Adesh K. Sharma, PhD

Agricultural Research Service (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Principal Scientist & Professor - Computer Applications in Agriculture

Division of Dairy Economics, Statistics & Management,

ICAR – National Dairy Research Institute (Deemed University), Karnal - 132 001 (Haryana) INDIA.

Phone Nos.: +91-184-2259231 (Office). +918708415968, +9198963 91267 (Mobile). Fax: +91-184-2252637.

E-mail: a.sharma@icar.gov.in, adeshkumar.sharma@gmail.com.

MAJOR RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Intelligent predictive models developed by using machine learning, soft computing and bio-inspired learning algorithms with application to various live industrial problems related to dairying including animal production/ reproduction (pioneering work in Indian Dairy Sector); and food processing, quality monitoring and packaging

• Novel ‘weights initialisation’ technique based on the cubic-spline interpolation method, for training connectionist models

• The Android Mobile App, “NDRI-Milksafecon” – Salient features include farm record keeping such as farm inventory, vaccination schedule, treatment cost, sale records, safety and hygiene status. Facilitates the dairy farmers in making decisions related to dairy production and marketing aspects. Available for download through Google Play Store.

• The Android Mobile App, “NDRI SIS (Version 1.0)”. Available for download through Google Play Store.

• Web-enabled decision support systems on different aspects of Dairying for various dairy stakeholders including farmers and industry

• E-course for the e-learning system for B.Tech. (Dairy Technology) students for all Dairy Science Colleges; and E-course on MIS for PG students of Agricultural Universities of the country

• ICT facilities management including Human Resource

EDUCATION

 PhD (Computer Science), Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala (India) – 2007

Thesis Title: Neuro-Computing Paradigms for Predictions in Dairy Production.

 Post M.Sc. Diploma (Computer Science), Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra (KUK) India – 1988. [Equivalent to M.Phil. CS, erstwhile Roorkee University, now IIT]

 M.Sc.(Statistics with Operations Research) – KUK – 1987.

 B.Sc. (Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics) – KUK – 1985.

RESEARCH AREAS

Artificial Intelligence, Computer Vision, Nature-/Bio-inspired Computing, Machine Learning, Soft Computing and Statistical Computing Models; Intelligent Systems; Decision Support and Expert Systems; Database Management; Scientific Programming; and Information Systems with applications to Dairy & Animal Sciences.

AWARDS, HONOURS AND RECOGNITIONS

 Biographical information appeared in the ‘Marquis Who’s Who in the World 2016 (33rd Edition)

 Indian Dairy Association (IDA) bestowed the First Best Paper Award (Commercial Aspects of Dairy Sector) for the Year 2002 on the paper: Sharma, A. K., Jain, D. K., Sharma, D. K., 2002. Computer–assisted total quality management in dairy plants. Indian Dairyman 54(7), 61–70.

 IDA conferred the First Best Paper Award (Technical Aspects of Dairy Sector) for the Year 2002 on the paper: Sharma, A.K., Jain, D.K., Singh, S., 2002. Relevance of IPR in dairy research and education: an Indian perspective. Indian Dairyman 54(1), 29–34.

Member of Peer-Review Editorial Boards and Committees for Journals/Conferences

 Reviewer Springer Nature Computer Science journal

 Reviewer PLOS One

 Reviewer Indian Journal of Dairy Science

 Reviewer AFITA 2018: Special Session on “ICT Applications in Agriculture and Social Sciences”

 Reviewer ICAN-2017, Chitkara University, Chandigarh.

 Reviewer Computers & Electronics in Agriculture (Elsevier Editorial System)

 Reviewer Neural Computing & Applications (Springer journal)

 Reviewer, Indian Journal of Animal Sciences

 Reviewer, many international journals of agriculture and animal sciences

 Technical Editor – Science Alert (Peer-Review System) for Journal of Artificial Intelligence, Asian Network of Scientific Information (ANSI). ISSN: 1994-5450.

 Member Editorial Board – Technia: International Journal of Computing Science and Communication Technologies. ISSN: 0974-3375.

 Member – various Advisory/Organising Committees and Review Panels of many Information Technology Conferences and Research Journals.

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONS SOCIETIES (INDIAN)

 Life Member – Indian Science Congress Association (ISCA), Kolkata.

 Life Member – Punjab Academy of Sciences (PAS), Patiala.

 Life Member – Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics (ISAS).

 Life Member – Haryana Economic Association.

 Full Member – Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

 Life Membership of Indian Society for Buffalo Development.

