Application of Refactoring and Design Pattern in Land Information System Development

The unceasing change problem of land information systems can be resolved through the refactoring and design pattern. To promote the implementation of design pattern and refactoring methods in developin...     

Three-dimensional simulations of air flow and momentum transfer in partially harvested forests

In order to predict wind loading on trees (canopy height h) in partially harvested forests, it is necessary to characterize air flow and momentum transfer in progressively more complex patterns where groups of trees (or aggregates) are retained. In this study, we used large-eddy simulation to explore the effects of aggregate size, inter-aggregate spacing, and the ratio between the aggregate size and inter-aggregate spacing on air flow and momentum transfer. Forty-five grid points across an aggregate were needed to achieve an adequate level of turbulence. Using grid sizes of h/15 throughout was too viscous for the smaller aggregates. Vertical and horizontal flow deflection by the leading aggregates sheltered some of the downstream aggregates to varying degrees where turbulence increased for subsequent rows. The number of rows of protected aggregates decreased as aggregate dimensions and the space between aggregates increased. A theoretical treatment of time-dependent wind is presented for the lead aggregate and a simulation case is presented for the case of a gust of reduced wind passing through the aggregate pattern. The leading aggregate responded with decreasing moment for decreasing ambient wind speed as predicted by theory. However, downwind aggregates experienced substantial increases in bending moment. The overall results of the disruptive aspects of time dependence agrees with arguments regarding the role of irrotational (potential) flow to this problem. Our treatment of retention pattern design is only a first step and further research suggestions are presented.     

CDM: Is it a ‘win–win’ strategy for rural poverty alleviation in India?

India is perceived to be one of the most attractive Non-Annex I countries for CDM project development. There are more than 350 projects in the CDM pipeline, largely in the areas of renewable energy, energy efficiency in industries and fossil fuel switching. This paper examines the socio-economic component of sustainable development commitments of the CDM projects to see if they can make any impact on rural poverty in India, since the goal of poverty alleviation lies at the core of the country’s development priorities. The study concludes that CDM is not contributing to rural poverty alleviation to any notable extent. Nearly all the projects have a business orientation and are not directed to the development of rural poor. Even the renewable energy projects will have limited role in up-liftment of the masses below poverty line due to their weak resource base. For CDM to emerge as a “win–win” strategy for poverty alleviation projects should be aimed at the rural communities and designed to accelerate agricultural growth in the rainfed regions of the country.     

The socioeconomic impacts of nuclear generating stations: An analysis of the Rancho Seco and peach bottom facilities

This paper presents the results of a comparative analysis of the socioeconomic impacts of the construction and operation of two nuclear generating stations. Although the construction of nuclear power plants is typically a multiyear process utilizing large numbers of workers and requiring large expenditures for equipment and materials, the socioeconomic changes in the areas in which the plants are located were small and temporary. The extent and size of the changes were found to be related to the size of the work force residing in the local area, the magnitude of local utility and contractor purchases, the amount of tax payments resulting from the plant, and the level of involvement of area groups over plant-related issues.     

Geochemical background in soils: a linear process domain? An example from Istria (Croatia)

Definition of geochemical background in exploration and environmental geochemistry has always been regarded as contingent upon scale and investigated locality but mostly under assumption that hosts of processes that produce the data more or less conform individually to Gaussian law of “central tendencies”. Recently, understanding of pedogenesis as synergetic process being characterized by non-linear dynamics renders thermodynamic approach directly applicable in assessment of geochemical thresholds, with concepts of linearity and normality set alongside in solving the problems of soil geochemistry. Seen from this perspective the work is an attempt to relate conceptual fundamentals of non-linear dynamical theory to basic statistical methods in order to elucidate the nature and origins of element subpopulations hidden in the original geochemical data from the soils of Istrian Peninsula (western Croatia). To this purpose the two major groups of soils were selected for analysis depending on the type of bedrock as one of the main soil-forming factors. Geochemical data were subjected to the trimming procedure by which the outliers were removed from the total data collective and attributed to non-linear causes precluding simple cause-and-effect relationships as the sine qua non of Gaussian distribution. Geochemical background is then defined as the normal range of data of the remaining (trimmed) dataset indicating the “thermodynamic branch” of the specific soil processes as opposed to outliers being described as dissipative structures.     

An Improvized Core-Drilling Technique and a New Device for Osteohistology of Fossil Bones: Implementation on a Jurassic Sauropod Dinosaur from India

An improvized version of the conventional core drilling technique, based on a new device is introduced in the current work for extracting cores from fossil bones to understand their microanatomy. A powerful, low-speed electric drill with an autolubrication facility is used as the new device, and the bone specimen is placed on a permanently fixed platform beneath the drill bit. It avoids the vibration-induced wobbling of the conventional handheld drill machine and helps in precision sampling. Long drill bits of the new device result in extraction of long cores, reduce premature breakages of cores, and recovery of the entire bone microstructure for high resolution deduction of palaeobiological information. As this version of drilling technique is less destructive, it has better sampling coverage, where fossil bones can be restored to their original shapes and preserved with almost no loss in gross morphology. This is first time such a device for extraction of fossil drill cores has been installed. After test run on dummy samples, the new device has been successfully implemented for extraction of eleven cores from various long bones of the early Jurassic sauropod dinosaur Barapasaurus tagorei. The fossil bones are restored to their pre-coring shapes, the detail protocols of which are discussed here for the first time.     

Template-based classification of SDSS-<Emphasis Type="BoldItalic">GALEX</Emphasis> point sources

We have classified a sample of 37,492 objects from SDSS into QSOs, galaxies and stars using photometric data over five wave bands (u, g, r, i and z) and UV GALEX data over two wave bands (near-UV and far-UV) based on a template fitting method. The advantage of this method of classification is that it does not require any spectroscopic data and hence the objects for which spectroscopic data is not available can also be studied using this technique. In this study, we have found that our method is consistent by spectroscopic methods given that their UV information is available. Our study shows that the UV colours are especially important for separating quasars and stars, as well as spiral and starburst galaxies. Thus it is evident that the UV bands play a crucial role in the classification and characterization of astronomical objects that emit over a wide range of wavelengths, but especially for those that are bright at UV. We have achieved the efficiency of 89% for the QSOs, 63% for the galaxies and 84% for the stars. This classification is also found to be in agreement with the emission line diagnostic diagrams.     

Determination of 3D Trajectories of Knots in Solar Prominences Using MSDP Data

In this paper we present a new method of restoration of the true three-dimensional (3D) trajectories of prominence knots using ground-based observations taken with a single telescope that is equipped with a Multi-Channel Subtractive Double Pass imaging spectrograph. Our method allows us to evaluate the true 3D trajectories of the prominence knots without any assumptions concerning the shape of the trajectories or the dynamics of the motion. The reconstructed trajectories of several knots observed in three prominences are presented.