The study of indoor radon in the urban dwellings using plastic track detectors

Radon and its progeny have been recognized as one of the major contributors to the natural radiation and health hazards in the human dwellings. Even lung cancer is expected if it is present in enhanced levels beyond maximum permissible limit. This paper reports the measurements of indoor radon and its progeny in the urban dwellings of the Etah district of Uttar Pradesh province in Northern India using the cellulose nitrate (LR-115 type-II) plastic track detectors. It is found that the values of radon concentration vary from 3.52 to 248.64 Bq m⁻³ with a standard deviation of 69.19. The values of radon progeny concentration vary from 0.38 to 26.88 mWL with a standard deviation of 7.48. The effective dose has been calculated and found to vary from 0.05 to 3.76 mSv year⁻¹ with a standard deviation of 1.05. The lifetime fatality risk is found to vary from 0.04 × 10⁻⁴ to 2.90 × 10⁻⁴. The results have been compared with the results reported in the rural areas of the same district.     

Late Quaternary drainage reorganization assisted by surface faulting: The example of the Katrol Hill Fault zone,Kachchh, western India

Drainage reorganization on restricted temporal and spatial scales is poorly-documented. We attempt to decode the relatively complicated mechanism of drainage realignment involving two small rivers that show structurally controlled, highly anomalous channel networks. We provide geomorphic and shallow subsurface evidence using ground-penetrating radar (GPR) for the presence of a buried paleo-valley flowing northward through the wind gap and surface faulting along the range bounding Katrol Hill Fault (KHF) which correlates with the previously known three surface faulting events in last ~30 ka bp . Most of the present river channels and the KHF zone are occupied by aeolian miliolite (local name) which is stratigraphic and lithologic equivalent of the Late Quaternary carbonate rich aeolianite deposits occurring in several parts of the globe. The history of drainage evolution in the study area comprises pre-miliolite, syn-miliolite and post-miliolite phases. Geomorphic evidences show that the paleo-Gangeshwar River flowed north through the wind gap and paleo-valley, while the short paleo-Gunawari occupied the saddle zone to the east of Ler dome prior to and during the phase of miliolite deposition which ended by ~40 ka bp . Southward tilting of the Katrol Hill Range (KHR) due to surface faulting cut off the catchment of the paleo-Gangeshwar River. The abandoned catchment stream extended its channel eastward along the strike through top-down process while the paleo-Gunawari River extended its course westward by headward erosion (bottom-up process). As the channels advanced towards each other they joined to produce the “S”-shaped bend which formed the capture point. We conclude that multiple surface faulting events along the KHF in the last ~30 ka bp , resulted in uplift and tilting of the KHR which caused drainage realignment by river diversion, beheading and river capture. Our study shows that the complexity of drainage reorganization processes is more explicit on shorter rather than longer timescales.     

Performance evaluation of normalized difference chlorophyll index in northern Gulf of Mexico estuaries using the Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean

The Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO) was used to derive chlorophyll-a (chl-a) based on the normalized difference chlorophyll index (NDCI) in two Gulf of Mexico coastal estuaries. Chl-a data were acquired from discrete in situ water sample analysis and above-water hyperspectral surface acquisition system (HyperSAS) remote sensing reflectance in Pensacola Bay (PB) and Choctawhatchee Bay (CB). NDCI algorithm calibrations and validations were completed on HICO data. Linear and best-fit (polynomial) calibrations performed strongly with R² of 0.90 and 0.96, respectively. The best validation of NDCI resulted with an R² of 0.74 and root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 1.64 µg/L. A strong spatial correspondence was observed between NDCI and chl-a, with higher NDCI associated with higher chl-a and these areas were primarily located in the northern PB and eastern CB at the river mouths. NDCI could be effectively used as a qualitative chl-a monitoring tool with a reduced need for site-specific calibration.     

Interrelationship of rainfall,temperature and reference evapotranspiration trends and their net response to the climate change in Central India

The monthly rainfall data from 1901 to 2011 and maximum and minimum temperature data from 1901 to 2005 are used along with the reference evapotranspiration (ET₀) to analyze the climate trend of 45 stations of Madhya Pradesh. ET₀ is calculated by the Hargreaves method from 1901 to 2005 and the computed data is then used for trend analysis. The temporal variation and the spatial distribution of trend are studied for seasonal and annual series with the Mann-Kendall (MK) test and Sen’s estimator of slope. The percentage of change is used to find the rate of change in 111 years (rainfall) and 105 years (temperatures and ET₀). Interrelationships among these variables are analyzed to see the dependency of one variable on the other. The results indicate a decreasing rainfall and increasing temperatures and ET₀ trend. A similar pattern is noticeable in all seasons except for monsoon season in temperature and ET₀ trend analysis. The highest increase of temperature is noticed during post-monsoon and winter. Rainfall shows a notable decrease in the monsoon season. The entire state of Madhya Pradesh is considered as a single unit, and the calculation of overall net change in the amount of the rainfall, temperatures (maximum and minimum) and ET₀ is done to estimate the total loss or gain in monthly, seasonal and annual series. The results show net loss or deficit in the amount of rainfall and the net gain or excess in the temperature and ET₀ amount.     

Viscous fluid universe filled with stiff fluid in general relativity

We have investigated two stiff-fluid models in which the material distribution is that of viscous fluid. In the first model, the coefficient of shear viscosity is assumed to be constant while in the second model the coefficient of shear viscosity is proportional to the rate of expansion in the model. The paper also discusses some physical and geometrical aspects of the model. The behaviour of the model in absence of viscosity is also discussed.     

