Groundwater management in land administration: a spatio-temporal perspective

Although the use of land and water is intertwined, specifics for groundwater management are not effectively dealt with in the laws and other institutional mechanisms related to land. Provisions for groundwater aspects in land management are there, but with a focus on the land itself. Land rights and restrictions are more or less static, lacking enough flexibility to incorporate the relatively short interval spatio-temporal dynamics of groundwater resources in the land management and regulation mechanisms. This leads to a gap between the scientific inputs and policy-decision making. The paper suggests the adaptation of a spatial information science based approach to bridge the gap between the technical and administrative aspects of groundwater management. The land administration domain model (LADM) provides a basic set of elements capable of supporting the inclusion of basic groundwater modeling elements into land administration, making it possible to create a support system for the management of land and water. For this purpose, spatial and temporal dimensions under the legal-administrative and spatial unit components of the standard LADM model are reviewed. The paper shows that the advancement of spatial technologies is capable of providing solutions for global issues such as groundwater resource management. As a first step towards implementation of these technologies, it is essential to include spatio-temporal dynamics properly in the standard data models. Increased knowledge of the behaviour of groundwater resources, supported by a technical system built on a land administration counterpart, could help improve greater sustainability in the use of such resources. Considering the specific arrangements of rights, parties and spatial units this could, if desired, also provide the base for a regulated private market in groundwater assets. Further research will be needed to fully operationalize and implement such data models, which ultimately could produce outputs at case study level which can help to formulate policies regarding natural resources more on the basis of technical inputs

Spatial dimensions of land administration and user rights over groundwater: case study of Kerala, India vs. Coca Cola

Supporting the management of rights related to groundwater based on input from hydrogeology software is contributing to bridging the gap between the technical and administrative aspects of groundwater management. The research reported herein is focused on a specific example (or ‘use case’ in UML terminology), resulting from a court action by Kerala State in India, against the Coca-Cola company, on the overexploitation of the local groundwater aquifer. The use case reports on the economic and policy contexts conducing to the establishment of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in Plachimada, and the ensuing court actions, triggered by the local community assembly first, and then by Kerala State authority, on the grounds of the introduction of toxic waste into the groundwater, making the water unfit for human consumption, and the depletion of the aquifer. Considering the specifics of the use case, the ISO/TC211 Land Administration Domain Model (LADM, DIS 19152) is used as a basis for the development of a specialized profile addressing the need to define laws and regulations with proper spatial and temporal dimensions, to represent the rights to groundwater use by the local communities. Two alternative scenarios are reported: the first is based in the consideration that all the different Property parcels are regulated by Private Law; the second, further develops on the consideration of groundwater as a Public Trust, thus regulating private use through the Public Law domain. The modelling here provided goes from a subset of the LADM conceptual classes to more specialized classes, and is reported through the use of class and instance level (object) diagrams. These build on the existing spatial unit package and the legal and administrative profile, demonstrating the flexibility which can be introduced by LADM. Specifically concerning the representation of spatial units, a previously proposed ‘Mixed 2D/3D’ spatial profile is further developed, addressing the needs of the use case. In combination with the ‘Level’ representation of LADM to organize spatial units, it can contribute to an easier reuse of existing, 2D based, land parcels data, into the proposed 3D and time based model architecture. Concluding, the modelling and architectural framework here reported contributes to a more informed decision in the choice of groundwater rights to be made by the law, policy and courts, taking into account societal needs and changes induced by new socio-economic contexts. The resulting institutional setting will be best informed with spatial and temporal data, and the legal solution chosen be it public or private law focused, can be recorded in a system based on the LADM standard; it allows for much flexibility and only a few specific classes need to be added and further specified in order to be implemented

3D cadastral complexities in dense urban areas of developing countries: case studies from Delhi and satellite towns

Cadastral systems based on 2D spatial representation have served land administration and property management well for centuries. In India, the basic unit of the cadastral record is the land parcel, which is known as plot. Maintenance of land records with ownership; assessment of tax on the property and tax collection is the responsibility of district authorities. Historically, Delhi has been preferred as a capital by different rulers from various dynasties and invaders coming from different partTS03B_ezeomedo_igbokwe_6421s of the world even before 15th century. As in many densely populated areas even the early developments included 3D solutions, both below and above the surface. In the early days these were rather exceptions, but the 3D use of space has only been increased afterwards due to the continuously growing needs for space and the increased (civil) engineering and construction capabilities. In the early decades after gaining independence in 1947, Delhi rapidly began taking shape of a metro city due to large number of refugees coming from Pakistan who changed the landscape of entire Delhi. By the starting of 21st Century, Delhi had started growing rapidly in terms of population and infrastructure development. This rapid expansion in Delhi and immediate neighbouring cities of Noida and Gurgaon found the land administration agencies of these cities unprepared to deal with this rapidly changing land market. Delhi is managed by various land management agencies. Some have a major role to play in planning and development of the land like Delhi Development Authority while others focus more execution and maintenance like municipal corporations. Delhi does have a long-standing system of Deed registration but have no central registry. In general, records of land held by governmental agencies are maintained by each individual agency. The current paper aims to study the multi-stakeholding urban area locations in Delhi and around where (infrastructural) changes are creating the complex land management situations for the authorities involved. Three cases, mainly related to buildings and apartments, are presented in brief to highlight the different aspects of 3D spatial complexities involved while the forth case study is mode elaborated and focusing on multi-infrastructure (utility) networks in one single area. General Spatial Dimensions for each case are discussed focusing on geometric aspects in vertical and horizontal space below or above surface. As a specific focus, the spatial dimensions are discussed within the context of Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) Spatial Unit Package context

