Introduction Access to proper sanitation is a challenge that the world needs to tackle right now. Open defecation is a very serious problem for the world. According to WHO/UNICEF JMP report 2015, 2.4 billion people globally have no access to improved sanitation facilities of which, around 946 million people defecate in the open. Open defecation does not only affect the environment but also causes diseases like cholera, typhoid, hepatitis, polio, diarrhea, worm infestation, under nutrition and

Introduction Malaysia is a developing country with rapid rate of urbanization and industrialization. One of the obvious impacts of economic development and rise in standard of living is evidenced by increasing number of private own vehicles. The private vehicle ownership is escalating so as congestion and air pollution. Malaysia has a population of 29 million with 22 million registered vehicles from which 16 millions are active on roads1. The current trend of private vehicle ownershi

Introduction Urban squares/plazas are places where citizens can gather, stay behind or walk through this valuable urban element and make positive social interactions with friends, facing differences and learning others; in other words it is where communities regenerate themselves through dialogue, action and reflection together with the variety and diversity of activities1.Urban squares/plazas introducing the common types of public spaces in historical cities 2.Since the first urban formation

Introduction With an estimated abstraction of around 230 billion cubic meter per year, India is reported as one of the largest groundwater users in the world. Nationally, groundwater accounts for 85% of India’s rural domestic water requirements and more than 60% of its irrigation requirements2. This excessive use of groundwater has led to its depletion and deterioration of quality in north-west India and across the Gangetic basin which has been reported in many studies3-18. It ha

Introduction Cyanobacteria are oxygen evolving photoautotropic prokaryotes known to cohabitate with rice and exploited in agriculture for their specific inoculation as nitrogen supplementing biofertilizers in paddy fields.1 They have received much attention in soil due to their nitrogen fixing ability and significant contribution in primary production. The rice field ecosystem provides an environment favourable for the growth of cyanobacteria with respect to their requirements for li

Introduction Both, the demand of energy, and the amount of waste dissipated are ever increasing with the increase in population. The annual estimates from various studies suggest that MSW generation in India ranges between 40 MT and 55 MT.1 Along with the increase in waste generation there is also change in the composition of waste generation.2 Recently IPCC 2007 reports show the maximum methane (25 times greater GHP) generated from South Asia due to rice food waste. Microbi

Introduction Plants in the under storey layer, maintains the structure and functioning of forests (Singh and Singh, 1987; Bargali and Bargali, 2000; Augusto, 2003; Whigham, 2004; Bargali et al., 2015a). Herbaceous plant layer contains the higher number of species in the forest community and influences nutrient cycling in such a way that is disproportionate to relative biomass (Gilliam, 2007; Rana et al., 2014). This layer is also responsible for approximately 12% of the Gross Photosynthetic P

Introduction Global climate change is one of the biggest challenges of the twenty first century. Enhance greenhouses effect lead to rise in mean global air temperature and it is projected that mean temperature may increases from 1.5 to 4.5 ºC by the end of 21st century (IPPC 2013). Rise in atmospheric greenhouses gases (GHGs) such carbon di-oxide, methane (CH4), chlorofluorocarbon and nitrous oxide (N2O) concentration in atmosphere due to anthropogenic activities leads to global warm

Introduction Water is very important life supporting material and required for all biotic communities. We depend on water for domestic, irrigation, sanitation and industrial purposes.  Industrialization is considered vital to the nation’s socio economic development as well as to its political standing in the international community. While development aims at bringing about positive changes in human life, uncontrolled consumption of natural resources both in developed and de

Introduction Relying on their historical specifications and traditional buildings, cities are regarded as the most valuable works of the past and inheritance of all cities and countries. Referring to historical background of these spaces, it is found that they include unique specifications. Accordingly, the urban planners and architects may make urban spaces important and meaningful through injecting modern thoughts to these contexts. This thought is regarded a kind of "intervention&

Introduction The purpose of creating reservoirs are for irrigation, drinking water, hydropower generation, and fish production. The reservoirs in the world are subjected to sedimentation with a rate of approximately 1% per year (WCD, 2000). The rates of sedimentation in reservoirs have the direct   relationship with the type and size of the drainage basin. Sediment deposited encroach not only the dead storage portion but also the live storage of the reservoir. Various pro

Introduction Stand structure significantly determines the aspects of dry matter productivity and carbon potential of forest in each site. However, the productivity of forests not only depends on stand structure and composition of forest but also impacted by several other factors such as climate, soil condition, availability of moisture, and conservation and management practices. In this regard, forest vegetation of any climatic and edaphic condition varies with the variation in environment of

Introduction Fresh water species throughout the world depend on clean, pure and healthy water for their survival.1 Although knowledge of freshwater biodiversity is improving,2 large gaps remain, particularly among invertebrates and especially in tropics where data deficient species is greater (50 to 75%  data deficient).3 It is generally difficult to assess invertebrate diversity as they are often small, cryptic, and seasonal, making even Red List assessments diffic

Introduction Passive systems are used to provide thermal comfort in a building. Passive systems have been used in very old times; and have always been included in building designs. Issues of fuel supply, and environment pollution have doubled the importance of passive systems both for cooling and heating of the buildings, they are essential elements of building architecture.  Elements of passive systems are fully related to primary decisions of designing architecture, secondly, they

