Ghana's agricultural sector is heavily dependent on rainfall, but the rainfall pattern is erratic, making the sector a high-risk venture for many investors. The Upper West Region annually experiences a short rainy season a relatively long dry season (i.e., October to April). Irrigation is therefore essential for enhancement of agricultural production. A number of earth embankments have been constructed as dams dugouts have been excavated throughout the region to create water reservoirs for irrigation, especially for dry season farming. However, the irrigation facilities are beset with problems. This paper presents a problem structure analysis of the irrigation systems in the region with the aim of proposing a feasible sustainable scheme of irrigation infrastructure management. Additionally, a framework for institutionalizing Water Users Associations (WUAs) is developed. A reconnaissance study of selected irrigation facilities across the region identified the major problems. Interview were also conducted with farmers who maintain irrigated plots, the existing infrastructure was observed. Major challenges identified include a low sense of ownership responsibility toward the management of the irrigation facilities on the part of the users, leading to their poor maintenance. For sustainable irrigation management, clarification of responsibilities appropriate role sharing between the users the Ministry of Food Agriculture following the principles of Participatory Irrigation Management is recommended. The ministry should be responsible for provision of technical support services, effective monitoring supervision of the WUAs, whereas the WUAs should ensure adequate maintenance operation of the irrigation facilities.

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In Diamond-Blackfan anemia (DBA), about half of the patients have mutations in one of several ribosomal protein (RP) genes. The most frequently mutated gene (～25%) is the ribosomal protein S19 (RPS19), in which a hot spot for mutations between residues 52

62 has been reported. However, it is not clear why mutations in the ubiquitously expressed RPS19 gene specifically affect erythropoiesis. We previously showed in vitro that the 59th serine residue (Ser59) of RPS19 is phosphorylated by 1 kinase. Here we study the involvement of RPS19 1 in erythropoiesis using zebrafish to determine whether phosphorylation could affect red blood cells production. We generated the rps19 knockdown zebrafish by injection of morpholino antisense-oligo (MO) at the one-cell stage. The rps19-deficient embryos (morphants) showed abnormal morphologies a decreased number of red blood cells. Although in vitro synthesized rps19 mRNA rescued the aberrant phenotypes in morphants, the recuperation was not shown by substitution of Ser59 residue with alanine or aspartic acid. These observations suggest that reversible phosphorylation of Ser59 is important for the function of rps19. Therefore, we injected the MO against , which phosphorylates Ser59 of rps19. The 1 morphants showed abnormal head tail, a decrease in the number of red blood cells. Co-injection with synthetic mRNA restored morphology red blood cell count. These findings suggested that 1 was related to erythropoiesis. Further consideration will be needed to yield any findings about the relationship between phosphorylation erythropoiesis by using 1 deficient fish.

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A numerical method is developed for consolidation analysis of lumpy clay fillings by using the double porosity model the meshless method. Lumpy clay fillings consist of inter-lump voids a clay matrix, which further consists of frame pores. When a load is applied to these fillings submerged in the water, pore water pressures are generated dissipate in the inter-lump voids matrix. The model accounts for the coupling between the deformation of the skeleton the excess pore water pressures in both the matrix inter-lump voids, also the fluid exchange between the inter-lump voids matrix. The meshless method based on the radial point interpolation method (radial ) is used for spatial discretizations of displacement pore water pressures. The order of interpolation function for the displacement is one order higher than that for pore water pressure to improve the numerical problem. Time domain is discretized through the backward Euler algorithm. The developed method is verified through a benchmark problem two centrifuge tests. Finally, the effects of variations of various key parameters on the consolidation process are numerically studied for one-dimensional plane strain (two-dimensional) problems. It is found that the developed numerical approach can successfully simulate the consolidation behavior of lumpy clay fillings despite their complex behaviour.

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A fully coupled algorithm based on a recently developed meshfree method, called smoothed point interpolation method, is introduced for hydro-mechanical analysis of unsaturated porous media considering hydraulic hysteresis

material nonlinearity. A simple node selection scheme is adopted which ensures the non-singularity of the moment matrix in constructing the polynomial point interpolation shape functions. An effective stress based framework based on the work of Khalili et al. (2008) is followed in this study, a hysteretic water retention model is taken into account which enables the evolution of water retention curve (WRC) with volumetric changes (Pasha et al., 2017). An elastoplastic constitutive model is employed within the context of bounding surface plasticity theory for predicting the nonlinear behavior of skeleton in unsaturated porous media. The applicability of the model is verified through several numerical examples.

