Predators of juvenile blue crabs outside of refuge habitats in lower Chesapeake Bay

Blue crabsCallinectes sapidus in lower Chesapeake Bay are subject to high rates of predation during the late summer of their first year of growth as they migrate out of vegetated nursery habitats. Predators, potentially contributing to this pattern, were identified in video-recorded field observations of tethered juvenile crabs (20–25 mm carapace width). Predators were also tested in large laboratory tanks containing similarly-sized untethered crabs as prey. Seven different predators attacked tethered crabs in the field. Only two predators, larger blue crabs and northern puffers,Sphoeroides maculatus, consistently succeeded in preying on crabs in both field and laboratory settings. These results confirm the importance of cannibalism on juvenile blue crabs and identify puffers as a potentially overlooked source of predation pressure.     

A Technique for Direct Retrieval of Surface Specific Humidity Over Open Oceans from Irs-P4/Msmr Satellite Data

The Multi frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) onboard Oceasat-1 was used to develop a retrieval method fornear-surface specific humidity by means of multivariate regressiontechnique. The MSMR measures the microwaveradiances in 8 channels at the frequencies of 6.6, 10.7, 18 and 21 GHzfor both vertical and horizontal polarizations. Regression coefficients were derived using the ship reports of the Comprehensive Ocean-Atmosphere Data Set (COADS) for the months of July, October and December, in 1999. Daily near-surface specific humidity data from COADS in 2° × 2° latitude/longitude bins and collocated brightness temperature data from MSMR were used to derive the coefficients. The derived coefficients werevalidated with humidity given in COADS.A linear relationship is established to determine the near-surface specifichumidity from MSMR brightness temperature (Tb) with an rms error of 1.2 g kg^-1 for individual situations and an rms errorof 0.84 g kg^-1 for monthly time scales over global oceans.The retrieval algorithm is validonly for the open sea regions.     

A Comparative Study of the Atmospheric Layers below First Lifting Condensation Level for Instantaneous Pre-Monsoon Thunderstorm Ocurence at Agartala(23°30′N,91°15′E) and Ranchi(23°14′N,85°14′E) of India

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Effect of tunnel depth on modulus of deformation of rock mass

Summary Deformability of rock mass significantly influences its behaviour and is, therefore, an important consideration for the design of underground openings. The modulus of deformation of rock mass is, however, normally obtained from expensive and time-consuming uniaxial jacking tests, whose results often have a large scatter. An empirical correlation has, therefore, been proposed for a quick and inexpensive preliminary estimation of the modulus of deformation of rock mass on the basis of field instrumentation carried out in tunnels in India.     

Electron cyclotron waves in the presence of parallel electric fields in the Earth’s auroral plasma

The electron cyclotron waves that originate at low altitudes (<0.5 R_E) and observed by ground facilities have been studied in the presence of a weak parallel electric field in auroral magnetoplasma consisting of trapped energetic auroral electrons and cold background electrons of ionospheric origin. The model distribution for auroral trapped electrons is taken as Maxwellian ring distribution. An expression for the growth rate has been obtained in the presence of parallel electric field assuming that the real frequency in the whistler mode is not affected by the presence of the electric field. The results show that waves grow (or damp) in amplitude for a parallel (or antiparallel) electric field. The influence of the electric field is more pronounced at a shorter wavelength spectrum. An increase in population of energetic electrons increases the growth rate and thus, plays a significant role in the wave excitation process in the auroral regions.     

Effect of class-interval size on entropy

The value of Shannon entropy for a given set of data depends on the class interval chosen to compute the relative frequency of each class. For three data sets, expressed in dimensional as well as nondimensional form, the entropy value was computed for different class-interval sizes. Entropy was found to decrease with increasing class interval as well as with increasing sampling interval. It is suggested that these intervals should be selected with care.