Territorial justice in unified Germany: Financial equalization, the Länder and the Federal Constitutional Court

Geographers have traditionally been interested in the issue of territorial justice conceived in terms of distributional equality. The German constitution incorporates a concept of financial equalization with the objective of creating equivalent living conditions throughout the federal territory. This primarily involves the redistribution of finance, the regulation of which has been a continual source of conflict. The paper looks at the role of the Federal Constitutional Court in mediating such conflict. The Court is the ‘supreme guardian of the constitution’ and a highly influential policy-making institution within the German political system. Commentators have described a process of the judicialization of politics, with an increasing number of important political decisions being taken by the Court, rather than in Parliament. The decisions of the Court within the sphere of financial equalization are examined in this light. Further, the particular relevance of a geographical perspective in this regard is highlighted.     

Simulation of leaf blast infection in tropical rice agro-ecology under climate change scenario

Assessing disease risk has become an important component in the development of climate change adaptation strategies. Here, the infection ability of leaf blast (Magnaporthe oryzae) was modeled based on the epidemiological parameters of minimum (T _min), optimum (T _opt), and maximum (T _max) temperatures for sporulation and lesion development. An infection ability response curve was used to assess the impact of rising temperature on the disease. The simulated spatial pattern of the infection ability index (IAI) corresponded with observed leaf blast occurrence in Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP). The IAI for leaf blast is projected to increase during the winter season (December–March) in 2020 (2010–2039) and 2050 (2040–2069) climate scenarios due to temperature rise, particularly in lower latitudes. However, during monsoon season (July–October), the IAI is projected to remain unchanged or even reduce across the IGP. The results show that the response curve may be successfully used to assess the impact of climate change on leaf blast in rice. The model could be further extended with a crop model to assess yield loss.     

Trace elements in the atmospheric aerosols at Delhi,North India

The total suspended particulate (TSP) levels at Delhi (north India) were measured on 116 days between February and October 1980. The observations were stratified according to season and the values of cross-correlation of the TSP and its components were evaluated. High TSP (209 g m^-3) levels were found during the summer period associated with hot and dry weather in the region and low TSP (109 g m^-3) were found during the monsoon period. Most of the TSP mass was associated with natural soil elements, such as Fe, Al, Mn, Ca, and K. Only a fraction of the mass of the TSP was comprised of elements from anthropogenic sources, e.g., Pb, Ni, Cd, Sb, Cu, and Zn. The aerosols at Delhi were potentially basic in nature, unlike those in European countries which are acidic in nature and cause acid rainfall.     

MEASUREMENT OF pH AND CHEMICAL ANALYSIS OF RAIN WATER IN RURAL AREA OF INDIA

Large number of rain water samples, at 7 rural locations in the semi-arid region of the DeccanPlateau were collected during 4 consecutive monsoon seasons (1979-1982).pH, conductivityand the major ionic components (C1~-, SO_4~= , NO_3~- , NH_4~+ , Na~+, K~+, Ca~(++), Mg~(++) of the abovesamples were determined. The pH of rain water was found to be highly alkaline and the valuesvaried from 6.4 to 7.8. Soil-oriented elements showed good correltioan (r~0.6) with pH valuesof rain water. The high concentration of soil-oriented elements, specially Ca~(++), is found to play animportant role in neutralizing the acidity of rain water and maintaining high alkaline pH. The studysuggested that the contribution of atmospheric aerosol of natural sources (sea and soil) to thechemical composition of rain water is more than that of anthropogenic origin.     

Distribution and geochemistry of selected trace elements in the lignites of Cambay basin,Gujarat, western India

In the present investigation all the working lignite seams of Cambay basin of Gujarat have been studied to see the distribution and geochemistry of selected major/minor elements like Fe, Ca, Na, K, Mg, and Mn and trace elements like Cu, Co, Cr, Cd, Ni, Pb and Zn. The vertical variation of these elements along the seam profiles has been studied to see the pattern of distribution of these elements and also to know the horizons of their enrichment and the probable cause. Further, these elements have been correlated among themselves and also with organic and inorganic matter of lignite. The correlation study indicates that in Tadkeshwar upper seam Fe has its affinity with huminite while Mg and Na have their affinity with liptinite and in Tadkeshwar lower seam Na has an affinity with liptinite. In Vastan upper seam Mn and Cu are associated with inertinite and Na with huminite while in Vastan lower seam Cu relates to huminite and Cd to liptinite and huminite. In Rajpardi seam Ca and Co are associated with huminite. The study provides information on the mode of occurrence of elements of less studied lignites of western India.     

