Site response analysis for deep and soft sedimentary deposits of Dhaka City,Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - The ground motion intensity of an earthquake is significantly changed when seismic waves propagate from the bedrock to the near-surface soft geological materials. The ground where...     

Nexus between vulnerability and adaptive capacity of drought-prone rural households in northern Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - Bangladesh is one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries. The appraisal of household vulnerability and capacity to adapt under climate change is therefore crucial...     

Correction to: Nexus between vulnerability and adaptive capacity of drought-prone rural households in northern Bangladesh

Natural Hazards - The article was published with a spelling error in one of the co-author names. The correct spelling is reflected in this correction, and the original work has been updated to...     

Uptake of Indosol Dark-blue GL dye from aqueous solution by water hyacinth roots powder: adsorption and desorption study

Adsorption characteristics of water hyacinth roots powder for the removal of Indosol Dark-blue GL dye were investigated in batch mode. Operating variables, such as initial solution pH, presence of detergent, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration and contact time, were studied. The results showed that the adsorption of dye increased with increasing the initial concentration and contact time. The adsorption is highly pH dependent and adsorption capacity increased with decrease in pH. Kinetic study revealed that the uptake of Indosol Dark-blue GL was very rapid within the first 15 min and equilibrium time was independent of initial concentration. Batch equilibrium experiments were carried out at different pH and found that equilibrium data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm model. The maximum sorption capacity of the adsorbent was found as 86 mg g^?1 at pH 3 which reduced to 64 mg g^?1 at pH 5. The presence of detergent reduced the sorption capacity of the adsorbent significantly. Using equilibrium and kinetic data, the forward and backward rate constants were determined from the unified approach model. Desorption study revealed that the dye can be recovered by swing the pH from low to high.     

大兴安岭北部塔河堆晶辉长岩体的形成时代、地球化学特征及其成因

本文系统地报道了大兴安岭北部塔河辉长岩的主量元素、微量元素和锆石Hf同位素特征,重点讨论了塔河堆晶辉长岩体的岩石成因、原始岩浆的源区特征及其地质意义。研究结果表明,塔河堆晶辉长岩体SiO2含量从42．5％到47．4％,平均为45．2％,Al2O3为15．9-32．9％,平均为23．6％,大于17％,CaO为11．7-17．1％,TiO2<0．5％,P2O5<0．1％,富集LILE, 亏损HFSE,这些地球化学特征类似于活动大陆边缘或岛弧环境的辉长岩。激光ICP-MS锆石年龄测定结果显示,塔河辉长岩形成于333±8 Ma前。负的εHf(t)值(-2--5)表明其源区为富集型岩石圈地幔或下地壳。因此,本文推测,塔河堆晶辉长岩来自于地幔辉石岩的部分熔融,该源区的形成可能与俯冲背景下流体交代作用有关,从而表明在330 Ma左右,该区存在过板块的消减作用,可能与松嫩和兴安地块拼合有关。     

Integrating an artificial intelligence approach with k-means clustering to model groundwater salinity: the case of Gaza coastal aquifer (Palestine)

Artificial intelligence (AI) techniques have increasingly become efficient alternative modeling tools in the water resources field, particularly when the modeled process is influenced by complex and interrelated variables. In this study, two AI techniques—artificial neural networks (ANNs) and support vector machine (SVM)—were employed to achieve deeper understanding of the salinization process (represented by chloride concentration) in complex coastal aquifers influenced by various salinity sources. Both models were trained using 11 years of groundwater quality data from 22 municipal wells in Khan Younis Governorate, Gaza, Palestine. Both techniques showed satisfactory prediction performance, where the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and correlation coefficient (R) for the test data set were, respectively, about 4.5 and 99.8% for the ANNs model, and 4.6 and 99.7% for SVM model. The performances of the developed models were further noticeably improved through preprocessing the wells data set using a k-means clustering method, then conducting AI techniques separately for each cluster. The developed models with clustered data were associated with higher performance, easiness and simplicity. They can be employed as an analytical tool to investigate the influence of input variables on coastal aquifer salinity, which is of great importance for understanding salinization processes, leading to more effective water-resources-related planning and decision making.     