Personal Details

Adesh K. Sharma, PhD

Agricultural Research Service (Indian Council of Agricultural Research)

Principal Scientist & Professor - Computer Applications in Agriculture

Division of Dairy Economics, Statistics & Management,

ICAR – National Dairy Research Institute (Deemed University), Karnal - 132 001 (Haryana) INDIA.

Phone Nos.: +91-184-2259231 (Office). +918708415968, +9198963 91267 (Mobile). Fax: +91-184-2252637.

E-mail: a.sharma@icar.gov.in, adeshkumar.sharma@gmail.com.

Date of Birth: 08/05/1965

Nationality: Indian

Marital Status: Married

GUIDANCE

Advised (being Member of Advisory Board) 25 each, doctoral as well as masters students of various disciplines’ in Dairy Science at this institute as well as project-guidance to several (about 35) PG/UG students in the disciplines of Computer Science & Engineering and Bioinformatics, sponsored by external Universities/Institutions under MoU (Faculty Exchange Programme) with ICAR-NDRI Deemed-to-be-University or under DBT Studentship Schemes or under consultancy scheme. Currently, advising about 10 institute PhD/M.Tech./M.V.Sc./M.Sc. students of different disciplines’ as Member of their Advisory/Inter-Disciplinary Boards.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

34 years (overall) professional experience in the fields of Computer Science, Computer Centre Management and Information & Communication Technology (ICT) including 32 years experience of teaching (UG/PG) and 26 years research and management experience.

RESEARCH INNOVATION

• A novel weights initialisation method based on Cubic–Spline Interpolation technique has been developed for feed-forward sigmoidal connectionist models.

• Neuro-Genetic algorithm to predict moisture sorption isotherms in various milk products.

• Identification of indigenous milch breeds of cattle through computer vision.

RESEARCH PROJECTS (INTER-DSCIPLINARY/INTER-INSTITUTIONAL)

Ongoing

 Generation of Milk Somatic Cell Reference Values and Intelligent Predictive Modelling for Monitoring Mammary Profile and Milk Quality of Indigenous Dairy Animals (Externally funded project by Department of Bio-Technology, Govt. of India) – Co-PI

 Impact Assessment of Selected Technologies of NDRI – Institute Funded Project (Co-PI)

Completed

Identification of indigenous cattle breed through computer vision (Principal Investigator)

ICAR-NIAP Project on ‘Policy imperatives for promoting value chains of agricultural commodities in India with special reference to dairy start-up’– externally funded. (Co-PI)

Modelling of rheological behaviour of selected dairy products using machine learning approach [Co-Principal Investigator] – Institute Funded Project

Modelling production and reproductive performance in dairy cattle using time series analysis [Co-Principal Investigator] – Institute Funded Project.

Policy imperatives for promoting value chains of agricultural commodities in India-ICAR [Co-Principal Investigator] – Externally Funded Project.

Machine learning approach to predict the fertility of Murrah bulls [Principal Investigator] – Institute Funded Project

Modelling the moisture sorption isotherms in selected dairy products using soft computing techniques – [Principal Investigator] – Institute Funded Project.

Strengthening Statistical Computing for NARS [Co-CCPI] – World Bank funded sub-project under National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP), Component-1, scheme of ICAR, New Delhi. Lead Institute: IASRI New Delhi.

Online Examination for Preliminary ARS Examination conducted by ASRB/ICAR, New Delhi [Nodal Officer, NDRI Karnal] – World Bank funded sub-project under the aegis of NAIP, Component-1, scheme of ICAR, New Delhi.

ERP system including MIS & FMS development and implementation for ICAR Institutes [Member of Advisory Team at the institute level] – World Bank funded sub-project under NAIP, Component-1, scheme of ICAR, New Delhi.

Development of e-courses for B.Tech. (DT) degree programme. [Content writer for the course: ‘Computer Programming’] – World Bank funded sub-project under NAIP Componet-1, Lead Division – Dairy Technology Division, NDRI Karnal.

Participatory Development of Need-based Web-enabled Interactive Information Delivery System for Dairy Stakeholders – [Co-Principal Investigator] – Institute Funded Project.

Prediction of economic traits in Murrah buffaloes – A comparative assessment of connectionist and conventional models. [Principal Investigator; Institute Funded Project]

AGROWEB - Digital Dissemination System for Indian Agricultural Research (ADDSIAR). [Co-CCPI; World Bank/ICAR funded NAIP Componet-1, Lead Institute: NBPGR New Delhi].