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The knowledge-based management theory developed by Nonaka has been highly appreciated worldwide proved to be an effective model for Asian countries. In this study, a case of a successful ODA project in Vietnam is analyzed based on knowledge-based management theory. The study found that the knowledge created in the Project was the product of SECI process, multi-layered “ba” was an important factor for its success. All the stakeholders related parties took their parts in the knowledge creating process. This management model has addressed some common shortcomings of many organizations in Vietnam, which is the lack of active effective participation of members. These findings contribute as an important evidence for further application of knowledge based management not only to firms but also to other organizations, especially to ODA projects.

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A formulation of the Element-Free Galerkin Method (EFG method), i.e., one of the mesh-free/meshless methods developed in the field of computational mechanics for solving partial differential equations, is furnished for consolidation within finite strain its validity for application to -water coupled problems is examined through a numerical analysis. The numerical strategy is constructed to solve a set of governing equations, e.g., the equilibrium for the nominal stress rate the continuity of pore water, the numerical discretization of the weak form of the governing equations leads to an updated Lagrangian scheme. The accuracy of the proposed numerical strategy is examined through an analysis of unconfined compression tests simple shear tests under undrained plane strain conditions through a comparison of stress paths integrated directly from the Cam-clay model within the framework of finite strain. It is also revealed that the particular type of weight function to be adopted in the moving least-squares (MLS) approximation, even in the same order, can determine the resultant shape functions of the EFG method for both the displacement the pore water pressure field such that they are smoother than those of the usual FEM. The functions are advantageous in that they avoid spatial instability in the numerical solutions for pore water pressure under undrained conditions appearing in saturated column tests, where the shape function of the pore water pressure in the conventional FEM computation is adopted as a lower order than that of the displacement to remedy this type of numerical difficulty. To emphasize the applicability the feasibility of the mesh-free computation, the consolidation phenomena are demonstrated in the analysis of a punch problem for a soft foundation which has stress singularity under both ends of a rigid loading platen for the same problem which Yatomi et al. (1989) solved with FEM.

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India is facing increasing water stress due to population growth, increase in water demand, vulnerability from climate change deterioration in water quality from domestic as well as industrial agricultural pollution loads. India occupies about 2.45% of the world area has a 5% share of the global fresh water resources with this share of vital natural resources approximately 16.87% of the world population is to be catered. Currently the population of India is a little over 1 billion it is expected to reach a figure of approximately 1.5 billion by the year 2050. The water availability per capita per year at present is 1730.6 CM (m³) has almost reached to water stressed (<1700 CM) conditions.
Despite the tremendous economic development growth of industries service sectors, the livelihood of approximately 68% of the Indian population depends on agriculture directly or indirectly. More than 70% of its population lives in rural areas although there is an increasing trend of urbanization in the last two decades. Irrigation water accounts for approximately 90% of the total utilization of water resources. India stands at a crossroads in institutional options for natural resources management at the local village levels. The emphasis on future options like watershed development through participatory approaches coupled with sustainability issues is now widely recognized as a potential approach for vitalizing the rural economy.
Climate variability in India in terms of rainfall temperature has noticeable spatial temporal variations. Even after achieving full irrigation potential from surface sub-surface water resources, a major portion of cultivated area shall remains rainfed. Furthermore, the conditions may deteriorate with severity of droughts intensity of flash floods under a climate change scenario. In this article different measures for moisture conservation through rainwater harvesting on a watershed basis in problematic Laterite, coastal saline hill zones of West Bengal State of India are discussed.
Although in recent years, both Government Non-Government Organizations have stepped up their efforts in water conservation by rainwater harvesting on a watershed basis through a participatory approach, the Government of India's Commitment to Participatory Irrigation Management () with the help of Water Users Associations (WUAs) needs to be strengthened through adoption of a framework from the state level down to the village level. An attempt is made in this article to highlight some key factors in the structural framework as well as in the operation domain of involving WUA from the Indian perspective.

