Baluchistan (Pakistan): Its development and planning policy

They study examines the relationship between the social and economic environments of the tribal people of Baluchistan. It also evaluates how tribal organizations have been affected by geographic and economic constraints. Analyzing the spatial relationship between economic development and social structure, study has been made to isolate the effect of interrelated technical, economic and ecological processes accompanying development in Baluchistan. In the light of the current planning policies adopted in the area, an attempt has been made to determine whether any measurable spatial restructuring of these simple communities has occurred at macro and micro levels.     

Risk-based input�Coutput analysis of hurricane impacts on interdependent regional workforce systems

Natural disasters, like hurricanes, can damage properties and critical infrastructure systems, degrade economic productivity, and in extreme situations can cause injuries and mortalities. This paper focuses particularly on workforce disruptions in the aftermath of hurricanes. We extend the dynamic inoperability input?Coutput model (DIIM) by formulating a workforce recovery model to identify critical industry sectors. A decision analysis tool is utilized by integrating the economic loss and inoperability metrics to study the interdependent effects of various hurricane intensities on Virginia??s workforce sectors. The extended DIIM and available workforce survey data are incorporated in the decision support tool to simulate various hurricane scenarios. For a low-intensity hurricane scenario, the simulated total economic loss to Virginia??s industry sectors due to workforce absenteeism is around $410 million. Examples of critical sectors that suffer the highest losses for this scenario include: (1) miscellaneous professional, scientific, and technical services; (2) federal general government; (3) state and local government enterprises; (4) construction; and (5) administrative and support services. This paper also explores the inoperability metric, which describes the proportion in which a sector capacity is disrupted. The inoperability metric reveals a different ranking of critical sectors, such as: (1) social assistance; (2) hospitals and nursing and residential care facilities; (3) educational services; (4) federal government enterprises; and (5) federal general government. Results of the study will help identify the critical workforce sectors and can ultimately provide insights into formulating preparedness decisions to expedite disaster recovery. The model was applied to the state of Virginia but can be generalized to other regions and other disaster scenarios.     

Effects of Dietary Protein Level on Growth and Utilization of Protein and Energy by Juvenile Mangrove Red Snapper （ Lutjanus argentimaculatus ）

A feeding trial was conducted in a recirculating water system to investigate the effects of dietary protein levels on growth, feed utilization, hepatosomatic index and liver lipid deposition of juvenile red snapper, Lutjanus argentimaculatus (average initial wet weight 8.0 ± 0.39 g and total length 3.14 ± 0.3 cm). In the experiment, six fishmeal-based diets were formulated to contain various protein levels (20% to 45% in 5% increments), with dietary energy ranging from 2210.7kJ lOOg to 2250.2kJlOOg dry matter. The protein to energy ratios of diets ranged from 8.58 mg protein kJ⁻¹ to 20.03 mg protein kJ⁻¹. Diets were fed for 90d to triplicate groups of fish stocked in 0.128m³ seawater tanks, 25 individuals each. The daily ration of 2% wet body weight was offered to the fish thrice a day. The fish at the end of the study had more than ten-fold (77.0g) increase in weight compared to the initial (8.0g). Fish fed diets of 40% and 45% protein produced significantly (P<0.05) higher weight gain of 77.2g and 76.5g, and specific growth rate (SGR) of 2.65% and 2.62% than those of 67.0 g and 68.3g, and 2.49% and 2.51% of the other diets. The broken-line regression of SGR against dietary protein level yielded an optimum dietary protein requirement of 42.6% (Y=−1.6295 + 0.1114 X ²,P<0.05). Survival remained 100% among groups. Feed conversion ratio decreased from 0.45 for fish fed 20% dietary protein to 0.35 for fish fed 45% dietary protein. Nitrogen intake increased with an increase in dietary protein, which in turn resulted in an increase in nitrogen gain of fish whole body. Fish fed 40% and 45% protein diets showed higher (P<0.05) nitrogen gain (0.27g and 0.26g) than those (0.23g and 025g) fed all other diets. Gross energy intake (GEI) in fish fed 45% protein was lower (600.67kJ) than that (607.97 kJ) of 40% protein diet, though the differences were not statistically significant (P>0.05); GEI ranging from 677.31 kJ to 663.20 kJ at remaining four diets (20% to 35% protein) did not appear to differ significantly (P>0.05). The highest energy gain of 518.33 kJ was obtained with fish fed 40% protein, resulting in the highest energy retention efficiency of 85.26%. The hepatosomatic index of fish fed diets of 20%, 25%, 30% and 35% protein were significantly (P<0.05) higher (2.09% to 2.57%) than those (1.44% and 1.41%) of fish fed diets containing 40% and 45% protein. Liver lipid contents decreased from 8.72% to 7.0% in fish fed dietary protein of 20% to 45% in 5% increments. Results suggest that the diet containing 40% to 42.6% protein with a P/E ratio of 17.6 mg protein kJ⁻¹ is required for good growth of L. argentimaculatus weighing between 8.0 g and 85.2 g under the culture conditions of the present study.     

