As morphometric investigation is connected to prioritization of watershed, morphometric analysis has got a significance role in light of soil and water conservation. In this study, an endeavour for the examination of point by point morphometric analyses of sub-basins was accomplished through the measurement of linear and shape parameters by using ArcGIS-9.3 software. Specifically, linear and shape morphometric parameters like stream length, stream order, drainage density, stream frequency, bifurcation ratio, Length of overland flow, basin perimeter, form factor, compactness coefficient, elongation ratio has been considered. The SRTM DEM (30 x 30 m) is processed for the delineation resulting in 61 sub-basins. The morphometric parameters which affect the soil erodibility are considered to organize the sub-basins and relegate positions on the premise of their association with erodibility to get compound parameter (Cp) esteem. Based on the value of Cp the sub-basin with the lowest Cp value was given the highest priority and then categorized the sub-basins into three classes as high, medium and low in terms of priority. Accordingly, high priority zone comprises 11 sub-basins, medium 19 and low 31 subbasins. The sub-basins which are falling under high priority were a great deal more defenceless to soil disintegration and ought to be given high need for land preservation measures.

Currently, researchers are more focusing on eco-friendly materials, sustainability, and low consumption of energy during the stage of handling, low initial cost, have appropriate mechanical properties and biodegradable and less susceptible to health hazards are the main challenge facing in the present day across the world especially to developing new materials that would improve the industrial supplies for making lightweight materials. Therefore; natural cellulosic fiber one, of effective strategies to substitute artificial fibers for its own benefits when compared and mainly concentrating to reinforce polymer matrices by natural cellulosic fiber due to their decomposable characteristic in nature. This an overview mainly discussed on commonly available natural fiber property such as physical property, chemical composition analysis, surface morphology analysis such as thermal stability analysis (TGA), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to be adopted in order to characterized natural fiber and impact of treating natural fibers by appropriate chemical on certain properties was discussed by supporting literature. In addition to this the significance of characterization of natural fiber briefly discussed and this an overview will helps other researcher’s source for natural fiber composite studies in future studies.

Background: Trend and variability analysis of precipitation and stream flow series provides valuable information to understand hydrological changes associated with climate variability. In this study, annual and seasonal trends of precipitation and stream flow series and their relationship was investigated over the Modjo river watershed. The Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope estimator were used for trend analysis and evaluation of its magnitude respectively, with an approach that corrects the serial correlation. The Pearson correlation analysis was also applied to evaluate the relationships between river flow and precipitation series.Results: the mean and maximum stream flow series showed downward trends at the annual and kiremt time series, whereas no significant trend was observed for the minimum flow over the Modjo watershed. The study indicated that the mean annual and kiremt (monsoon) stream flow decreased significantly at a rate of 8.262 and 6.528 m3s-1per year respectively. In contrary to the river flow, there is no positive or negative trend in the annual and seasonal precipitation series although the tendency was towards increasing trends. It was evidenced that the annual, and kiremt season river flow series was affected abruptly since 2000, however for the same analysis period there was no evidence of changes in precipitation events, which is also not related significantly with the variability of river flow during the analysis period.Conclusions: the river flow decreased dramatically in the Modjo watershed during the analysis period (1981-2015), however it was not primarily associated significantly with climate variability (precipitation & temperature). The result suggests the need of considering the unplanned water extraction and the poor land use management practices to sustain and restore river flow trend observed in the watershed.

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Currently, due to global warming, a lot of investigation and advance has been growing in the possible use of natural fibres composite universally. Scholars highly initiated the significance due to its advantage of human-made fibres, such as little ecological impact and low cost. Many studies were established to enhance the mechanical execution and uses of natural fibre in the manufacturing trade. Investigation revealed on natural fibre composites can be set into a load-bearing structural and infrastructure use. As an engineered usual material, related to human-made fibre composites, the attributes of natural fibre compounds can be oriented to attain a positive request. The common problems in operational with natural fibre compounds were excessive discrepancy and appearances. Natural fibre composites' attributes, which have a significant level, are mostly subjective by the category of fibres, ecological circumstances also the source of cellulose fibres, and the kind of fiber treatments. As the addition of natural fibre increases in fiber-reinforced concrete production, its slump test value decreases, but it improves the mechanical property of concrete up to a certain value. Then, it starts to decline compared to the control mix design and also, the mode of failure changes from brittle to ductile with the inclusion of natural fiber. Though, cellulose fibre composites might appear as a novel substitute for a rock-solid material with their uniqueness and unevenness and substitute expensive human-made fiber composites. This assessment will deliver an overview of natural fibre mechanical performance and toughness in the concrete, one of the importance of natural fibre compared to a human-made one, and the detailed achievements on its uses supported by the literature.