Electrochemical determination of microRNAs based on isothermal strand-displacement polymerase reaction coupled with multienzyme functionalized magnetic micro-carriers

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81371901), Doctoral Scientific Fund Project of the Ministry of Education of People's Republic of China (20134433110010), the Critical Point-of-Care Testing (CPOCT) Research grant of American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC) and 2015 Distinguished Academic Fellowships of Royal College of Engineering (DVF1415/2/79)

3D GEOSPATIAL INDOOR NAVIGATION FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION AND RESPONSE IN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Disaster management for urban environments with complex structures requires 3D extensions of indoor applications to support better risk reduction and response strategies. The paper highlights the need for assessment and explores the role of 3D geospatial information and modeling regarding the indoor structure and navigational routes which can be utilized as disaster risk reduction and response strategy. The reviewed models or methods are analysed testing parameters in the context of indoor risk and disaster management. These parameters are level of detail, connection to outdoor, spatial model and network, handling constraints. 3D reconstruction of indoors requires the structural data to be collected in a feasible manner with sufficient details. Defining the indoor space along with obstacles is important for navigation. Readily available technologies embedded in smartphones allow development of mobile applications for data collection, visualization and navigation enabling access by masses at low cost. The paper concludes with recommendations for 3D modeling, navigation and visualization of data using readily available smartphone technologies, drones as well as advanced robotics for Disaster Management

Engineering crops for tolerance against abiotic stress through gene manipulation

Plant genetic engineering took birth in the mid-eighties when, for the first time, plants were successfully engineered for improved virus, herbicide and insect resistance. This sphere has been ever-increasing since then. Abiotic stresses (such as high salt levels, low water availability leading to drought, excess water leading to flooding, high and low temperature regimes, etc.) adversely affect crop plants. The genetic responses of plants to these stresses are complex involving simultaneous expression of a number of genes. Till the early-nineties it was inconceivable that there would be any success in attaining the goal of improving resistance of crop plants to abiotic stresses. Continuing efforts of the stress biologists have resulted in engineering of plants resistant to low temperature, high temperature and excess salinity. A satisfactory progress has also been achieved in the area of generating plants resistant to water stress and flooding. While what has been achieved is impressive, it is still a challenging task to pyramid useful genes for high-level resistance to such stresses. The limiting factor in extension of biotechnology to abiotic stresses is the lack of information on what are the 'useful genes'-genes which would lead to better stress tolerance. We have reviewed how these genes are being searched to enable further development of strategies for stress management in crop plants. This is important because the strategics for coping with the abiotic stresses (and also for several other applications in plant biotechnology) have also come through the research work of scientists working on as diverse organisms as bacteria and fish

Development of 3D Spatial Database Enabled IT Framework for Land Agencies: Case Studies of Delhi, India and Prague, Czech Republic

Rapid urbanization has led vertical infrastructural growth in different countries with differing economic development levels and social systems. The two cities, Prague and Delhi, are the capital cities of their respective countries and have significant vertical developments. However, the two cities represent the urban areas from countries having different economic development levels. The land agencies need to keep monitoring and managing the developments in a city. The paper proposes a conceptual 3D spatial database enabled IT framework for land agencies. A monostrand multiple case study approach reviews the current practices, existing spatial data systems and programmes with 3D components, initiatives taken to create digital spatial database and potential for 3D spatial database in the two cities. The policy drivers for creation and use of 3D spatial database for land agencies are presented. The current legal and planning landscape and the institutional arrangements related to land and property development have been studied considering the scope for the development of 3D data. Further, a conceptual 3D spatial database enabled IT framework for better land administration, planning, development and management functioning is proposed. The proposed framework can make a difference providing interconnectivity, ease of access and usage, time and cost efficiency, enhanced organizational coordination and spatial data information-based decision-making process.</jats:p

Early low-temperature responsive mitogen activated protein kinases RaMPK1 and RaMPK2 from Rheum australe D. Don respond differentially to diverse stresses

Rheum grows luxuriantly in a niche of low temperature (LT) at high altitudes in Himalayan belt. The plant is expected to harbor novel genes particularly for tolerance to LT. Using differential display, two cDNAs RaMPK1 and RaMPK2, showing homology to mitogenactivated protein kinases (MAPKs) were isolated. As compared to RaMPK1, RaMPK2 exhibited strong up-regulation in response to LT. RaMPK1 was novel in terms of possessing a small glutamine and proline rich region at the N-terminal end. Secondly, though RaMPK1 showed homology with salicylic acid (SA) responsive MAPKs, the gene was down-regulated by SA but activated by jasmonate (JA). Abscisic acid (ABA) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) also down-regulated RaMPK1. RaMPK2 showed downregulation within 5 min of exposure to JA and SA treatments, followed by gradual increase in expression. Expression of RaMPK2 was wavy in response to ABA and PEG treatment. Results are discussed in light of the novelty of these MAPKs