Performance study of various spatial indexes on 3D geo-data in Geo-RDBMS

In the emerging era of information and communication technologies, geotechnology is one of the fastest growing fields. Geo-RDBMS is very important and evolving aspect for GIS, as it can manage large volume of spatial data inside RDBMS. The utilization of RDBMS for geospatial data was one of the important focuses of GIS professionals in last decades to store and manage 2D geo-data. However, the support for 3D geo-data inside RDBMS is still limited and is a challenging task for RDBMS providers. In this study, data organization and performance assessment of 3D geo-data inside RDBMS are carried out. In this process, various file-based 3D data models such as CityGML, COLLADA and KML are migrated to geo-RDBMS to bring entire 3D geo-data in common platform. Various spatial indexing techniques viz. R-Tree, B-Tree, GiST, etc. are applied on these 3D data models and best indexing techniques are studied for 3D GIS operations.     

Anthropogenic and climatic influences on the diatom flora within the Fallen Leaf Lake watershed,Lake Tahoe Basin,California over the last millennium

This study addresses the effects of climate, land-use, and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on the Fallen Leaf Lake watershed, Lake Tahoe Basin, through diatom and geochemical analyses of sediment cores. Four diatom zones are recognized from a core taken at Fallen Leaf Lake (FLL), a site moderately impacted by human activities: (1) Pre-Little Ice Age Zone (840–1385), (2) Little Ice Age Zone (1385–1810) characterized by Stephanodiscus alpinus and Aulacoseira subarctica, (3) Transitional Zone (1810–1950) of warming and anthropogenic influence with increased Lindavia rossii-ocellata group and Discostella stelligera and decreased Pseudostaurosira brevistriata, and (4) Anthropogenic Zone (1950–2010) characterized by a rapid increase of mesotrophic diatoms of the Fragilaria tenera-nanana group, Tabellaria flocculosa strain IIIP, and Nitzschia gracilis. The Transitional Zone increases in elemental Co, Zn, and Sn that may be attributed to an increase in coal burning and smelting activities in California and Nevada. Beginning around 1910 and accelerating in the 1940s, increased building, land-use, and recreation around FLL caused an increase in terrestrial sedimentary input. Down core proxies for atmospheric N deposition in the FLL watershed are, at best, weakly expressed and appear to be overshadowed by stronger signals. Lack of support for N deposition includes the asynchrony in the appearance of the N-sensitive diatom Asterionella formosa in FLL and a lower impact site at Gilmore Lake, and an uninformative δ¹⁵N record. Asterionella formosa is a dominant component in the FLL water column today, but has been present in similar abundances for at least the last 1200 years. Asterionella formosa is present in the water column at Gilmore Lake and absent from the sediment, indicating a very recent appearance. The data collected show that the FLL record is sensitive to climatic cooling during the Little Ice Age and to anthropogenic activities commencing in the 1800s that increased throughout the latter half of the twentieth century; however the effects of anthropogenic N deposition in these lakes could not be substantiated.     

Small Comets in the High Atmosphere

Recent claims of small icy comets disintegrating in the high atmosphere point to a component of comets in the form of loose aggregates of dust. This could be understood in terms of Lyttleton;'s theory of comet formation by accretion of interstellar grains. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Electron-acoustic solitary waves in a relativistically degenerate quantum plasma with two-temperature electrons

Using the Quantum hydrodynamic (QHD) model Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) type solitary excitations of electron-acoustic waves (EAWs) have been examined in a two-electron-populated relativistically degenerate super dense plasma. It is shown that relativistic degeneracy parameter significantly influences the conditions of formation and properties of solitary structures.     

Area Change and Thickness Variation over Pensilungpa Glacier (J&;K) using Remote Sensing

Accurate representations of the Earth’s surface in the form of digital elevation models (DEMs) are essential for a variety of applications in glaciological and remote-sensing research. In the present study area change and thickness variation over Pensilungpa glacier was attempted using remote sensing approach. It can be remarked that a net loss of 9.23 sq. km. which is 38% of the glacier area mapped in 1962 indicate a drastic change over the glacier area during 1962–2007. Estimation of glacier thickness change on Pensilungpa glacier based on ASTER DEM (2003) and Survey of India (SOI) contour based DEM (1962) indicated increase in the glacier elevation in the accumulation zone mainly by 30 to 90 m and similar reduction by 30 to 90 m in the ablation zone.     

On temperatures in the crust: The effect of temperature dependence of conductivity

Summary An analysis is made to ascertain the effect of conductivity variation with temperature on the temperatures within the crust. It shows that this effect is very small and can safely be neglected.     

Occurrence, distribution and probable source of the trace elements in ghugus coals, wardha valley, districts chandrapur and yeotmal, maharashtra, India

Trace-element determinations of 15 coal samples have been made in order to know their distribution, behaviour and associations with the organic and inorganic fractions in the coal. The coal samples have been systematically collected in stratigraphic sequences so that the vertical variation of the trace-elements can be studied. The elements determined by spectographic analysis are W, V, Cr, Sc, Y, Cu, Co, Pb, Be, Ni and Ba. The results indicate that the concentration of trace elements in these coals varies greatly from bottom to top sections. The elements V and Co are extremely poor in the top and middle sections, whereas in the bottom section they are fairly distributed. Be is extremely poor in the bottom section, and fairly distributed in the middle and top sections. W, Sc, Y have poor concentration in the bottom section as compared to the middle and top sections. Ni is fairly distributed in the bottom section whereas its concentration is poor in the middle and top sections. Cr and Cu are fairly distributed in the bottom, middle and top sections. Ba has unusually high concentration in all the sections.It appears from the present study that W, Cr, Sc, Y and Be are concentrated more in silicate minerals (clay, quartz, etc.) associated with coal, and the elements like , Co, and Ni have intimate relation with organic matters in coal and are present as organometallic compounds as well as absorbed cations. Cu and Pb which are present in the coals are derived from the inorganic matter, mainly from the pyrites, whereas W has affinity with carbonate minerals in the coals. The Ba is mainly associated with the inoraanic matter of coal; its unusually high concentration indicates association with carbonates, clays and other silicate minerals.     

Fundamental yet simplified model for liquefaction instability

A fundamental procedure is proposed for the identification of liquefaction in saturated soils based on the instability in the material's microstructure. The disturbed state concept (DSC) provides a unified constitutive model for the characterization of entire stress–strain behaviour under cyclic loading, and the values of disturbance at threshold states in the deforming microstructure provides the basis for the identification of liquefaction. The procedure is verified with respect to laboratory behaviour of two sands, saturated Ottawa and Reid Bedford. A mathematical analysis of the DSC constitutive matrix is also performed. Procedures for the application of the DSC for simplified analysis and design, and in finite element procedures are presented. It is believed that the proposed model can provide a fundamental yet simplified procedure for liquefaction analysis, and as a result, it is considered to be an improvement over the available empirical and energy-based procedures. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.