Image quality characterization of fine resolution RISAT-1 data using impulse response function

This study presents the results obtained from image quality assessment of Radar Imaging SATellite (RISAT-1). Image quality parameters such as spatial resolution, peak to sidelobe ratio (PSLR) and integrated sidelobe ratio (ISLR) are calculated by the analysis of impulse response function (IRF) of the point target. The study is carried out to assess temporal stability and consistency of image quality parameters obtained from analysis of IRF of 44 point targets. The results obtained from this study show that the mean values of the range and azimuth resolution are 2.048 ± 0.081 m and 3.383 ± 0.097 m for RH and 1.981 ± 0.081 m and 3.348 ± 0.076 m for RV, respectively. PSLR/ISLR values for RH channel are obtained as ?26.492 dB/?26.823 dB for azimuth and ?19.209 dB/?19.921 dB for the range. For RV channel, PSLR/ISLR values are ?26.300 dB/?27.572 dB for azimuth and ?19.146 dB/?19.827 dB for range.     

Biogeochemical cycling in the Taiwan Strait

Based on repeat observations made during 2001–2003 along two transects in the Taiwan Strait this study aims at understanding factors controlling primary productivity with an emphasis on biogeochemical cycling of nitrogen, the major bio-limiting macronutrient. The Taiwan Strait receives copious supplies of nutrients through river runoff and upwelling in its western and northeastern parts, respectively, but the phytoplankton biomass, as inferred from the Chl a concentration, does not appear to be commensurately high. It is proposed that high water turbidity results in light limitation of primary productivity, especially in the western part of the strait. The accumulation of nitrite in the surface mixed layer appears to be due to nitrate reduction during phytoplankton assimilation, whereas in the near-bottom waters nitrite is most likely produced during nitrification. The net balance between input and loss of nitrogen is inferred from the nitrogen tracer N*. The Taiwan Strait is found to be a net recipient of combined nitrogen.     

Short term earthquake forecasts at Koyna,India

Earthquake activity is monitored in real time at the Koyna reservoir in western India, beginning from August 2005 and successful short term forecasts have been made of M ∼ 4 earthquakes. The basis of these forecasts is the observation of nucleation that precedes such earthquakes. Here we report that a total of 29 earthquakes in the magnitude range of 3.5 to 5.1 occurred in the region during the period of August 2005 through May 2010. These earthquakes could broadly be put in three zones. Zone-A has been most active accounting for 18 earthquakes, while 5 earthquakes in Zone-B and 6 in Zone-C have occurred. Earthquakes in Zone-A are preceded by well defined nucleation, while it is not the case with zones B and C. This indicates the complexity of the earthquakes processes and the fact that even in a small seismically active area of only 20 km × 30 km earthquake forecast is difficult.     

Effect of Random Inclusion of Polypropylene Fibers on Strength Characteristics of Cohesive Soil

This paper presents the effect of random inclusion of polypropylene fibers on strength characteristics of soil. Locally available cohesive soil (CL) is used as medium and polypropylene fibers with three aspect ratios (l/d = 75, 100 and 125) are used as reinforcement. Soil is compacted with standard Proctor’s maximum density with low percentage of reinforcement (0–1% by weight of oven-dried soil). Direct shear tests, unconfined compression tests and CBR tests were conducted on un-reinforced as well as reinforced soil to investigate the strength characteristics of fiber-reinforced soil. The test results reveal that the inclusion of randomly distributed polypropylene fibers in soil increases peak and residual shear strength, unconfined compressive strength and CBR value of soil. It is noticed that the optimum fiber content for achieving maximum strength is 0.4–0.8% of the weight of oven-dried soil for fiber aspect ratio of 100.