Search for H I emission from superdisk candidates associated with radio galaxies

Giant gaseous layers(termed “superdisks”) have been hypothesized in the past to account for the strip-like radio emission gap(or straight-edged central brightness depression) observed between twin radio lobes, in over a dozen relatively nearby powerful Fanaroff-Riley Class II radio galaxies. They could also provide a plausible alternative explanation for a range of observations. Although a number of explanations have been proposed for the origin of the superdisks, little is known about their material content. Some X-ray observations of superdisk candidates indicate the presence of hot gas, but a cool dusty medium also seems to be common. If they are entirely or partly composed of neutral gas, then it may be directly detectable and we report here a first attempt to detect/image any neutral hydrogen gas present in the superdisks that are inferred to be present in four nearby radio galaxies. We have not found a positive H I signal in any of the four sources, resulting in tight upper limits on the H I number density in the postulated superdisks,estimated directly from the central rms noise values of the final radio continuum subtracted image. The estimated ranges of the upper limit on neutral hydrogen number density and column density are 10^-4-10^-3 atoms per cm3 and 10^19-10^20 atoms per cm^2, respectively. No positive H I signal is detected even after combining all the four available H I images(with inverse variance weighting). This clearly rules out an H I dominated superdisk as a viable model to explain these structures, however, the possibility of a superdisk being composed of warm/hot gas still remains open.     

Application of soft computing techniques for shallow foundation reliability in geotechnical engineering

This research focuses on the application of three soft computing techniques including Minimax Probability Machine Regression(MPMR),Particle Swarm Optimization based Artificial Neural Network(ANN-PSO)and Particle Swarm Optimization based Adaptive Network Fuzzy Inference System(ANFIS-PSO)to study the shallow foundation reliability based on settlement criteria.Soil is a heterogeneous medium and the involvement of its attributes for geotechnical behaviour in soil-foundation system makes the prediction of settlement of shallow a complex engineering problem.This study explores the feasibility of soft computing techniques against the deterministic approach.The settlement of shallow foundation depends on the parametersγ(unit weight),e0(void ratio)and CC(compression index).These soil parameters are taken as input variables while the settlement of shallow foundation as output.To assess the performance of models,different performance indices i.e.RMSE,VAF,R^2,Bias Factor,MAPE,LMI,U(95),RSR,NS,RPD,etc.were used.From the analysis of results,it was found that MPMR model outperformed PSO-ANFIS and PSO-ANN.Therefore,MPMR can be used as a reliable soft computing technique for non-linear problems for settlement of shallow foundations on soils.     

Why chromatic imaging matters

During the last two decades, the first generation of beam combiners at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer has proved the importance of optical interferometry for high-angular resolution astrophysical studies in the near- and mid-infrared. With the advent of 4-beam combiners at the VLTI, the u ? v coverage per pointing increases significantly, providing an opportunity to use reconstructed images as powerful scientific tools. Therefore, interferometric imaging is already a key feature of the new generation of VLTI instruments, as well as for other interferometric facilities like CHARA and JWST. It is thus imperative to account for the current image reconstruction capabilities and their expected evolutions in the coming years. Here, we present a general overview of the current situation of optical interferometric image reconstruction with a focus on new wavelength-dependent information, highlighting its main advantages and limitations. As an Appendix we include several cookbooks describing the usage and installation of several state-of-the art image reconstruction packages. To illustrate the current capabilities of the software available to the community, we recovered chromatic images, from simulated MATISSE data, using the MCMC software SQUEEZE. With these images, we aim at showing the importance of selecting good regularization functions and their impact on the reconstruction.     

Patterns of carbon sequestration in forests of western ghats and study of applicability of remote sensing in generating carbon credits through afforestation/reforestation

Satellite remote sensing is a proven tool for mapping landuse patterns and estimating vegetation biomass/carbon. Present study aims at estimating the potential of forests of Radhanagari WLS (Western Ghats, India) to sequester the atmospheric carbon-di-oxide, using ground based observations coupled with satellite remote sensing. The study area was stratified for dominant forest types based on the structure and composition of vegetation and elevation variations. Permanent sample plots were laid down in these homogeneous vegetation strata (HVS) to make different observations during time 1 and time 2. Carbon sequestration by plantations was also studied and compared with natural forests. Species and area-specific biomass equations were used for estimating carbon pool and sequestration. Among natural forests ‘mixed moist deciduous’ forests exhibited highest sequestration rate (8%), whereas, plantation as obvious had a comparatively higher sequestration rate than natural forests (20.27%). Total carbon sequestration by forests of the Radhanagari WLS between 2004 and 2006 is 78742.09 tons. Eligible land for reforestation activity under clean development mechanism (CDM) of Kyoto Protocol was identified using satellite remote sensing using 1989 and 2005 datasets and it was observed that the potential land that can be used for reforestation activity is 10080 ha.     