Introduction The concept of Eco-Technology was raised in 1990 and under the influence of the 'Our Common Future’ report. In this report that published in 1987, sustainable development was specified as ‘‘development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’’.1 Since the presentation of Our Common Future, ‘sustainable development’ is a

Introduction Climate being a significant driver for best selection of crops in a region, allocation of similar climatic zones has always received plunge. It paves a way for identifying potential productivity zones for various crops.6,7and1 delineated climatic zones of India using Thornthwaite and Mather approach.4 There is now a strong unanimity that climate change presents a fundamental challenge to the well-being of all countries, with potential of being most harsh on deve

Introduction In Indian waters, marine catfishes were represented by 23 species, of which 11 species forms commercial fishery.17 The distribution of ariids  all along the Indian coast between 30 and 80 m depths with maximum abundance over inshore muddy bottom habitats.16,19,21 In India, the average annual landings of marine catfish was 11,779 tonnes (1950) which are mainly exploited by artisanal sectors.19 Catfish fishery in Maharashtra is supported by 10 species of which Pli

Introduction Water - the main source of life and one of the most important natural resource of the ecosystem.1 Lakes are the major sources of drinking and domestic usage for rural and urban population of India. A lake is a watershed area in which its quality depends upon every component of that ecosystem. The health of lakes and their biological diversity are directly related to health of almost every component of the ecosystem.2 Topography of the surrounding area, soil, geo

Introduction With the increased cropping intensity, farmers of developing countries have supplemented animate power (human and draft animal) with tractors, power tillers, diesel engines and electric motors. Electric power plays a pivotal role in various agricultural operations. Besides providing irrigation to the crops, electric power is also used for threshing, chaff cutting, hulling, cane crushing, running small oil extractors, etc. With the increased mechanization methods and use

Introduction Inland fisheries have an important role which provides employment, income generation, contributing to gross domestic production. In India, 19370 of reservoir has been noticed which consist of 19134 small reservoirs, 180 medium reservoirs and 56 larger reservoirs. The area of small reservoir has been accounted of 47.11% to the total area of reservoir, a highest number of small reservoir was found in Tamil Nadu (8906 including tanks) with area of 0.36 million hectare. The fish prod

Introduction The olive (Olea europaea L.) is the most important subtropical fruit grown in the Mediterranean region of the world. Known as a highly beneficial fruit, olive oil eliminates excess cholesterol in the blood, controls blood pressure. It is a great source of vitamin E and reduces the effect of degenerative diseases like Alzheimer, benign and malignant tumors. Protects body against anemia, improves fertility and reproductive system. It contains oleic acid which is excellent for heart

Introduction Rain is a very important natural phenomenon, which can persuade the human life. In fact, the rain that falls into certain area can viewed because of many factors, which can divided into three segments: space, time and other factor. The rainfall analysis and its results at a particular location can illustrate in above three categories. Several researchers have studied the distribution, variability and trends of rainfall at global, regional and basin scales. A study on temporal (mo

Introduction Earthquakes are one of the most devastating among the various natural hazards.In the last few decades, the world has been faced by a number of large earthquakes which has caused significant destruction of human life and property, earthquakes are the major natural disaster in our country too. The Indian subcontinent has suffered much due to earthquakes being one of the most earthquake prone regions of the globe. The dam age to human life and property due to large earthquakes are s

Introduction Soil is the key ingredient for the maintenance of the ecological services such as cycling of the water, plays vital role in vegetal progression and in the form of foundation material used in the construction of building which ultimately sustains and support the human population.1 Besides this, soil also act as source and sink for the contaminant that causes the potential threat to human health.2 Continuous urbanization process is the m

Introduction In semi arid regions, water resources management is a crucial requirement for increasing agricultural production because food insecurity is becoming a main concern. ET is one of the hydrologic cycle components and the precise estimation of ET is very important for the researches such as water balance, irrigation design and management, crop yield modelling, and water resources planning and management reported by Kumar et al.5 (2002). ET0 can be obtained by many estimation methods,

Introduction Cotton is an important commercial crop in the world. Indian economy continues to receive great support from the most important commercial fibre crop. However, the productivity of cotton crop is still below the potential because of high evaporative conditions, scarcity of groundwater, deficient rainfall, and poor water management practices like poor scheduling of cotton during water scarce conditions, lack knowledge on the frequency of irrigation during low availability of water,

Introduction Zinc is an important trace element which is essential for the healthy crop growth and metabolism.1 Zinc is also vital for terrestrial life since it is required either as a structural component or reaction site in numerous proteins. It is required by rice in small quantity, but its deficiency has an adverse effect on healthy crop growth and yield may reduce up to 30 percent.2 Zinc deficiency in soils and plants is of major concern since thirty per cent of world s

Introduction Now a days most serious challenges faced by mankind is climate change. For the assessment of future variations in the hydrologic cycle, the sensitivity of regional hydrology to variable climate conditions makes climate-change projections essential. Validation of future climate change prediction it is important to investigate observed change in present climate and can be put into context. Information gap that is provided by climate can be linked by Bias correction methods. For cli