Assessment and Prediction of Groundwater using Geospatial and ANN Modeling

In semi-arid regions, the deterioration in groundwater quality and drop in water level upshots the importance of water resource management for drinking and irrigation. Therefore geospatial techniques could be integrated with mathematical models for accurate spatiotemporal mapping of groundwater risk areas at the village level. In the present study, changes in water level, quality patterns, and future trends were analyzed using eight years (2012–2019) groundwater data for 171 villages of the Phagi tehsil, Jaipur district. Kriging interpolation method was used to draw spatial maps for the pre-monsoon season. These datasets were integrated with three different time series forecasting models (Simple Exponential Smoothing, Holt's Trend Method, ARIMA) and Artificial Neural Network models for accurate prediction of groundwater level and quality parameters. Results reveal that the ANN model can describe groundwater level and quality parameters more accurately than the time series forecasting models. The change in groundwater level was observed with more than 4.0 m rise in 81 villages during 2012–2013, whereas ANN predicted results of 2023–2024 predict no rise in water level?>?4.0 m. However, based on predicted results of 2024, the water level will drop by more than 6.0 m in 16 villages of Phagi. Assessment of water quality index reveals unfit groundwater in 74% villages for human consumption in 2024. This time series and projected groundwater level and quality at the micro-level can assist decision-makers in sustainable groundwater management.

     

Radiometric calibration stability assessment for the RISAT-1 SAR sensor using a deployed point target array at the Desalpar site,Rann of Kutch,India

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data used for quantitative temporal and/or spatial analysis requires calibration to ensure that observed pixel values of amplitude and phase can be related to the geophysical parameters of interest. The process of radiometric calibration of SAR images involves comparison of the backscattered radar reflectivity signal from a ground resolution element containing a calibration target of known signal response, such as a corner reflector. In this study, absolute radiometric calibration of RISAT-1 intensity data of fine resolution stripmap-1 (FRS-1) and medium resolution ScanSAR (MRS) mode was carried out by utilizing array of standard point targets of various types (triangular trihedral, square trihedral, and dihedral) with known radar cross-section deployed prior to satellite overpass with precise azimuth and elevation angles in Desalpar, Rann of Kutch in western India. The derived calibration constants using the integral method were then compared with the values provided in the header file. Deviations in the results are reported in this article. The results obtained show that the difference between the estimated average calibration constants for FRS-1 and MRS mode data with the provided value was found to be within the absolute radiometric accuracy specification of Radar Imaging SATellite (RISAT-1). Near-range to far-range difference of 0.1–0.2 dB for HH (Horizontal transmit, Horizontal receive) polarization and 0.1–0.3 dB for HV (Horizontal transmit, Vertical receive) polarization was estimated for the same scene using distributed target analysis indicating the stability of calibration for the same scene. This study also concluded that Desalpar site in Rann of Kutch has the potential of being an operational SAR calibration site.     

Ligand Induced CuII Transport Restricts Cancer and Mycobacterial Growth: Towards a Plug-and-Select Ion Channel Scaffold

Synthetic channels with high ion selectivity are attractive drug targets for diseases involving ion dysregulation. Achieving selective transport of divalent ions is highly challenging due their high hydration energies. A small tripeptide amphiphilic scaffold installed with a pybox ligand selectively transports Cu^II ions across membranes. The peptide forms stable dimeric pores in the membrane and transports ions by a Cu²⁺/H⁺ antiport mechanism. The ligand-induced excellent Cu^II selectivity as well as high membrane permeability of the peptide is exploited to promote cancer cell death. The peptide's ability to restrict mycobacterial growth serves as seeds to evolve antibacterial strategies centred on selectively modulating ion homeostasis in pathogens. This simple peptide can potentially function as a universal, yet versatile, scaffold wherein the ion selectivity can be precisely controlled by modifying the ligand at the C terminus.     

Impact of surface modifications on hydrogen uptake by Fe@f-MWCNTs and Cu@f-MWCNTs at non-cryogenic temperatures

A comprehensive study has been conducted to evaluate the hydrogen uptake capacity of carboxylate functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (f-MWCNTs) after strategic incorporation of Fe and Cu nanoparticles on the surface. Metal decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Fe@f-MWCNTs and Cu@f-MWCNTs) were prepared by refluxing various concentrations of metal precursor and f-MWCNTs in different reaction medium such as water, amine and DMF. The prepared materials were characterized by FT-IR, powder XRD, SEM, TEM and BET analyzer. The adsorption isotherms revealed that the hydrogen storage capacity of Fe@f-MWCNTs and Cu@f-MWCNTs was 0.55 and 0.68 wt%, respectively, at 253 K and 70 bar. Similarly, both compounds showed 0.39 and 0.5 wt% adsorption at 298 K and 70 bar, respectively. The uptake of hydrogen by metal decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes was remarkably enhanced by a factor of 2 and 5 times that of Pristine MWCNT at 253 K and 298 K, respectively.     

Fabrication,characterization,numerical simulation and compact modeling of P3HT based organic thin film transistors

This paper presents the fabrication,characterization and numerical simulation of poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT)-based bottom-gate bottom-contact (BGBC) organic thin film transistors (OTFTs).The simulation is based on a drift diffusion charge transport model and density of defect states (DOS) for the traps in the band gap of the P3HT based channel.It com-bines two mobility models,a hopping mobility model and the Poole-Frenkel mobility model.It also describes the defect dens-ity of states (DOS) for both tail and deep states.The model takes into account all the operating regions of the OTFT and in-cludes sub-threshold and above threshold characteristics of OTFTs.The model has been verified by comparing the numerically simulated results with the experimental results.This model is also used to simulate different structure in four configurations of OTFT e.g.bottom-gate bottom-contact (BGBC),bottom-gate top-contact (BGTC),top-gate bottom-contact (TGBC) and top-gate top-contact (TGTC) configurations of the OTFTs.We also present the compact modeling and model parameter extraction of the P3HT-based OTFTs.The extracted compact model has been further applied in a p-channel OTFT-based inverter and three stage ring oscillator circuit simulation.