Development of database for strategic planning at national and international levels - Development of an integrated information system for dairying. [Co-PI; Institute Funded Project]

Development of database on livestock and livestock products. [Co-PI; Institute Funded Project]

Digitized inventory of animal bio-resources – domestic animals (Dairying component only) [Co-PI; Department of Bio-Technology (Govt. of India) funded, Lead Institute NBAGR Karnal]

Development and evaluation of animal feed using crop residues augmented with various protein and energy sources. [Co-PI; Institute funded inter-divisional project, Lead Division – Dairy Cattle Nutrition Division]

Thermal stress relief requirements of cattle and buffaloes. [Co-PI; Institute funded inter-divisional project, Lead Division – Dairy Cattle Physiology Division]

Distributed Information Sub-Centre at ICAR-NDRI Karnal, Bio-Technology Information System Network project [Co-Coordinator] – Department of Bio-Technology, Government of India, New Delhi funded long-term project/facility.

PUBLICATIONS

(PEER-REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES, BOOKS, BOOK-CHAPTERS & MONOGRAPHS)

Sharma, A., Josan, G.S., Raju, N.P. and Sharma, A.K., 2022. Predicting sorption behavior in edible bionanocomposite films with machine learning algorithms. In: Proceedings of the 2022 3rd International Conference on Computing, Analytics and Networks (ICAN), Rajpura, Punjab, India, 2022, pp. 1-7, Published by the IEEE Xplore. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICAN56228.2022.10007135.

Dixit, A.K., Sirohi, S., Ravishankar, K.M., Cariappa, A.G.A., Kumar, S., Bhandari, G., Sharma, A.K., Thakur, A., Bhullar, G.K. and Thakur, A., 2022. Understating emerging value chains and business performance: evidence from dairy industry in India. Journal of Agribusiness in Developing and Emerging Economies. https://doi.org/10.1108/JADEE-10-2022-0219.

Sharma, A.K., Bhatia, A.K., Kulshrestha, A. and Sawhney, I.K., 2021. Intelligent modeling of moisture sorption isotherms in Indian milk products using computational neurogenetic algorithm. Springer Nature Computer Science Journal 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42979-021-00693-7.

Thakur, A., Dixit, A.K., Sharma, A.K., Kumar, S., Sendhil, R. and Singh, A.K., 2021. Adoption of food safety practices in the informal milk processing units of Haryana, India – A value chain approach. Indian Journal of Dairy Science 74(6): 516-525. https://doi.org/10.33785/IJDS.2021.v74i06.008.

Dixit, A.K., Ravishankara, K.M., Kumar, S., Sharma, A.K. and Bhandari, G., 2021. Integrating production with processing and converting waste into wealth – A success story in dairying from Andhra Pradesh. Indian Farming 71(7): 34-38.

Balaganesha, G., Malhotra, R., Sendhil, R., Sirohi, S., Maiti, S., Ponnusamy, K. and Sharma, A.K., 2020. Development of composite vulnerability index and district level mapping of climate change induced drought in Tamil Nadu, India. Ecological Indicators 113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106197

Namith, C., Verma, A., Gupta, A.K., Sharma, A.K., Shashank, C.G., Yousuf, S. and Malhotra, R., 2020. Prediction of lifetime performance in Sahiwal cattle by artificial intelligence based machine learning models. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences 9: 1867-1873. https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2020.904.220.

Sharma, A.K., Panjagari, N.R. and Singh, A.K., 2018. Intelligent modelling of moisture sorption isotherms in milk protein-rich extruded snacks prepared from composite flour. In: R. Sharma et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Conference on Computing, Analytics and Networks (Chapter 10). Communications in Computer and Information Science (Springer Series), vol. 805, pp.1-14. Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. Chapter https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0755-3_10.

Sharma, A.K., Malhotra, R. and Chakravarty, A.K., 2018. Modeling fertility in Murrah bulls with intelligent algorithms (Chapter 13). In: Ram, M. and Davim, J.P. (Eds.), Advanced Mathematical Techniques in Engineering Sciences. Science, Technology, and Management Series, pp. 247-263. CRC Press, United Kingdom. ISBN 13: 9781138554399. https://doi.org/10.1201/b22440

Neethu, K.C., Sharma, A.K., Pushpadass, H.A., Emerald, F.M.E. and Manjunatha, M., 2016. Prediction of convective heat transfer coefficient during deep-fat frying of pantoa using neurocomputing approaches. Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies 34: 275–284. doi:10.1016/j.ifset.2016.02.012.

