Assessment of Fragmentation and Disturbance Patterns in Eastern Ghats: A Case Study in R.V. Nagar Range,Visakhapatnam District,Andhra Pradesh,India

At present the biodiversity in Eastern Ghats is threatened by loss of habitats, exploitation and unscientific management of natural resources, forest fire, biological invasion and other anthropogenic pressures. In this context, we have assessed the forest cover changes, fragmentation and disturbance in the R.V. Nagar Range of Eastern Ghats region, Andhra Pradesh using satellite remote sensing and GIS techniques. Satellite data of IRS-1A LISS II of 1988 and IRS-P6 LISS III of 2006 were assessed for forest cover changes in 1 sq.km grid and generated as Sensitivity Index map. Further the road and settlement buffer of 1000 m was generated to represent Threat Index map. From 1988 to 2006, the forest cover had a total cover loss of 35.2 sq.km and increase in scrub cover by 7.2%. Over all change analysis from 1988 to 2006 with reference to forest cover indicates, negative changes (loss of forest area) accounted for 48.1 sq.km area and positive changes (gain of forest) for an area of 12.1 sq.km of area. The results of the change detection using multi-date satellite imagery suggest degradation in forest cover over two decades, which necessitates the conservation measures in this range with high priority.     

Dynamic response analysis of tube array in partially filled calandria

An efficient procedure is presented for dynamic response analysis of horizontal tube array in partially filled calandria including hydrodynamic interaction effects. The procedure is general enough to consider the transfer of energy between the fluid-coupled tubes, and effects of moderator sloshing on the magnitude and the distribution of hydrodynamic forces. It has been demonstrated that the conventional added mass approach fails to represent behaviour of the tube array correctly, and it is therefore necessary to consider the flexibility of all the tubes along two directions simultaneously. The procedure presented can simulate the added damping effects due to hydrodynamic interaction. The possible use of a tuned damper tube is suggested for controlling sloshing effects for tube array in a calandria where tube frequencies and sloshing frequencies are closely spaced. The presence of surface damping in the tuned tube further brings down the response, and the suggested procedure can be effectively used to control unwarranted sloshing effects. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Relationship between North Pacific atmospheric pressure variations and Indian Monsoon rainfall

Summary Analysis of mean sea level pressure (1925 to 1988) over the North Pacific Ocean (NPP) for the winter period (November to March) revealed a significant correlation with Indian Monsoon rainfall during the later period. Its correlation coefficients (CC) for different periods (during 1951–1988) are significant at the 1% to 5% levels. The temporal stability of these CCs is examined using 11, 21 and 31 year sliding windows. NPP is seen to play an important role in the regression models as revealed by the relative significance of its partial regression coefficients. The regression models developed are seen to perform well for the independent period.With 5 Figures     

Nonlinear Evolution of a 3D Inertial Alfvén Wave and Its Implication in Particle Acceleration

A simulation based on a pseudo-spectral method has been performed in order to study particle acceleration. A model for the acceleration of charged particles by field localization is developed for the low-\(\upbeta\) plasma. For this purpose, a fractional diffusion approach has been employed. The nonlinear interaction between a 3D inertial Alfvén wave and a slow magnetosonic wave has been examined, and the dynamical equations of these two waves in the presence of ponderomotive nonlinearity have been solved numerically. The nonlinear evolution of the inertial Alfvén wave in the presence of slow magnetosonic wave undergoes a filamentation instability and results in field intensity localization. The results obtained show the localization and power spectrum of inertial Alfvén wave due to nonlinear coupling. The scaling obtained after the first break point of the magnetic power spectrum has been used to calculate the formation of the thermal tail of energetic particles in the solar corona.     

