Malachite Green Adsorption onto Chitosan Coated Bentonite Beads: Isotherms,Kinetics and Mechanism

The removal of Malachite green (MG) from aqueous solutions by cross‐linked chitosan coated bentonite (CCB) beads was investigated and the CCB beads were characterized by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Solubility and swelling tests were performed in order to determine the stability of the CCB beads in acidic solution, basic solution and distilled water. The amount of MG adsorbed was shown to be influenced by the initial pH of the solution, contact time and the initial MG concentration. A kinetic study indicated that a pseudo‐second‐order model agreed well with the experimental data. From the Langmuir isotherm model, the maximum adsorption capacity of MG was found to be 435.0 mg g^–1. Desorption tests were carried out at different concentrations of EDTA, H₂SO₄ and NaOH. However, all desorbing solutions showed zero recovery of MG at all concentrations.     

Dynamic stress analysis of a class of geomechanics problems by the boundary element method

This paper presents the application of an advanced BEM for periodic and transient dynamic stress analyses of a class of geomechanics problems. For transient dynamic analysis, the problem is first solved in the Laplace transform space, which happens to be similar to the periodic dynamic analysis, and then the time domain solution is obtained by numerical inversion of transform domain solutions. The numerical implementation of the BEM used to present the results in this paper is complete and most general available to date. It is capable of treating very large, multi-layered problems by substructuring and satisfying the equilibrium and compatibilities at the interfaces. With the help of this substructuring, capability problems related to layered media and soil–structure interaction have been analysed. A number of examples are presented and through comparisons with available analytical and numerical results, the applicability and usefulness of the present analysis to real geomechanical problems are established.     

Varietals differences in agronomic performance of six wheat varieties grown under saline field environment

Six wheat varieties (SARC-1, SARC-2, SARC-3, SARC-4, LU26S and Punjab-85) were planted in the field to evaluate their comparative performance under saline conditions. LU26S appeared the most salt-tolerant variety and gave the highest grain weight due to its low Na⁺ uptake, high K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, higher dry weight of shoots and spikes and better grain development. Better exclusion of Na⁺ and other ions from the leaves of salt-tolerant variety LU2 6S could also be a reason for its ability to maintain a higher grain weight in the saline soil. Punjab-85 appeared the most saltsensitive variety as its dry weight of main shoots and spikes were also found to be the lowest. High Na⁺ uptake, lower K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, lower dry weight of main shoots and spikes and lower 100 grain weight were the main reasons for saltsensitivity in Punjab-85. Dry weight of shoots, spikes and grain weight of SARC-3 under saline soil conditions was almost similar to the salt-sensitive variety Punjab-85 and could be classified as salt-sensitive. Flag leaf area decreased drastically due to salt stress in all the varieties and this could be a major cause for low yield. There was however, a very low linear correlation between the flag leaf area and the grain weight in pooled data for all the six wheat varieties.     

Depositional Environments and Diagenesis of the Kuldhar and Keera Dome Carbonates (Late Bathonian–Early Callovian) of Western India

This paper describes 11 microfacies types in late Bathonian–Early Callovian carbonates of the Kuldhar Member of the Jaisalmer Formation (Rajasthan) and the Keera Golden Oolite Member of the Chari Formation (Kachchh Mainland) western India. The different microfacies associations reported in this study reflect an ideal shallowing upward sequence, representing a system of bioclastic bars developed on the lower ramp, evolving into an oolitic bar-to-bank system separating restricted lagoonal—from lower ramp environment. Four main types of cements, i.e. bladed, fibrous, syntaxial overgrowth and blocky cement (characterized in a few cases by ferroan calcite and anhydrite II) occur in these carbonates. The study also reveals that chemical compaction followed the two phases of early mechanical compaction that largely governed porosity of these limestones. However, micritization and neomorphism also contributed significantly in this respect. Diagenetic signatures in these carbonates suggest that marine phreatic and fresh water phreatic environments dominated, but deep burial diagenesis also played its role in shaping these rocks. The early and late diagenetic changes have been controlled by the depositional facies evolving in a basin riddled with rifting in an extensional tectonic regime forcing regional-scale sea level fluctuations.     