Panchal, I., Sawhney, I.K., Sharma, A.K. and Dang, A.K., 2016. Classification of healthy and mastitis Murrah buffaloes by application of neural network models using yield and milk quality parameters. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 127:242–248. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compag.2016.06.015.

Panchal, I., Sawhney, I.K., Sharma, A.K., Garg, M.K. and Dang, A.K., 2016. Mastitis detection in Murrah buffaloes with intelligent models based upon electro-chemical and quality parameters of milk. Indian Journal of Animal Research. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.18805/ijar.10773 (Online First).

Sharma, A.K., Sawhney, I.K., 2015. Modelling moisture sorption characteristics in dried acid casein using connectionist paradigm vis-à-vis classical methods. Journal of Food Science and Technology 52(1):151–160. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13197-013-0981-3.

Sharma, A. K., Jain, D.K., Chakravarty, A.K., Malhotra, R., Ruhil, A.P., 2013. Predicting economic traits in Murrah buffaloes with connectionist models. Journal of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics 67(1), 1–11. (Special Issue on Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture).

Chaturvedi, S., Yadav, R.L., Gupta, A.K., Sharma, A.K., 2013. Life time milk amount prediction in dairy cows using artificial neural networks. International Journal of Recent Research and Review 5, 1–6.

Randhawa, M.K., Sharma, A.K., Sharma, R.K., 2013. Off-line signature verification with concentric squares and slope based features using support vector machines. In: Proceedings of the IEEE 3rd International Advance Computing Conference (IACC), Ghaziabad, India, pp. 600–604. https://doi.org/10.1109/IAdCC.2013.6514295.

Sharma, A.K., 2013. Concepts and application of neural network models in animal management. In: Ruhil, A.P. et al. (Editors) Data Mining Techniques for Farm Animal Management, pp. 105–113. Agrotech Publishing Academy, 11A-Vinayak Complex-B, Durga Nursery Road, Udaipur-313001. (Chapter 9). ISBN (13) 978-81-8321-293-9.

Sharma, A.K., 2013. SAS programming essentials for statistical computing in animal sciences. In: Ruhil, A.P. et al. (Editors) Data Mining Techniques for Farm Animal Management, pp. 187–208. Agrotech Publishing Academy, 11A-Vinayak Complex-B, Durga Nursery Road, Udaipur-313001. (Chapter 17). ISBN (13) 978-81-8321-293-9.

Randhawa, M.K., Sharma, A.K., Sharma, R. K., 2012. Off-line signature verification system using fusion of novel diagonal and statistical zone based features. International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Computational and Applied Sciences 1(2), 106–111.

Randhawa, M.K., Sharma, A.K., Sharma, R.K., 2012. Off-line signature verification based on Hu’s moment invariants and zone features using support vector machine. International Journal of Trends in Engineering and Technology 1(3), 16–23. ISSN 2278-621X.

Minz, P. S., Sharma, A. K., Raju, P. N., 2012. Automatic food quality evaluation using computer vision system – a framework. Beverage and Food World 39, 23–26.

Sharma, A. K., 2012. Information technology: empowering dairy entrepreneurship. Indian Dairyman 64(1), 52–58.

Sharma, A. K., 2012. Neural computing and applications to livestock research. In: Dixit, S., et al. (Editors) Phenomic and Genomic Tools for Analysis of Livestock Genome. Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany. ISBN 978-3-659-28418-2.

Sharma, A. K., Mann, B., Sharma, R. K., 2012. Predicting antioxidant capacity of whey protein hydrolysates using soft computing models. Advances in Intelligent and Soft Computing 131, 259–265. Springer, New Delhi. ISBN 978-81-322-0490-9. e-ISBN 978-81-322-0491-6. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-0491-6_25.

Sharma, S., Sharma, A. K., 2012. An in-silico Approach for Protein Secondary Structure Modeling – Prediction of Helical Transmembrane Region using Artificial Neural Network Approach through MATLAB. Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany. ISBN 978-3-8465-8268-8. Price: €49.

Sharma, P.C., Gupta, A.K., Mohanty, T.K., Chakravarty, A.K., Singh, A., Sharma, A.K., Balasundaram, B., 2011. Genetic analysis of female fertility health traits in Karan Fries (Holstein crossbred) cows. Indian Journal of Animal Reproduction 32(2), 19–22.

Sharma, P.C., Gupta, A.K., Mohanty, T.K., Chakravarty, A.K., Singh, A., Sharma, A.K., Tomar, K.P.S., Balasundaram, B., Singh, Y., 2011. Genetics of calving health traits of Karan Fries crossbred cows. Indian Journal of Dairy Science 64(5), 412–416.