Evaluation of linear regression methods as downscaling tools in temperature projections over the Pichola Lake Basin in India

In this paper, downscaling models are developed using various linear regression approaches, namely direct, forward, backward and stepwise regression, for obtaining projections of mean monthly maximum and minimum temperatures (Tmax and Tmin) to lake‐basin scale in an arid region in India. The effectiveness of these regression approaches is evaluated through application to downscale the predictands for the Pichola lake region in the state of Rajasthan in India, which is considered to be a climatically sensitive region. The predictor variables are extracted from (i) the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis dataset for the period 1948–2000 and (ii) the simulations from the third‐generation Canadian Coupled Global Climate Model (CGCM3) for emission scenarios A1B, A2, B1 and COMMIT for the period 2001–2100. The selection of important predictor variables becomes a crucial issue for developing downscaling models as reanalysis data are based on a wide range of meteorological measurements and observations. A simple multiplicative shift was used for correcting predictand values. Direct regression was found to yield better performance among all other regression techniques for the training data set, while the forward regression technique performed better in the validation data set, explored in the present study. For trend analysis, the Mann–Kendall non‐parametric test was performed. The results of downscaling models show that an increasing trend is observed for Tmax and Tmin for A1B, A2 and B1 scenarios, whereas no trend is discerned with the COMMIT scenario by using predictors. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cyclonic microzonation

A procedure for cyclonic microzonation of coastal regions with the help of the cyclone track records is outlined using a sound method of statistical forecast and finding wind speed at a site with the help of standard wind field model. The procedure can be adopted for regions where directly measured wind speeds are scarce like, coastal regions of the developing and under developed countries. For the purpose of microzonation, the regions along with the available cyclone tracks are mapped using GIS. The area is then divided into a number of grids. The centre of the grid (site) is taken as the centre of the circle of influence. The cyclonic wind speeds at the site are estimated from the tracks falling within the influence circle. Distribution of the cyclonic wind speed at the site is then obtained from the estimated cyclonic wind speeds. Assuming the arrival of cyclone to be a Poisson process, a cyclone hazard curve, denoting the annual probability of exceedance versus cyclonic wind speed is determined. From the hazard curves drawn for different sites of the region, cyclonic microzonation map is prepared for different return periods of the cyclonic wind speed. The procedure is illustrated by applying it to microzone a very crucial coastal region of Andhra Pradesh in India, for which cyclone track records are available.     

Forecasting of Air Quality Index in Delhi Using Neural Network Based on Principal Component Analysis

Forecasting of the air quality index (AQI) is one of the topics of air quality research today as it is useful to assess the effects of air pollutants on human health in urban areas. It has been learned in the last decade that airborne pollution has been a serious and will be a major problem in Delhi in the next few years. The air quality index is a number, based on the comprehensive effect of concentrations of major air pollutants, used by Government agencies to characterize the quality of the air at different locations, which is also used for local and regional air quality management in many metro cities of the world. Thus, the main objective of the present study is to forecast the daily AQI through a neural network based on principal component analysis (PCA). The AQI of criteria air pollutants has been forecasted using the previous day’s AQI and meteorological variables, which have been found to be nearly same for weekends and weekdays. The principal components of a neural network based on PCA (PCA-neural network) have been computed using a correlation matrix of input data. The evaluation of the PCA-neural network model has been made by comparing its results with the results of the neural network and observed values during 2000–2006 in four different seasons through statistical parameters, which reveal that the PCA-neural network is performing better than the neural network in all of the four seasons.     

Vermicomposting: An Eco‐Friendly Option for Fermentation and Dye Decolourization Waste Disposal

By‐products of various industrial fermentations can be good adsorbents for removing hazardous dyes from wastewater. However, after biosorption, regeneration of biomass is essential to minimize the solid waste generation or else the dye laden biomass should be suitably disposed off. In the present work, experiments were conducted on the Acid Navy Blue and Methylene Blue dyes which were biosorbed to the fungal biomass (strain closely related to Aspergillus lentulus) produced on corncob as the substrate through solid state fermentation. In order to dispose the dye laden biomass, it was vermicomposted along with cow dung (CD) employing Eisenia fetida. Results indicated that the dye laden biomass was not lethal toward the earthworms as no mortality was observed. However, as compared with control experiments (where dye laden biomass was absent), the reproductive potential of the earthworms was affected. Nevertheless, further investigations on optimization of biomass and CD ratios can facilitate vermicomposting as a potential route for disposing dye laden biomass.