DOMIS: A Decision support system for designing micro irrigation systems!

The Precision Farming Development Centre (PFDC) at Water Technology Centre, ICAR-Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, India, has took initiative to develop a web based decision support system for designing micro irrigation systems. A Decision Support System namely, DOMIS (Design of Micro Irrigation Systems) has been developed to help the user to design appropriate micro irrigation systems for efficient water utilization under different agro-climatic conditions in India. DSS-DOMIS is capable of designing drip Irrigation, Sprinkler Irrigation and Micro Sprinkler irrigation systems layout. As a part of the decision support mechanism, the DSS provides expert opinion and necessary data on crops, soil, water and climate as default options with a provision of change if the user so desires.

Salient Feature :- The web based system (http://domis.iari.res.in ), uses scientifically accepted software algorithms with richness of information and expert opinions, flexibility and simplicity of use which makes the DSS DOMIS a superior tool for designing micro irrigation systems with a view to enhance water productivity in agriculture. Besides providing the support in designing the appropriate micro irrigation systems DOMIS also provides general information about Schemes of Government of India, agencies promoting micro irrigation, implementing agencies in different States of India, approved system suppliers in different States and general information about different districts in the country. The developed DSS has been tested and appreciated by 22 Precision Farming Development Centres, State Micro Irrigation Mission Directors and several micro irrigation industries. The decision support system will be useful for farmers, researchers and policy makers.

Website : http://domis.iari.res.in

More details : Details about DOMIS

 

Open access: The sorry state of Indian repositories

India may not have a national open access policy in place, but the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), The Department of Science & Technology (DST), the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), The University Grants Commission (UGC) have open access policies that clearly mandate researchers to deposit their papers in institutional repositories. National institutes such as the IITs and IISc, too, have repositories and similar mandates.

“Open access institutional repositories are clearly lagging behind despite the mandate,” says Dr. G. Mahesh from the National Institute of Science Communication and Information Resources, New Delhi, and one of the authors of the article. “Individual researchers are required to deposit their papers in the repository but they don’t. It is very difficult to motivate them to do it.” One of the reasons why researchers do not deposit their papers in a repository is because they no longer hold the copyrights. “In over 95 per cent of cases, the researchers have already transferred their copyrights to the respective journals,” he says. “Ideally, pre-prints of papers should be deposited in a repository. A large majority of publishers of subscription journals have no problem in researchers depositing preprints in a repository.”

Read more :http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/Open-access-The-sorry-state-of-Indian-repositories/article17108642.ece

 

SABIC inks pact with CIPET & CSIR for research in plastics & petrochemicals

Tags

Research, Technology

Dr Ernesto Occhiello, executive vice president, technology & innovation, SABIC, said, “Collaborative projects with well-established scientific organisations and research centres are essential components of SABIC’s global research programme. Through these partnerships (with CIPET and CSIR), SABIC will be able to leverage these institutions’ multidisciplinary research capabilities to achieve research excellence for SABIC that will greatly benefit the nation. It is also our desire to see that today’s collaboration will create a value-added ecosystem involving science and technology institutions, talents, industry, customers to benefit the people of India.”

Read More:- http://www.business-standard.com/content/b2b-plastics-polymers/sabic-inks-pact-with-cipet-csir-for-research-in-plastics-petrochemicals-115022000035_1.html

CSIR-CLRI with CMDA to explore the feasibility of using waste and banana stem to produce biogas.

Tags

Research, Technology

The wholesale market complex in Koyambedu which supplies fresh produce for the city will soon supply fuel to cook the produce.

The biomethanation plant, which has been generating electricity from vegetable waste, will now also use waste from slaughterhouses, hotels, treated sewage sludge and banana stems to supply biogas to neighbouring houses.

Read More:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/Biogas-from-Koyambedu-market-to-fuel-households/articleshow/46293622.cms

Indigenous microscope uses peacock feather technology

India on Tuesday launched an ingeniously manufactured microscope that generates 3D images of objects. The Broad Spectrum Confocal Microscope has several applications in medicine and materials sciences. It uses an infra red beam which passes through a patented photonic crystal fibre made by the Central Glass and Ceramics Research Institute (CGCRI), Kolkata.