Strain estimation from single forms of distorted fossils — A computer graphics and MATLAB approach

Most of the existing methods of strain analysis can estimate strain in a single form of distorted brachiopod, or trilobite provided independent evidence, such as the association of the fossil with cleavage and/or stretching lineation is available for inferring the direction of maximum principal strain. This article proposes a simple computer graphics based method and its MATLAB code that determine the minimum amount of strain in a single distorted fossil form even if data for inferring the maximum principal strain direction are lacking. Our method is a rapid computer-graphics alternative to some of the existing analytical methods. In a distorted fossil form of original bilateral symmetry, the relative senses of angular shears along the hinge line and the median line are mutually opposite to each other. It follows, therefore, that the maximum principal strain direction lies within the acute angle between the hinge and the median lines in the plane of the fossil. Using this principle, our method performs several simulations such that each simulation retrodeforms the distorted fossil by assuming a particular orientation, lying within the acute angle between the hinge line and the median line, as the potential direction of the maximum principal strain. Each simulation of retrodeformation yields a potential strain ratio. The distribution of all the potential strain ratios, obtained by assuming different orientations as the potential directions of the maximum strain, is typically a parabola-like curve with a distinct vertex that corresponds to the minimum amount of strain in the distorted fossil. An entirely computer graphical approach is somewhat time-intensive because it involves a large number of retrodeformational simulations. We, therefore, give a MATLAB code, namely, the Minstrain, that rapidly retrodeforms the fossil and determines the minimum strain with precision.     

Dry season precipitation over the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor is more sensitive to deforestation than to greenhouse gas driven climate change

To prevent the loss of biodiversity in northern Central America, which is one of 34 global biodiversity hotspots, the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor, a network of protected parks and reserves has been proposed. While on-going deforestation to croplands and pastures outside the protected regions is likely to effect the dry season precipitation over the regenerated and extant forests in the proposed protected regions, global climate change driven precipitation changes may also be a significant factor, at least at some locations. This study compares the effects of land cover change to the effects of elevated greenhouse gas concentrations on precipitation in the proposed areas of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor network. Using 5 consecutive dry season simulations of the effects of land cover change that included dry, wet and normal years, and using statistically downscaled global climate model (GCM) precipitation from the fourth assessment report (AR4), a larger expanse of the proposed protected regions was found more sensitive to precipitation decreases due to land cover changes. Two specific protected regions however stand out: the Maya Highlands and some areas of the Maya lowlands that were more sensitive to global climate change driven precipitation decreases. In these protected regions it is likely that irrespective of local policies the climate change signal would dominate.     

Appropriate viscous damping for nonlinear time‐history analysis of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings

There is no consensus at the present time regarding an appropriate approach to model viscous damping in nonlinear time‐history analysis of base‐isolated buildings because of uncertainties associated with quantification of energy dissipation. Therefore, in this study, the effects of modeling viscous damping on the response of base‐isolated reinforced concrete buildings subjected to earthquake ground motions are investigated. The test results of a reduced‐scale three‐story building previously tested on a shaking table are compared with three‐dimensional finite element simulation results. The study is primarily focused on nonlinear direct‐integration time‐history analysis, where many different approaches of modeling viscous damping, developed within the framework of Rayleigh damping are considered. Nonlinear direct‐integration time‐history analysis results reveal that the damping ratio as well as the approach used to model damping has significant effects on the response, and quite importantly, a damping ratio of 1% is more appropriate in simulating the response than a damping ratio of 5%. It is shown that stiffness‐proportional damping, where the coefficient multiplying the stiffness matrix is calculated from the frequency of the base‐isolated building with the post‐elastic stiffness of the isolation system, provides reasonable estimates of the peak response indicators, in addition to being able to capture the frequency content of the response very well. Furthermore, nonlinear modal time‐history analyses using constant as well as frequency‐dependent modal damping are also performed for comparison purposes. It was found that for nonlinear modal time‐history analysis, frequency‐dependent damping, where zero damping is assigned to the frequencies below the fundamental frequency of the superstructure for a fixed‐base condition and 5% damping is assigned to all other frequencies, is more appropriate, than 5% constant damping. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessing anthropogenic pressure and its impact on Hippophae salicifolia pockets in Central Himalaya, Uttarakhand

Natural habitat of Hippophae salicifolia in Central Himalaya is continuously being degraded due to habitat destruction and harvesting.Although logging is prohibited,habitat destruction has increased because of regular road construction,repairing and broadening activities.In addition,Hippophae resources are continuously being harvested by lopping(both partial and complete) for fuelwood,fodder and fruits in higher Himalayan region.This paper presents a detailed analysis of relationship between density,demographic structure,and harvesting of H.salicifolia growing pockets in the five major valleys(Gangotri,Yamunotri,Niti,Mana and Bhyundhar) of Uttarakhand in Central Himalaya,India.A total of 120 quadrats were laid randomly to study population structure,regeneration,sex ratio and lopping using quadrats of 100 m 2(24 in each valley) in Hippophae growing patches.Our study shows that the density,size distribution,and regeneration of Hippophae vary considerably among the major valleys.Trees in the Yamunotri valley have the highest density of large trees but the lowest density of seedlings.In contrast,there are few large trees but many seedlings in the Mana valley.The number and size of lopped trees also varied among the valleys.Lopping was greatest in Bhyundhar(11.4%) and Yamunotri(19.7%) and least in Niti(3.9%).The size of lopped trees differed substantially as well.In Bhyundhar,the largest trees were taken while saplings were taken in Yamunotri.Our study revealed that unsustainable harvesting from plants for fuel,fencing and fruits along with road broadening activities in Central Himalaya are the main cause of habitat destruction.Our research highlights the urgent need for in-situ and ex-situ conservation of Hippophae salicifolia so that it’s potential can be harnessed sustainably by rural hill societies for their socio-economic development.