accessibility, affordability, availability) of the healthcare sector, possibly due to restrictive coordination among stakeholders, transiting disease profile, undeveloped delivery system and regulatory mechanisms.

A bibliometric approach is used in this study for the assessment of greenhouse gas (GHG) research trends on a global scale. The relevant literature published from 2000 to 2014 in journals of all subject categories of the Science Citation Index Expanded from the Web of Science Core Collection databases has been used. The strings ‘greenhouse gas*’ or ‘green house gas*’ are used for retrieving data.

This article presents a robust contact-type weed eradicator based on position sensing, digital image processing and microcontroller for weed control in row crops. The imaging system determines the weed density between the crop rows using an image analyser developed in Visual Studio Open computer vision platform for use under varying illumination levels. Graphic user interface was developed for parametric adjustments of the image analyser.

Original Source

The present study documents the wood-boring trace fossil Asthenopodichnium from the Palaeocene sediments of the Barmer Hill Formation (BHF) in the Barmer Basin, Western Rajasthan, India. The Asthenopodichnium trace fossils are loosely to tightly packed, pouch-like burrows or almond-shaped structures identified as Asthenopodichnium lignorum, whereas lozenge and J-shaped structures are designated as Asthenopodichnium lithuanicum.

Original Source