Ion acoustic solitons in negative ion plasmas with superthermal electrons

Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation for electrostatic wave in an unmagnetized negative ion plasma with superthermal electrons is derived using reductive perturbation technique. A generalized Lorentzian distribution (kappa distribution) is assumed for the electrons. The influence of spectral index (kappa) on the soliton is discussed in the presence of the negative ions. It is found that different plasma parameters such as (negative ion temperature, positive ion temperature, negative ion concentration, mass ratio of positive to negative ion) in the presence of superthermal electrons modify the ion acoustic solitary wave structure significantly.     

On the Characteristics of Wave Propagation in a Magnetized Dusty Plasma with Streaming of Electrons and Ions

Propagation of waves in a magnetized dusty plasma are studied for all the range of values of ion-cyclotron frequency, and having streams of electrons and ions. The dispersion relation is obtained for the waves propagating through the dusty plasma and analysed for different modes of propagation for relative abundance of dust in the plasma. It is observed that abundance of dust, streaming motions of electrons and ions have an important influence on the propagation of waves in the dusty plasma particularly when the phase velocity of the wave is in the low frequency region. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Natural environmental radioactivity and estimation of radiation exposure from saline soils

The study was conducted for the investigation of amount of radioactivity in the barren and cultivated soil of Bio saline Research Station in Pakka Anna, established by Nuclear Institute for Agriculture and Biology (NIAB) in 1990, 34 km. away from the city of Faisalabad, in the Punjab province of Pakistan. The studies were done on an area of about 100 hectares of two types of virgin and fertilized saline soils. The technique of gamma ray spectrometry was applied using HPGe (high purity germanium) gamma ray detector and a PC based MCA. Activity concentration levels due to ⁴⁰K, ¹³⁷Cs, ²²⁶Ra and ²³²Th were measured in 250 saline soil samples collected at a spacing of about 4 hectares at the depth level of 0–25 cm. with a step of 5 cm. depth. Activity concentrations ranges of the concerned radionuclides for both of the soils were as follows: ⁴⁰K, for virgin and cultivated saline soil was 500–610.2 and Bq/kg 560.2–635.6 respectively; ¹³⁷Cs, 3.57–3.63 and 1.98–5.15 Bq/kg ²³⁸U, 26.3–31.6 and 30.3–38.7 Bq/kg, and ²³²Th, 50.6–55.3 and 50.6–64.0 Bq/kg respectively. The absorbed dose rate in air lies in the region 63–73 nGyh^-1 and 68–83 nGyh^-1 for virgin and fertilized soils respectively. This indicates that this region lies in the area of higher radiation background, while comparing with the worlds’ average. The slightly higher value of dose in the fertilized farm may be due to the use of fertilizers for cultivation. Before the radiometric measurements, chemical analysis for concentration of Na, Ca and Mg was also carried out along with the measurement of electrical conductivity and pH of the soil samples.     

Seasonal Shift in Community Structure of Periphytic Ciliates in Estuarine Waters in the Northern Bay of Bengal,Bangladesh

To investigate the seasonal heterogeneity of the periphytic ciliate communities, a 1-year baseline survey was conducted in the Karnaphuli River estuary, northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. A total of 54 ciliate species were recorded, including seven common and 14 dominant species. Maximum species number was in autumn whereas maximum abundance was in winter; the minimum for both occurred in summer. Multivariate analyses, i.e., canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP) and principal co-ordinates analysis (PCoA), revealed a clear seasonal heterogeneity of community structure and environmental variables. Multivariate correlation analysis (RELATE) demonstrated that the community structure of the periphytic ciliate communities was significantly correlated with environmental variables, and best matching analysis (BIOENV) indicated that heterogeneity of community patterns was mainly driven by water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids and nutrients. Species richness and diversity peaked in autumn whereas species evenness peaked in summer. These results suggest that environmental conditions shape periphytic ciliate community structure, which is a potentially useful bio-indicator of estuarine water quality.     

Clogging mechanisms and preventive measures in artificial recharge systems

Groundwater which occurs in fractured rock or porous aquifers or other geological weak zones such as faults and fractures is usually extracted via boreholes, hand wells or other sources such as springs.Water scarcity has become a severe problem due to many factors, such as an alarming increase in population and per capita water consumption, over exploitation of groundwater resources and abrupt global climatic change along with its related eco-environmental geological problems. In such situation, application of artificial recharge systems(e.g. surface recharge basin and deep injection well systems) can help to effectively manage and augment the unitization of groundwater resources. However, the clogging problem,which may be caused by a complex interdependent mechanisms of physical, chemical and biological has been a challenge for the efficacy and the implementation of recharge facilities. Clogging can reduce the permeability, recharge rate and longevity of recharge facilities and increase the operational and maintenance costs. Major influencing factors associated with the occurrence of clogging include the chemical composition of groundwater(both the recharge water and native groundwater), aquifer medium and microbial diversity, together with other environmental factors such as temperature, pressure, total dissolved solids, total soluble salts, pH, Eh, nutrients, gases, carbonates and others; these factors ultimately increase the piezometric head but reduce the permeability and infiltration rates of porous/seepage media.Pretreatment of recharge water can minimize the potential clogging. In the case of clogged wells,rehabilitation methods need to be deployed. In the meantime, there is an urgent needs to understand the basic causes and developmental processes/mechanisms of clogging in order to mitigate this problem. This paper reviews the major clogging mechanisms and their possible preventive measures and redevelopments in artificial recharge systems.