Goyal, S., Sharma, A. K., Sharma, R. K., 2011. Development of efficient artificial neural network and statistical models for forecasting shelf life of cow milk khoa – a comparative study. Communications in Computer and Information Science 169, 145–149. Springer-Verlag GmbH, Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany. ISBN 978-3-642-22576-5.

Khatri, I., Sharma, A. K., 2011. Protein Secondary Structure Prediction – Helical Transmembrane Region Prediction using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System. Lambert Academic Publishing GmbH & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany. ISBN 978-3-8443-1323-9.

Sharma, A. K., Jain, D. K., Malhotra, R. (Editors), 2011. Souvenir and Abstracts, 65th Annual Conference of Indian Society of Agricultural Statistics on the theme, “Statistics and Informatics in Agricultural Sciences” held at NDRI Karnal (India) during December 3-5.

Sharma, A. K., Sharma, V. K., Chakravarty, A. K., Jain, D. K., Ruhil, A. P., Malhotra, R., Agrawal, R. C., Grover, M., 2011.Web-enabled decision support system on most probable producing ability and a searchable database on herd strength for livestock farm management. International Journal on Computer Science and Engineering 3(11), 3628–3633. e-ISSN: 0975–3397.

Sharma, P. C., Gupta, A. K., Mohanty, T. K., Chakravarty, A. K., Singh, A., Sharma, A. K., Balasundaram, B., 2011. Genetic analysis of female fertility health traits in Karan Fries (Holstein crossbred) cows. Indian Journal of Animal Reproduction 32(2), 19–22.

Goyal, S., Sharma, A. K., Sharma, R. K., 2010. Comparison of neurocomputing and conventional regression models for predicting shelf life of Khoa. International Journal of Computational Intelligence Research 6(4), 561 – 565. Conference Issue.

Sharma, A. K., Chakravarty, A. K., Jain, D. K., Malhotra, R., Ruhil, A. P., 2010. Neuro-Computing Paradigm and Its Dairy Applications – A Mathematical Primer. NDRI Press, Karnal. (Institute Publication Number – 61/2010).

Sharma, P. C., Sharma, A. K., Gupta, A. K., Mohanty, T. K., Chakravarty, A. K., Singh, A., 2010. Predicting lifetime performance in Karan-Fries dairy cattle using first lactation performance and functional traits – a connectionist approach. International Journal of Computational Intelligence Research 6(4), 557 – 560. Conference Issue.

Sharma, A. K., 2009. Effectiveness of heuristic rules for model selection in connectionist models to predict milk yield in dairy cattle. Technia - International Journal of Computing Science and Communication Technologies 2(1), 384–386.

Sharma, A. K., Jain, D. K., (Editors), 2009. Compendium of Lectures delivered at National Workshop on ‘Emerging Machine Learning Techniques in Bioinformatics’ held at NDRI, Karnal during December 17-18, 2009.

Sharma, A. K., Jain, D. K., 2009. Computational intelligence: state-of-the-art in research and applications to dairying. In: Ahmad, R. (Editor), Globalization and Economic Development (Part- II), pp. 553-562. Mittal Publications, 4594/9, Daryaganj, New Delhi.

Sharma, A. K., Sharma, R. K., Chakravarty, A. K., 2008. Connectionist vis-à-vis conventional models for predictions of lifetime milk production in Karan–Fries dairy cattle. Technia - International Journal of Computing Science and Communication Technologies 1(1), 29–32.

Sharma, A. K., Sharma, R. K., Kasana, H. S., 2007. Prediction of first lactation 305-day milk yield in Karan Fries dairy cattle using ANN modeling. Applied Soft Computing 7(3), 1112–1120.

Sharma, A. K., Sharma, R. K., Kasana, H. S., 2006. Empirical comparisons of feed-forward connectionist and conventional regression models for prediction of first lactation 305-day milk yield in Karan Fries dairy cows. Neural Computing and Applications 15 (3–4), 359–365.

Sharma, A. K., Sharma, R. K., Kasana, H. S., 2006. Computational aspects of neural networks and dairy applications. Indian Dairyman 58(5), 49–56.

Jain, D. K., Sharma, A. K., Ruhil, A. P., 2005. Role of information technology in dairy science: a review. Indian Journal of Animal Sciences 75(8), 985–991. (Invited Review).

Sharma, A. K., Jain, D. K., 2005. Decision support systems focusing dairying – a few case studies. Indian Dairyman 57(6), 19–25.