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Stone columns, one of the most commonly used improvement techniques, have been utilized worldwide to increase bearing capacity reduce total differential settlements of structures constructed on soft clay. Stone columns also act as vertical drains, thus speeding up the process of consolidation. However, the settlement of stabilised bed is not reduced in many situations for want of adequate lateral restraint. Encasing the stone column with a geogrid enhances the bearing capacity reduces the settlement drastically without compromising its effect as a drain, unlike a pile. The behavior of the encased stone column stabilized bed is experimentally investigated analysed numerically. In the numerical analysis, material behaviour is simulated using Soft , Mohr Coulomb Geogrid models for clay, stone material encasement respectively is validated with experimental results. The parametric study carried out on varying the L/D ratio (L=length of the column; D=diameter of the column) of column, stiffness of geogrid angle of internal friction of stone material gives a better understanding of the physical performance of the encased stone column stabilized clay bed.

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During the last decade, most of the major states of India have undertaken profound reform measures in the irrigation sector to facilitate farmers' participation in irrigation management either under externally aided irrigation development agricultural intensification programs or through state government initiatives. These states emphasize decentralization of water management empowerment of water users by encouraging the farmers to form Water Users Associations (WUAs) to take over the responsibility of operation maintenance of downstream parts of the irrigation system, distribution of water among water users, collection of water rates. Although thousands of WUAs have been formed across India these have taken over the management functions of irrigation systems, the functional efficiency of WUAs in ensuring efficient water use equitable water allocation is far from satisfactory. A careful examination of the implementation of participatory irrigation management () in India reveals that the process is fraught with many difficulties due to heterogeneity of farmers, caste-class cleavages, physical system inefficiency, half-hearted support from the irrigation bureaucracy, lack of committed local leadership, inadequate capacity building, lack of proper incentives. The ultimate success sustainability of the movement depends on some fundamental factors, such as cohesiveness, common interest collective efforts of water users, effective leadership of the office bearers of WUAs, political will of the party in power, bureaucratic commitment of irrigation executives, governmental patronage, legal support, financial viability of WUAs, the catalyzing role of the change agents. To achieve the intended benefits of , an integrated comprehensive reform is necessary.

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This paper presents a quantitative method of organizing field observations concerning liquefaction non-liquefaction during actual earthquakes. The ratio τ_c/σ^^-_V is evaluated for 13 sites affected by 8 earthquakes plotted against relative density (τ_c is the average peak dynamic stress during the earthquake, σ^^-_V is the vertical effective overburden stress, both evaluated at the critical depth). The effect of the duration of shaking is considered by means of a correction to τ_c/σ^^-_V. For recent fluvial deposits uncompacted hydraulic fills, the critical level of τ_c/σ^^-_V for fine sands is about 0.15. This result is in reasonable agreement with results from laboratory investigation. More evidence is required concerning coarser denser granular deposits.

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This paper offers five recent case histories of piled raft foundations in Japan. The buildings are 19 to 162 m in height above the ground surface were completed in 2005-2009. The piled rafts were designed based on a numerical analysis using the simplified method developed by Yamashita et al. (1998) with deformation parameters evaluated from the 's shear modulus at very small strains. To confirm the validity of the foundation design, field measurements were performed on the foundation settlements the load sharing between the rafts the piles by monitoring the five structures from the beginning of their construction to 17 to 60 months after the end of their construction. The measured settlements were 19 to 24 mm, the ratios of the load carried by the piles to the effective load of each structure in the tributary area, α′_p, were estimated to be 0.61 to 0.93 at the end of the observation period. The predicted maximum settlements angular rotations of the rafts in the design were generally consistent with the measured values, the ratios of the load carried by the piles to the total load assumed in the design were also consistent with those estimated from the measurements. Based on the measurement results from ten case histories, namely, five previously published case histories five from the present study, it has been found that the value of α′_p generally decreases as the pile spacing ratio is increased. The value of α′_p seems to decrease gradually with a pile spacing ratio larger than about six, whereas the value of α′_p seems to decrease significantly as the pile spacing ratio is increased from about four to six. Based on the measurement results, it is suggested that piled rafts work more effectively at a pile spacing ratio of larger than about six, where at least 30% of the effective load of the structure can be carried by the rafts.

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