“The optic fibre produces multiple wavelengths from the laser due to its surface which has very small holes. This is similar to the way a peacock’s feather scatters light. This is projected on to the target object which allows us to see a three dimensional structure of the object,” CGCRI Director Kamal Dasgupta said.

The microscope was developed by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) along with Vinvish Technologies, Thiruvananthapuram, under the New Millennium Indian Technology Initiative, an effort launched by the CSIR over a decade ago to develop technologies through collaborative efforts by research laboratories and technology companies in India.

Read More:-  http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/indigenous-microscope-uses-peacock-feather-technology/article6479928.ece

Google announces Android Lollipop, Nexus 6 smartphone, Nexus 9 tablet .

WASHINGTON: Google on Wednesday ramped up its mobile arsenal, upgrading its Nexus line with a new tablet and smartphone, and unveiling its revamped Android software, to be dubbed “Lollipop.”

The US tech giant also announced the launch of a streaming media player for music, movies and videos, which can also allow users to play games via the Android TV device.

“Lollipop” or Android 5.0, the upgraded operating system for mobile, “is designed to be flexible, to work on all your devices and to be customized for you the way you see fit,” said Google vice-president Sundar Pichai, who heads the Android operations.

Read more:- http://lifehacker.com/updating-all-the-new-stuff-in-androids-l-release-prev-1595928268

Read more:- http://googleblog.blogspot.in/2014/10/android-be-together-not-same.html

Google finds new web threat as bad as Heartbleed, Shellshock.

Three Google researchers have uncovered a security bug in widely used web encryption technology that they say could allow hackers to take over accounts for email, banking and other services in what they have dubbed a ‘Poodle’ attack.

The discovery of ‘Poodle,’ which stands for Padding Oracle On Downloaded Legacy Encryption, prompted makers of web browsers and server software to advise users on Tuesday to disable use of the source of the security bug: an 18-year old encryption standard known as SSL 3.0.

Read more:- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/tech-news/Google-finds-new-web-threat-as-bad-as-Heartbleed-Shellshock/articleshow/44821183.cms

Artificial arms get closer to the real thing.

Smarter nerve stimulation and muscle monitoring vastly improve prosthetic movements.

Powered prosthetic hands and arms have advanced little in the last 50 years. Their appearance and structure have improved, but advances in underlying function and control have been harder to come by.
In a pair of studies published in Science Translational Medicine1, 2, researchers now report major advances in two areas: guiding prosthetic limbs with realistic tactile feedback, and delivering reliable motor commands.
“They are both addressing big limitations that current prostheses have,” says Kevin Otto, a biomedical engineer at the University of Florida in Gainesville.

Read more :- http://www.nature.com/news/artificial-arms-get-closer-to-the-real-thing-1.16111

A software that detects emotions based on your typing style .

DHAKA: Researchers have developed a new computer programme that can recognize people’s emotions based on how they type.

Scientists from the Islamic University of Technology in Bangladesh asked a small group of people to type a block of sample text, and then analysed the keystrokes and characteristics to see if they could identify any of seven different emotional states: joy, fear, anger, sadness, disgust, shame or guilt.

The emotions that the programme recognised with the greatest degree of accuracy were joy (87% of the time) and anger (81% of the time), ‘LiveScience’ reported.

More details :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/computing/A-software-that-detects-emotions-based-on-your-typing-style/articleshow/44803189.cms

What is noni? ICAR has the answers.

Old Goa: Noni or locally known as makodfoll has been extensively used for thousands of years for its rich content of phytochemicals, vitamins, micro and macronutrients but traditional knowledge about its varied uses has slowly dwindled.

Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR), Old Goa, is carrying out research entrusted by World Noni Research Foundation (WNRF) in Goa, Maharashtra and Lakshadweep to collect germplasm of noni (morinda citrifolia) and chose the best variety for cultivation.

More details :- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/What-is-noni-ICAR-has-the-answers/articleshow/43655821.cms