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Solar photovoltaic (PV) power is a promising alternative to fossil fuel-based power because of its attributes such as omnipresence, abundant availability, absence of rotating parts, modular and low maintenance cost. Due to the low conversion efficiency and higher initial investments on PV systems, maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is an essential requirement in grid-connected PV systems. MPPT in PV systems is a challenging task due to the nonlinear current–voltage (I–V) and power–voltage (P–V) characteristics. MPPT under partially shaded conditions (PSC) is further complicated due to the existence of multiple power peaks in the P–V curve. One of the prominent but cost-effective and feasible method of MPPT is the application of particle swarm optimization (PSO), and this scheme has been extensively reported in the literature. Recently, few more nature-inspired optimization techniques such as genetic algorithm (GA), firefly algorithm (FA) and artificial bee colony (ABC) are also implemented for MPPT. This chapter develops and analyses the performance of few popular nature-inspired optimization techniques towards MPPT. The procedure for implementation of each method is lucidly explained and computed MPPT curves along with qualitative and numeric data are presented. Experimental implementation is also included for completeness.

The ever-growing consumption of human population ends up in producing by-products that can be used again in its current form which is often called waste. With such an exponential rise in the generation of waste, waste management has become one of the key indicators of development. Waste is an inevitable part of our day to day life. In India an estimated 133,760 tons of municipal solid waste is generated daily. Our aim is to move towards a “Zero Waste Economy”, and that doesn’t mean no waste exists- it is a society where resources are fully valued, financially, and environmentally. It means we reduce, reuse and recycle all we can, and throw things only as a last resort. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the waste generation and disposal methods in one such rural village in Punjab and to understand the impact of these on the day to day life of the people living there. The methodology was employed, and data collection is conducted through interviews, observational studies and meetings with key community leaders. Results revealed various problems including improper disposal of household waste, open burning of non-biodegradable waste, open drainage system, contributing to village illness. An analysis has also been made on the type and quantity of waste generated in the village as a result of complete observation of the lifestyle of these villages. The paper thus presented gives a coherent idea on the current circumstance on waste management and sanitation in the village.

Water is a natural resource for sustaining life and environment. Effective and sustainable management of water resources is vital for ensuring sustainable development. In the transboundary basin of Punjab, management of water has not been considered as an integral part of water. People think that abundant resource doesn’t need to be managed. The source of water is from the ground. The ground water level may not be stable because of seasonal changes and due to over usage of ground water for production purposes in factories. Even though the ground water is available, due to inefficient and unregulated distribution system, it is not distributed properly to the houses causing water shortage. Especially, the crisis of water in village during morning chores is the live example of such situations. Lack of sanitation services makes the surroundings polluted and unhealthy place to live. Village people lack awareness about conservation of water. Certain measures should be taken to implement the water conservation methods. Water management is too fundamental, unsustainable if it cannot be upheld or defended. It needs the combined initiative and action of all, which makes sense about the socio-economic development. The proposed paper describes about the present water scenario, drinking water scenario, water management and challenges faced by people.

Water, is undoubtedly one of the most indispensable needs for the human population to survive. In India, almost 70% of the population reside in rural settlements and a large share of this population is often caught up in the gaping open traps of ignorance and lack-of-knowledge. According to the World Water Development Report 2018 by the UN, India is facing a stark water crisis with the report citing that over 40% of the renewable water sources in Central India would be withdrawn by 2050. Availability of water plays the role of a key indicator in the measure of a village’s prosperity and moreover it is an index of India’s development. As a part of the Live-in-Labs® the purpose of our study was to identify the most prevalent challenge that played the antagonizing role of holding back the development index in a small, destitute village tucked away in the northern part of Punjab, India by the name of Dodeneer. The paper aims at shedding light on the status of the key development indicators in the village, provide quantitative and qualitative measurables like the available resources in the village using a pragmatic approach to scrutinize the same and to propose a judicious solution to the pervasive challenge through an anthropocentric outlook. This paper would address the predominant water management issues of Dodeneer and also provide affable solutions to tackle the same and provide insights as to how Nature Based Solutions (NBS) would help address many of India’s water challenges while simultaneously delivering additional benefits vital to all aspects of sustainable development.

