Pulsations of optical radiation during the flare of YZ CMi occurred on February 9, 2008

One of the most powerful and long-lived flares on the active red dwarf YZ CMi is considered. The flare was observed in the U band at the Terskol Peak Observatory on February 9, 2008. During the formation of the flare over the course of 30 seconds, the flare-induced stellar luminosity increased and became more than 180 times the preflare value. The total duration of the flare was approximately one hour. At the flare maximum, quasi-periodic pulsations having a specified period of approximately 11 s, an initial modulation depth of 5.5%, and an exponential damping time of 29 s were discovered using wavelet analysis. Assuming that the pulsations were caused by fast magnetohydrodynamic oscillations of a flare loop, the following parameters were determined in the region of energy release using coronal seismology methods: plasma concentration (2 × 10¹⁰ cm⁻³), temperature (3 × 10⁷ K), and magnetic field strength (0.015 T).     

Removal of diazinon pesticide from aqueous solutions using MCM-41 type materials: isotherms,kinetics and thermodynamics

In this research, ordered mesoporous silica, including MCM-41, was synthesized via sol–gel process and a propyl methacrylate-modified ordered mesoporous silica (MPS-MCM-41) was successfully synthesized via a postsynthesis grafting process. Then both MCM-41 and MPS-MCM-41 were characterized using FTIR, XRD, SEM and BET techniques. The synthesized materials were utilized as adsorbent for removal of diazinon pesticide from aqueous solutions. The effects of pH, contact time, adsorbent dose, initial concentration and temperature have been evaluated using removal efficiencies. Also, the kinetic, thermodynamic and isotherm models of diazinon adsorption were studied for the both MCM-41 and MPS-MCM-41. The results showed that the maximum adsorption capacities are 142 and 254 mg g^?1 for the MCM-41 and MPS-MCM-41, respectively, at the initial concentration of 50 mg L^?1, temperature of 298 K and adsorbent dose of 0.1 g L^?1. The highest percentages of diazinon removal are 56.4 and 87.2 (at adsorbent dose of 2 g L^?1 and the temperature of 318 K) for the MCM-41 and MPS-MCM-41, respectively. The Freundlich and Langmuir models are more compatible for describing equilibrium data of the diazinon adsorption capacity on the MCM-41 and MPS-MCM-41, respectively. Thermodynamic study indicated that the adsorption process of diazinon onto MCM-41 and MPS-MCM-41 is exothermic and has a spontaneous nature. The higher adsorption capacity and higher spontaneous nature of MPS-MCM-41 in comparison with MCM-41 might be due to the presence of the both hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic interaction between surface functional groups of MPS-MCM-41 (hydroxyl and propyl methacrylate) and diazinon functional groups.     

Heavy metals in freshly deposited sediments of the river Subernarekha, India: an example of lithogenic and anthropogenic effects

Heavy metal distribution patterns in river sediments aid in understanding the exogenic cycling of elements as well as in assessing the effect of anthropogenic influences. In India, the Subernarekha river flows over the Precambrian terrain of the Singhbhum craton in eastern India. The rocks are of an iron ore series and the primary rock types are schist and quartzite. One main tributary, the Kharkhai, flows through granite rocks and subsequently flows through the schist and quartzite layers. The Subernarekha flows through the East Singhbhum district, which is one of India’s industrialised areas known for ore mining, steel production, power generation, cement production and other related activities. Freshly deposited river sediments were collected upstream and downstream the industrial zone. Samples were collected from four locations and analysed in <63-μm sediment fraction for heavy metals including Zn, Pb, Cd and Cu by anodic stripping voltammetry. Enrichment of these elements over and above the local natural concentration level has been calculated and reported. Sediments of the present study are classified by Muller’s geo-accumulation index (I _geo) and vary from element to element and with climatic seasons. During pre-monsoon period the maximum I _geo value for Zn is moderately to highly polluted and for Cu and Pb is moderately polluted, respectively, based on the Muller’s standard. Anthropogenic, lithogenic or cumulative effects of both components are the main reasons for such variations in I _geo values. The basic igneous rock layer through which the river flows or a seasonal rivulet that joins with the main river may be the primary source for lithogenic components.     

Filamentation instability of Alfvén waves

The filamentation instability of finite amplitude left-hand circularly polarized Alfvén waves has been investigated taking into account the second-order density and magnetic field perturbations that are created by the Alfvén wave pressure. The minimum scale length and time over which the filamentation occurs, are found. Our results are applied to Alfvén waves that should scatter cosmic rays in the interstellar medium (ISM).     