An approach to the modeling of viscoelastic damage. Application to the long‐term creep of gypsum rock materials

A three‐dimensional phenomenological model is developed to describe the long‐term creep of gypsum rock materials. The approach is based on the framework of continuum damage mechanics where coupling with viscoelasticity is adopted. Specifically, a local damage model based on the concept of yield surface is proposed and deeply investigated. Among the many possibilities, we choose in this work its coupling with a generalized Kelvin–Voigt rheological model to formulate the whole behavior. Long‐term as well as short‐term relaxation processes can be integrated in the model by means of as many as necessary viscoelastic processes. The numerical discretization is described for an easy integration within a finite element procedure. Finally, a set of numerical simulations is given to show the possibilities of the presented model. It shows good agreement with some experimental results found in the literature. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The evolution of conservation rules and norms in the Maine lobster industry

Natural resources of all kinds have been overexploited by user groups who cannot or will not develop rules to constrain their own exploitive efforts. One notable exception is the Maine lobster industry, where an effective set of conservation laws has been developed due, in great part, to the strong support of the industry. In the early decades of the 20th century, however, the lobster industry was marked by widespread violations of the existing conservation laws and opposition to developing more. This article explores the way that the pirate ethic gave way to the conservation ethic in the 1930s. Our explorations in evolutionary game theory suggest that this change was produced by three factors: costs and benefits of defection from the conservation ethic; numbers of people accepting the conservation ethic quality rule; and events that shocked the system from one state to another. We argue that the shock to the system in the late 1920s and 1930s was caused by massive stock failure which changed the attitudes of many fishermen about the need for conservation. People began to report violations of the law, which made law enforcement more effective and quickly led to a cascade of fishermen abandoning the pirate ethic. In the late 1930s, increasing catches, in combination with a number of other social, technical, and economic factors continued the upward spiral.     

Multivariate analysis of flood characteristics in a climate change context of the watershed of the Baskatong reservoir,Province of Québec,Canada

The analysis of the impact of climate change (CC) on flood peaks has been the subject of several studies. However, a flood is characterized not only by its peak, but also by other characteristics such as its volume and duration. Little effort has been directed towards the study of the impact of CC on these characteristics. The aim of the present study is to evaluate and compare flood characteristics in a CC context, in the watershed of the Baskatong reservoir (Province of Québec, Canada). Comparisons are based on observed flow data and simulated flow series obtained from hydrological models using meteorological data from a regional climate model for a reference period (1971–2000) and a future period (2041–2070). To this end, two hydrological models HSAMI and HYDROTEL are considered. Correlations, stationarity, change‐points, and the multivariate behaviour of flood series were studied. The results show that, at various levels, all flood characteristics could be affected by CC. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A MEG study of the olivine and spinel forms of Mg2SiO4

In this paper we present a theoretical investigation of the structures and relative stability of the olivine and spinel phases of Mg₂SiO₄. We use both a purely ionic model, based on the Modified Electron Gas (MEG) model of intermolecular forces, and a bond polarization model, developed for low pressure silica phases, to investigate the role of covalency in these compounds. The standard MEG ionic model gives adequate structural results for the two phases but incorrectly predicts the spinel phase to be more stable at zero pressure. This is mainly because the ionic modeling of Mg₂SiO₄ only accounts for 95 percent of the lattice energy. The remainder can be attributed to covalency and many-body effects. An extension of the MEG ionic model using “many-body” pair potentials corrects the phase stability error, but predicts structures which are in poorer agreement with experiment than the standard ionic approach. In addition, calculations using these many-body pair potentials can only account for 10 percent of the missing lattice energy. This model predicts an olivine-spinel phase transition of 8 GPa, below the experimental value of 20 GPa. Therefore, in order to understand more fully the stability of these structures we must consider polarization. A two-shell bond polarization model enhances the stability of both structures, with the olivine structure being stabilized more. This model predicts a phase transition at about 80 GPa, well above the observed value. Also, the olivine and spinel structures calculated with this approach are in poorer agreement with experiment than the ionic model. Therefore, based on our investigations, to properly model covalency in Mg₂SiO₄, a treatment more sophisticated than the two-shell model is needed.     

Limitations and feasibility of the land disposal of organic solvent-contaminated wastes

The limitations and feasibility of the land disposal of solid wastes containing organic solvents and refrigerants (chlorinated fluorocarbons) were investigated by evaluating the attenuation capacity of a hypothetical waste-disposal site by numerical modeling. The basic theorem of this approach was that the land disposal of wastes would be environmentally acceptable if subsurface attenuation reduced groundwater concentrations of organic compounds to concentrations that were less than health-based, water-quality criteria. Computer simulations indicated that the predicted concentrations of 13 of 33 organic compounds in groundwater would be less than their health-based criteria. Hence, solid wastes containing these compounds could be safely disposed at the site. The attenuation capacity of the site was insufficient to reduce concentrations of four compounds to safe levels without limiting the amount of mass available to leach into groundwater. Threshold masses based on time-dependent migration simulations were estimated for these compounds. The remaining 16 compounds, which consisted mainly of chlorinated hydrocarbons and fluorocarbons could not be safely landfilled without severe restrictions on the amounts disposed. These organic compounds were candidates to ban from land disposal.