The aerodynamic characteristics of introducing roughness on an airfoil surface are measured in a subsonic wind tunnel. The roughness is introduced on one-fourth of the chord length, and experiments are conducted. In conventional airfoils, there is a substantial decrease in the coefficient of lift once the critical angle of attack is attained. This affects the aerodynamic performance of aircraft. Though there are methods to resolve this, there are drawbacks too, such as an increase in takeoff weight, which are detrimental to the overall performance. To avoid such drawbacks and still achieve delayed stalling, roughness is introduced on the airfoil surface. The pressure is measured for various angles of attack from 2° to 18° in steps of 2°, for inlet velocities of 25, 35, and 45 m/s. A delay in stalling has been achieved, from 8° to 12°, but there is a fall in the lift coefficient compared to that of a conventional airfoil, due to the addition of skin friction to the airfoil surface.

This research work presents a vehicle security system for safeguarding the vehicle from theft issues under the architectural design of capturing and comparing the vehicle user’s face. Since the face of human beings are unique and has different biometric characteristics which are complex to make fraudulent activities. Authenticating the vehicle users with face recognition mechanism is highly secured than token-based and knowledge-based security mechanisms. This research ultimately models and classifies the vehicle users into authorized and unauthorized users. Initially, an experimental prototype for vehicle security system is developed, and the application of image processing algorithms is incorporated into the model. The system uses Haar feature-based cascade classifier and AdaBoost method which is a machine learning algorithm used for detecting the authorized user’s face effectively. The algorithm is trained initially with appropriate amount of positive and negative images, and the feature gets extracted. When the person tries to access the vehicle, the experimental system captures the image of the person and makes comparison with extracted features to identify the authorized user. Finally, the results obtained from the prototype system are satisfied and beneficial against the issue of vehicle theft.

Exploratory study made on spinach also termed as Spinacia oleracea, a self-curing agent in self-compacting concrete is unveiled in this paper. Here, the study was made for natural self-curing agent in-built with water reducing and viscosity-based admixtures like super plasticizers and viscosity modifying agent in the brand name Master Glenium Sky (MGS) 8233. Fixed 2% based on cement weight was used throughout the study incorporated with self-curing admixtures. The main notion behind the usage of spinach as a self-curing agent is the presence of bond water in and its effective presence of hydroxyl and ether group in a chemical structure of spinach family. The design grade of concrete was fixed as M40 and its manufacturing procedure for such modern concrete was entirely based on trial and error and its end results were compared with the EFNARC specifications. Outcome from other commonly used curing agent such as Poly-Ethylene Glycol (PEG) (Bentz and Snyder in Cement Concr Res 29:1863–1867, 1999, [1], Dhir et al., Mater Struct 27:606–615, 1994, [2]) and conventional methods are collated with the payoff from spinach (Dhir et al., Mag Concr Res 50:85–90, 1998, [3], Dhir et al., Cem Concr Res 25:1153–1158, [4]). The sample test results have been given which splash the behaviour of internal curing agent under a designed laboratory conditions. Initially, the agent used for robotic curing purpose was studied to examine its water holding capacity analysis. Here for the special case, explanatory results were appraised using Fourier Transform Infra Red (FTIR) spectrum analyser. Different tests were conducted to determine the workability properties, mechanical properties, microstructural properties and durability properties of the concrete. Test such as compression test, split tensile test and flexural test were conducted to determine the mechanical properties of concrete. Tests on bond of spinach with concrete matrix, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) Analysis, water sorptivity and shrinkage were carried out. Results show that alike PEG, spinach is also an effective curing agent and improves the cement hydration, compressive strength, diminishes shrinkage and accelerates the durability of concrete whereas the conventional methods need improvement. Their outcomes are found to be satisfactory as per IS standards, EFNARC specifications and ASTM codal provisions.

Secured and trustable routing in military information system is a sophisticated task in which sharing of information with no distortion or collusion is important. Mobile ad hoc networking enables the military communication by forwarding the information to the corresponding nodes on the right time. In the available system, Neighborhood-based Interference-Aware (NIA) routing is performed over an environment of stabilized position node. This research cannot offer support to the military communication system where the troops of soldiers might have to move to different positions. This issue is resolved in the new research strategy by implementing the new framework known as Multi-Objective concerned Reliable Routing in Dynamic MANET (MORR-MANET). In this technical work, optimal routing is performed with due consideration to different QoS parameters making use of pareto-optimal approach. Once the optimal route path is found, interference is prevented through the monitoring of the information regarding the neighborhood. Moreover, this research work is also related to the path breakage due to the resource unavailability or node mobility, as observed in this research work making use of Modified Go-Back-N ARQ technique. The whole research is realized and thereafter shown in the simulation environment, and it is revealed that the proposed research methodology provides a better result, in comparison with the previous research work NIA. The proposed technique indicates better performance in terms of 13% better residual energy, 7% larger the number of live nodes, 13% least relative error compared to the available technique NIA.