Contribution of offshore islands in the prediction of water levels due to tide�Csurge interaction for the coastal region of Bangladesh

In this study, a doubly nested tide?Csurge interaction model was established for the coastal region of Bangladesh. A fine grid model, capable of incorporating all major offshore islands, was nested into a coarse grid model extending up to 15°N latitude of the Bay of Bengal. To take into account the thickly populated small and big islands between Barisal and Chittagong and the extreme bending of the coastline accurately, a very fine grid model for this region was again nested into the fine grid model. Along the northeast corner of this very fine grid model, the Meghna River discharge was taken into account. The boundaries of the coast and islands were approximated through proper stair step, and the model equations were solved by semi?Cimplicit finite difference technique using staggered grid. Appropriate tidal regime over the model domain was generated by forcing the sea level to be oscillatory with the constituent M2 along the southern open boundary of the coarse grid model omitting wind stress. This previously generated tidal regime was introduced as the initial state of the sea for nonlinear tide?Csurge interaction phenomenon. The model was applied to estimate water levels along the coastal region of Bangladesh due to the interaction of tide and surge associated with the storm April 1991, and the results were found to be in a reasonable agreement with those observed. The model was used to investigate the influence of offshore islands on water levels and water levels were found to be significantly influenced by offshore islands.     

Hydrobiological variables as a regulatory factor on the abundance of heterotrophic flagellates in an urban pond

The seasonal abundance of flagellates has been monitored over a period of 1 year from December 2013 to November 2014(divided into 4 conjugative seasons namely winter,spring,summer,and autumn)in an experimental pond located in Rajshahi City Corporation area,Bangladesh.To our knowledge,this study is the fi rst to shed light on the occurrence and possible interrelationships among heterotrophic flagellates(HF),bacteria and zooplankton in Bangladesh and the result obtained by this study will be beneficial for similar water ecosystem all over the world.Standard methods were used to determine the prescribed hydrological parameters and zooplankton cell density.Maximum HF abundance(14 346.00 cells/mL)was found in the spring and the minimum(5 215.00 cells/mL)occurred in the summer.Inverse to HF,significantly(P<0.05)higher zooplankton abundance was found during the winter(782.00±47.62 cells/mL)and the lowest value was found in the autumn(448.00±39.15 cells/mL).Whereas similar to the HF,total bacterial abundance was significantly higher during the spring((2.25±1.05)×10^5 cells/mL)and lower in the summer((0.79±0.06)×10^5 cells/mL).Multivariate analyses(ANOSIM and MDS)have shown significant seasonal differences for cell numbers where MDS ordination plot and cluster analysis based on similarity in the genera abundance of HF revealed overlapping condition between winter and spring.Canonical correspondence analysis(CCA)also showed a distinct separation among the genera based on the prevailing hydrological situation and indicated that temperature,pH,BOD5,and NO3^-were the most important environmental variables in determining the observed variation in HF community structure.Among the biological factors,zooplankton showed negative but total bacteria were positively correlated with HF abundance.     

Linear genetic programming for prediction of circular pile scour

Genetic programming (GP) has nowadays attracted the attention of researchers in the prediction of hydraulic data. This study presents linear genetic programming (LGP), which is an extension to GP, as an alternative tool in the prediction of scour depth around a circular pile due to waves in medium dense silt and sand bed. Field measurements were used to develop LGP models. The proposed LGP models were compared with adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) model results. The predictions of LGP models were observed to be in good agreement with measured data, and quite better than ANFIS and regression-based equation of scour depth at circular piles. The results were tabulated in terms of statistical error measures and illustrated via scatter plots.     

Contribution of benthic microalgae to the whole water algal biomass and primary production in Suo Nada,the Seto Inland Sea,Japan

Biomass and primary productivity of benthic microalgae (BMA) and planktonic algae in Suo Nada, the western part of the Seto Inland Sea, Japan were compared in terms of unit area with regard to their seasonal and spatial distribution in 2002. Judging from light compensation depth and water depth, the southwestern part of Suo Nada was considered to be a potential habitat for BMA. Whereas the contribution of sedimented planktonic algae was high in biomass at the sediment surface, BMA was obviously significant both in biomass and primary production in the shallow southwestern part. However, the contribution of BMA to the total biomass in the entire water column was 7% in winter and 2% in summer. The primary production of BMA varied between 4.0 and 74.0 mg C m⁻² d⁻¹ in the southwestern part, accounting for 2–12% of the whole water column primary production. The ecological roles of BMA in the Suo Nada ecosystem are discussed, such as reduction of benthic nutrient flux, oxidation of surface sediments and feed for higher animals.