Pedodiversity and pedogenesis in Zayandeh-rud Valley, Central Iran

A geomorphic hierarchical downscaling method was used to decompose the forms and processes forming the landscapes and their subdivisions in the main region of Zayandeh-rud Valley. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree of soil heterogeneity and to check if K-entropy would be a good measure of soil evolution. Soil diversity analyses were performed considering soil families as individuals of soil entities in each geomorphic or taxonomic category level. Pedodiversity indices were used to follow the trend of soil and landscape evolution. The relationships between K-entropy (Shannon diversity index) and pedo-richness versus increasing area were analyzed to find out the effects of soil–landscape evolution on complexity of soil patterns in different geomorphic surfaces. Entropy–age relationship was studied to check the pedogenetic pathways responsible for soil landscape evolution. The soil diversity increases as geomorphic and taxonomic hierarchy levels decrease. The diversity indices were high when the sequence of soil horizons in a homogeneous family was also investigated. An increase in K-entropy of soil and landscape during time confirms the hypothesis of soil divergence evolution, whereby differences in initial conditions or local perturbations, and dynamic instability appear to have produced more variable soils and landscapes in the study area.     

Artificial neural network application to estimate kinematic soil pile interaction response parameters

Six artificial neural network (ANN) models are developed to predict various response parameters of kinematic soil pile interaction. These responses include (1) kinematic response factors for free and fixed head piles in homogenous soil layer to derive foundation input motion (2) normalized bending moment at fixed head of pile in homogenous soil layer (3) normalized kinematic pile moment at the interface of two soil layers of sharply different soil stiffnesses. These ANN models represent simple solutions that can be implemented in a simple calculator capable of matrix operation and bypass the site response analysis and the complex wave diffraction analysis. The data required for ANN training is generated using beam on dynamic Winkler formulation (BDWF). Fifty percent of the data is used to train the ANN models while remaining 50% is used to test the ANN models. The trained ANN models show good agreement with BDWF results.     

Effects of Drying on the Low-Frequency Electrical Properties of Tournemire Argillites

Nearly water-saturated argillite samples (initial water content near 3.4 wt%) were cored from an undisturbed area of an underground facility of the French Institute for Radioprotection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN), located at Tournemire (Aveyron, France). These samples were subjected to the following desiccation path: (a) A desaturation phase during which the samples were dried at ambient temperature conditions, relative humidity equal to 43% in average and (b) a heating phase during which the same samples were heated at four temperature levels from 70°C up to 105°C. During both phases, the low-frequency complex resistivity (0.18Hz–12 kHz) was recorded by a four-electrode device. The amplitude of the complex resistivity was extremely sensitive to water content change. At the end of the isotherm desaturation phase, it was multiplied by a factor of 3 to 5. During the heating phase, the resistivity increased by more than two orders of magnitude compared to the initial state. The percentage of Frequency Effect shows a low sensitivity to water content changes during the desaturation stage while it increased by two orders of magnitude during the heating phase. This result confirms that low-frequency spectral signature is extremely sensitive to textural changes (i.e., thermal-induced microcracking in this case) that occurred during heating. Moreover, the complex resistivity of the samples shows a strong anisotropy (a ratio of 10 between both amplitudes measured in the perpendicular directions). The classical Cole-Cole model cannot be used to fit the experimental data obtained in the heating phase. A generalized formulation of this model is required and was successfully applied to represent the complex resistivity data.     

