The Thangal Kunju Musaliar College of Engineering, commonly known as TKMCE, is the first government aided engineering institution in the Indian state of Kerala founded by Janab Thangal Kunju Musaliarin 1958. It is located in the Karicode neighborhood, 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the city of Kollam in southern Kerala. The college was affiliated to Kerala University till 2014 before joining the then newly formed APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University.
Abstract The current study introduces a novel cross-linked biopolymer (BP) blend of chitosan and sodium alginate at concentrations of 1%, 2%, and 4% for immobilizing Cr 6+ and Cd 2+ (at concentrations of 300 and 500 mg/kg) in clayey soil. This research aims to develop a biopolymer blended clay liner for landfills and contaminated sites by enhancing sorption while preserving geotechnical integrity. The objective includes evaluating BP's efficacy in heavy-metal immobilization and enhanced geotechnical performance through pH, electrical conductivity, 1-D consolidation, and sorption tests on control (metal-spiked) and BP-treated soils prepared at 70% maximum water-holding capacity. Results show a reduction in void ratio and compressibility, predominantly in the 500-mg/kg Cr 6+ -spiked soil, primarily due to the adsorption and surface complexation of the predominant aqueous hydrogen chromate ( HCrO 4 4 − ) species under acidic conditions, resulting in enhanced particle aggregation and pore volume reduction. Up to 2% BP, all samples meet the linear hydraulic conductivity criteria (≤10 −7 cm/s) and exhibit an increase in sorption capacity. However, 4% BP slightly increases compressibility and conductivity and reduces sorption due to uneven mixing and metal-induced flow paths. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed coordination bonds via adsorption and metal chelation in the BP matrix. Optimally, 1% and 2% BP balances superior sorption with geotechnical stability, offering an eco-friendly innovation over conventional stabilizers for heavy-metal containment in clayey soil.
Understanding the dynamic and non-linear relationship between streamflow and sediment concentration is vital for effective river basin management especially in regions with climatic and anthropogenic influences. This study is the first ever application of Cross Recurrence Analysis (CRA) to investigate the temporal synchronization and nonlinear coupling between streamflow and sediment concentration across six major Indian river basins: Mahanadi, Godavari, Cauvery, Krishna, Brahmani-Baitarani, and the Western Flowing Rivers (WFR) from Tadri to Kanyakumari. Using Cross Recurrence Plots (CRP) and Cross Recurrence Quantification Analysis (CRQA) metrics such as recurrence rate (RR), determinism (DET), laminarity (LAM) and entropy (ENTR), the study reveals basin specific patterns of synchronization. The Krishna basin demonstrates the strongest coupling with high RR, DET, and LAM, suggesting stable sediment transport processes. In contrast, the WFR and Cauvery basins show weak synchronization, reflecting greater variability and instability in streamflow-sediment interactions. Godavari exhibits complex synchronization dynamics with high entropy, while the Brahmani-Baitarani basin shows consistent and predictable interactions. The results emphasize the value of CRA in identifying hidden dynamical structures in hydrological data and it is a novel contribution to understand sediment transport processes across diverse Indian basins.
In recent years, adsorption desalination has emerged as a promising alternative to conventional water treatment technologies, offering a more renewable approach to the globally growing water scarcity issues. Despite its significant environmental advantages, the wide scale deployment of adsorption desalination has been constrained by challenges such as relatively low water production rates, slow adsorption desorption kinetics and the large space requirements of conventional system components. To overcome these limitations, a range of innovative strategies has been explored, including hybrid process configurations, multibed-multistage systems, heat and mass recovery in adsorption desalination systems and the development of advanced adsorbent materials. These approaches have gained growing attention from both technological and economic perspectives. The review outlines global water scarcity issues and examines existing desalination techniques focusing on adsorption desalination, its working, performance parameters such as specific daily water production, overall energy consumption, specific cooling power and gain output ratio. This work also explores performance enhancement strategies including advanced materials, heat and mass recovery, hybridisation, sustainable innovations and their recent advances, along with techno economic assessment of existing systems. This review systematically examines how hybridisation of adsorption desalination with different available desalination technologies influences key performance metrics. The adsorption desalination integrated-multi effect distillation systems have superior performance with highest gain output ratio and the adsorption desalination hybridised with humidification dehumidification units has shown potential advantages as they provide better performance with higher water production at lower cost. In terms of materials, the study reviews a range of adsorbents, from conventional to novel “green” alternatives derived from natural resources. Overall, this review addresses the gaps of existing reviews by providing a comprehensive assessment of adsorption desalination systems, focusing on suitable hybridisation, optimal adsorbent materials sustainable development metrics and economic viability which is essential for system commercialisation.
India’s river systems have extreme variability in streamflow, with over 80
This study introduces a novel framework based on visibility graph (VG) and its upside-down variant (UDVG) to assess the multifractal structure of meteorological droughts in Türkiye’s Mediterranean region. Using the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) from 24 stations (1970–2022), we examined drought dynamics across time scales ranging from 1 to 24 months. The analysis shows that except for a few one-month cases, drought indices exhibit predominantly stochastic rather than chaotic behaviour, validating the use of multifractal tools. VG and UDVG approaches were then applied to 3-, 6- and 12-month series, and multifractal spectra were computed via the sandbox and Chhabra–Jensen methods. Results indicate that SPEI consistently displays stronger multifractality than SPI, confirming the added role of evapotranspiration in drought variability. The UDVG framework reduced the multifractal spread (ΔDq = D₀ – D₂) by 30