Evacuees’ information sources and reentry decision making in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike

In the aftermath of a hurricane, local emergency managers need to communicate reentry plans to households that might be scattered over multiple counties or states. To better understand evacuees’ households’ reliance on different information sources at the time they decided to return home, this study collected data on reentry after Hurricane Ike. The results from a survey of 340 evacuating households indicated that there was low compliance with official reentry plans and that none of the information sources produced greater compliance with official reentry plans. Nonetheless, there were significant changes in the utilization of different sources of emergency information over the course of an evacuation but local news media remained the most common sources throughout the event. There also were significant differences in the relative importance of different sources of reentry information, with people relying most on information from peers. In summary, local authorities need to identify more effective ways to communicate with evacuees that have relocated to distant communities and to motivate them to comply with official reentry plans.     

World-wide synthetic tide parameters for gravity and vertical and horizontal displacements

The response of the Earth’s crust to the direct effect of lunisolar gravitational forcing is known as the body tide. The body tide is superimposed by surface-loading forces due to the pressure of the periodically varying ocean tide acting on the Earth, called ocean tide loading (OTL). Both body tide and OTL can be decomposed into components of the same frequency known as tidal parameters. However, OTL is more complicated than body tides because of the dynamic effects of the ocean. Estimating OTL requires a model of the ocean tides and knowledge of the elastic properties of the solid Earth. Thus, synthetic tide parameters (amplitude factors and phase leads) have been developed here on a world-wide grid for gravity and positional displacements. The body tide contributions were added to the oceanic contribution to provide the Earth tide response. The accuracy and reliability of the synthetic tidal parameters have been estimated by comparing observed gravity and vertical-displacement tide parameters with those interpolated from our synthetic model, which shows good agreement. Tests also indicate that the synthetic tide parameters provide realistic gravimetric and displacements for practical use in tidal prediction.     

Experimental studies on the slowly varying drift motion of a berthed container ship model

The effects of free-surface waves on the floating structures are of great importance in the offshore industry. Among the six degrees of motions of a surface ship the absence of restoring forces in surge, sway and yaw led to critical situations for moored ships in the recent times. The order of forces in horizontal plane and their exciting frequencies are matters of interest. The resonance with the presence of moored chains led to many accidents in the recent past. The lines in dry conditions may not give good damping and in wet condition they may trigger the system to chaotic motions and jumps. Two different loading conditions of a container ship model are tested with waves in laboratory conditions in two different drafts. The mooring lines are chosen as per scale law and the energy under the response spectrum is determined from the plots. The results give new insights into the movement of a berthed ships subjected to waves. Response of the moored ship to different loading conditions in different water depths are discussed in this paper. The paper gives the order of energy due to first-order and slowly varying movement of a berthed container model in a towing tank.     

Modelling the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall: a case study in the wet and dry tropics of North East Australia

Rainfall regimes with strong spatial and temporal variation are characteristic of many coastal regions of north and eastern Australia. In coastal regions of north eastern Australia, regimes vary considerably over short distances. This occurs because of changes in local topography, including the height and orientation of mountain ranges and the direction of the coastline with respect to the prevailing moist south east air stream. Northern Australia experiences a tropical monsoon climate with rainfall occurring predominantly during the summer months. Areas with a closer proximity to the coast typically experience the heavier rainfalls. While networks of rainfall gauges have been established and continuous records are available for most of these stations from the 1890s, their low distribution density relative to the complexity of rainfall pattern they are required to represent means that there remains a poor understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution of rainfall in the wet tropics. An enhanced knowledge of rainfall distribution in both space and time has the potential to deliver significant economic and environmental benefits to managers of natural resources. This paper reports on the application of a technique for estimating mean annual and mean monthly rainfall across the Herbert River catchment of north east Australia's dry and wet tropics. The technique utilises thin plate smoothing splines to incorporate both location and elevation into estimates of rainfall distribution. We demonstrate that the method can be applied successfully at the meso scale and within the domain of routinely available data. As such, the method has broad relevance for decision making.     

Instability due to time delay and its compensation in active control of structures

Time delay problem and its compensation in active control of civil engineering structures were studied. It has been shown by stability analysis of a SDOF system with time delayed feedback that the maximum allowable time delay depends not only on the natural period of the structure but also on feedback gains. We have demonstrated by numerical simulation that the performance of the control system degrades significantly when the time delay is close to this value and it even becomes unstable when time delay is greater than or equal to this value. The maximum allowable time delay decreases with decrease in natural period of the structure as well as with increase in active damping. The paper presents a technique for compensation by modelling time delay as transportation lag. This method ensures the stability of the controlled system as well as the desired response reduction.