Interannual variability of summer monsoon precipitation over the Indochina Peninsula in association with ENSO

The interannual variability of summer monsoon precipitation (1979–2011) over the Indochina Peninsula (ICP) is characterized using the first empirical orthogonal function of 5-month total precipitation (May to September). The leading mode, with a monopole pattern, accounts for 30.6 % of the total variance. Dynamic composites and linear regression analysis indicate that the rainy season precipitation over the ICP is linked to El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) on interannual scales. The preceding winter [D(?1)JF(0)] negative sea surface temperature (SST) over the Niño-3.4 region is predominantly correlated with the rainy season precipitation over the ICP. Notably, the simultaneous correlation between remote SST anomalies in the Niño-3.4 region and the rainy season precipitation over the ICP is weak. The interannual variation of tropical cyclones modulated by ENSO is a significant contributing factor to the rainy season precipitation over the ICP. However, this relationship is not homogeneous over the ICP if ENSO is considered. Before removing the ENSO signal, enhanced precipitation is present over the northeastern part of the ICP and reduced precipitation appears in the western ICP, especially in coastal areas. In contrast, after removing ENSO, only a minor significant positive precipitation anomaly occurs over the northeastern part of the ICP and the negative anomaly appears particularly in the western and eastern coastal regions. The results obtained through the present study are useful for our understanding of circulation mechanisms and provide information for assessing the ability of regional and global climate models in simulating the climate of Southeast Asia.     

Geometric Dependence of the Scalar Transfer Efficiency over Rough Surfaces

We performed a series of wind-tunnel experiments under neutral conditions in order to create a comprehensive database of scalar transfer coefficients for street surfaces using regular block arrays representing an urban environment. The objective is to clarify the geometric dependence of scalar transfer phenomena on rough surfaces. In addition, the datasets we have obtained are necessary to improve the modelling of scalar transfer used for computational simulations of urban environments; further, we can validate the results obtained by numerical simulations. We estimated the scalar transfer coefficients using the salinity method. The various configurations of the block arrays were designed to be similar to those used in a previous experiment to determine the total drag force acting on arrays. Our results are summarized as follows: first, the results for cubical arrays showed that the transfer coefficients for staggered and square layouts varied with the roughness packing density. The results for the staggered layout showed the possibility that the mixing effect of air can be enhanced for the mid-range values of the packing density. Secondly, the transfer coefficients for arrays with blocks of non-uniform heights were smaller than those for arrays with blocks of uniform height under conditions of low packing density; however, as the packing density increased, the opposite tendency was observed. Thirdly, the randomness of rotation angles of the blocks in the array led to increasing values of the transfer coefficients under sparse packing density conditions when compared with those for cubical arrays.     

Geochemical constraints on the evolution of mafic and felsic rocks in the Bathani volcanic and volcano-sedimentary sequence of Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex

The Bathani volcanic and volcano-sedimentary (BVS) sequence is a volcanic and volcano-sedimentary sequence, best exposed near Bathani village in Gaya district of Bihar. It is located in the northern fringe of the Chotanagpur Granite Gneiss Complex (CGGC). The volcano-sedimentary unit comprises of garnet-mica schist, rhyolite, tuff, banded iron formation (BIF) and chert bands with carbonate rocks as enclaves within the rhyolite and the differentiated volcanic sequence comprises of rhyolite, andesite, pillow basalt, massive basalt, tuff and mafic pyroclasts. Emplacement of diverse felsic and mafic rocks together testifies for a multi-stage and multi-source magmatism for the area. The presence of pillow basalt marks the eruption of these rocks in a subaqueous environment. Intermittent eruption of mafic and felsic magmas resulted in the formation of rhyolite, mafic pyroclasts, and tuff. Mixing and mingling of the felsic and mafic magmas resulted in the hybrid rock andesite. Granites are emplaced later, cross-cutting the volcanic sequence and are probably products of fractional crystallization of basaltic magma. The present work characterizes the geochemical characteristics of the magmatic rocks comprising of basalt, andesite, rhyolite, tuff, and granite of the area. Tholeiitic trend for basalt and calc-alkaline affinities of andesite, rhyolite and granite is consistent with their generation in an island arc, subduction related setting. The rocks of the BVS sequence probably mark the collision of the northern and southern Indian blocks during Proterozoic period. The explosive submarine volcanism may be related to culmination of the collision of the aforementioned blocks during the Neoproterozoic (1.0 Ga) as the Grenvillian metamorphism is well established in various parts of CGGC.