Climate adaptation,local institutions,and rural livelihoods: A comparative study of herder communities in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia,China

Climate variability has been evident on the Mongolian plateau in recent decades. Livelihood adaptation to climate variability is important for local sustainable development. This paper applies an analytical framework focused on adaptation, institutions, and livelihoods to study climate adaptation in the Mongolian grasslands. A household survey was designed and implemented in each of three broad vegetation types in Mongolia and Inner Mongolia. The analytical results show that livelihood adaptation strategies of herders vary greatly across the border between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, China. Local institutions played important roles in shaping and facilitating livelihood adaptation strategies of herders. Mobility and communal pooling were the two key categories of adaptation strategies in Mongolia, and they were shaped and facilitated by local communal institutions. Storage, livelihood diversification, and market exchange were the three key categories of adaptation strategies in Inner Mongolia, and they were mainly shaped and facilitated by local government and market institutions. Local institutions enhanced but also at times undermined adaptive capacity of herder communities in the two countries, but in different ways. Sedentary grazing has increased livelihood vulnerability of herders to climate variability and change. With grazing sedentarization, the purchase and storage of forage has become an important strategy of herders to adapt to the highly variable climate. The multilevel statistical models of forage purchasing behaviors show that the strategies of livestock management, household financial capital, environmental (i.e., precipitation and vegetation growth) variability, and the status of pasture degradation were the major determinants of this adaptation strategy.     

The ambient environment of the Gangetic sediments of chalcolithic period

There is considerable controversy regarding the mode of deposition of the OCP culture-associated sediments in the Gangetic valley and their ecological implications. SEM and sedimentologic studies show a fluvial mode of deposition of sediments originally derived from a glacial environment.     

Exploratory analyses of local institutions for climate change adaptation in the Mongolian grasslands: An agent-based modeling approach

There has been a decrease in grazing mobility in the Mongolian grasslands over the past decades. Sedentary grazing with substantial external inputs has increased the cost of livestock production. As a result, the livelihoods of herders have become more vulnerable to climate variability and change. Sedentary grazing is the formal institutional arrangement in Inner Mongolia, China. However, this may not be an efficient institutional arrangement for climate change adaptation. Self-organized local institutions for climate change adaptation have emerged and are under development in the study area. In this study, we did exploratory analyses of multiple local institutions for climate change adaptation in the Mongolian grasslands, using an agent-based modeling approach. Empirical studies from literature and our field work show that sedentary grazing, pasture rental markets, and reciprocal pasture-use groups are three popular institutional arrangements in the study area. First, we modeled the social–ecological performance (i.e., livelihood benefits to herders and grassland quality) of these institutions and their combinations under different climate conditions. Second, we did exploratory analyses of multiple social mechanisms for facilitating and maintaining cooperative use of pastures among herders. The modeling results show that in certain value-ranges of some model parameters with assumed values, reciprocal pasture-use groups had better performance than pasture rental markets; and the comparative advantage of cooperative use of pastures over sedentary grazing without cooperation becomes more evident with the increase in drought probability. Agent diversity and social norms were effective for facilitating the development of reciprocal pasture-use groups. Kin selection and punishments on free-riders were useful for maintaining cooperation among herders.     

Backscatter laser velocimeter for energetic bottom boundary layers: The optical signal

The optical signal from a dual-beam backscatter laser Doppler velocimeter designed for oceanographic usage will be described both theoretically and experimentally. The instrument was constructed to simulate, in the laboratory, the strength and behavior of the optical signal as a function of mass concentration of natural particles in water-a subject of concern in the study of high energy benthic boundary layers. It has been found that with proper design, the predominant mode of signal degradation with increasing particle loading is caused primarily by increased shot-noise due to signal attenuation alone. Secondly, the signal is observed to be in the single-scatterer mode at particle concentrations of up to 5 mg/l. Variations in observed signal-to-noise ratio will be described and compared with theoretical calculations.     

Accretion flow dynamics during 1999 outburst of XTE J1859+226—modeling of broadband spectra and constraining the source mass

We examine the dynamical behavior of accretion flow around XTE J1859+226 during the 1999 outburst by analyzing the entire outburst data (～166 days) from RXTE Satellite. Towards this, we study the hysteresis behavior in the hardness intensity diagram (HID) based on the broadband (3–150 keV) spectral modeling, spectral signature of jet ejection and the evolution of Quasi-periodic Oscillation (QPO) frequencies using the two-component advective flow model around a black hole. We compute the flow parameters, namely Keplerian accretion rate (\({\dot{m}}_{d}\)), sub-Keplerian accretion rate (\({\dot{m}}_{h}\)), shock location (\(r_{s}\)) and black hole mass (\(M_{\mathit{bh}}\)) from the spectral modeling and study their evolution along the q-diagram. Subsequently, the kinetic jet power is computed as \(L^{\mathrm{obs}}_{\mathrm{jet}} \sim3\mbox{--}6 \times10^{37}~\mbox{erg}\,\mbox{s}^{-1}\) during one of the observed radio flares which indicates that jet power corresponds to 8–16% mass outflow rate from the disc. This estimate of mass outflow rate is in close agreement with the change in total accretion rate (～14%) required for spectral modeling before and during the flare. Finally, we provide a mass estimate of the source XTE J1859+226 based on the spectral modeling that lies in the range of 5.2–7.9 \(M_{\odot}\) with 90% confidence.