The nexus between income inequality,economic growth and environmental degradation in Pakistan

This study examines the impact of income inequality and economic growth on environmental degradation in Pakistan using ARDL bounds testing approach for the period 1966–2011. Empirical results for the aggregate CO₂ emissions and its four sources such as CO₂ emissions from solid fuel, liquid fuel and gaseous fuel consumption as well as electricity and heat production confirm the existence of long run co-integrated relationship between income inequality, economic growth and environment degradation. The estimated results indicate that carbon emissions increase as the income gap expands in Pakistan. Besides the negative impact of industrial share and population density on CO₂ emissions, we also confirm that economic growth in Pakistan comes up with higher emissions. Hence, the hypothesis of EKC is not valid for Pakistan during the study period. Our empirical findings are robust as evidenced by dynamic ordinary least squared and the U-tests. Overall, this study suggests that the distribution of income matters to aggregate carbon emissions and focus should be made on sustained economic growth to reduce pollutants and hence CO₂ emission in the study area.     

Feature Identification via a Combined ICA–Wavelet Method for Image Information Mining

Image transformation is required for color–texture image segmentation. Various techniques are available for the transformation along the spatial and spectral axes. For instance, the HSV–wavelet technique is shown to be very effective for image information mining in remote-sensing applications. However, the HSV transformation approach uses only three spectral bands at a time. In this letter, a new feature set, obtained by combining independent component analysis and wavelet transformation for image information mining in geospatial data, is presented. Experimental results show the effectiveness of the presented method for image information mining in Earth observation data archives.      

Macrophytes’ Performance in Floating Treatment Wetlands for the Remediation of Ciprofloxacin-Contaminated Water

The presence of trace antibiotics in domestic and industrial effluents poses a risk of toxicity to fauna and flora. The application of floating treatment wetlands (FTWs) is a low-cost and sustainable approach to remediate wastewater. In this study, the performance of different macrophytes vegetated in FTWs for the remediation of ciprofloxacin (CIP)-contaminated water is investigated. Six macrophytes, Brachia mutica, Typha domingensis, Phragmites australis, Canna indica, Cyperus laevigatus, and Leptochloa fusca, are vegetated in FTWs for the removal of CIP (50 mg L⁻¹) from water. The FTWs show the potential to remove 30–43.58 mg L⁻¹ CIP from water in 28 days. They also reduce the chemical oxygen demand (118–138 mg L⁻¹) and biochemical oxygen demand (35–45 mg L⁻¹) of water. Among the macrophytes, C. indica removes maximum (43.58 mg L⁻¹) and T. domingensis minimum (30 mg L⁻¹) CIP. Canna indica and T. domingensis exhibit the maximum and minimum increase (30% and 12% of dry biomass) in growth, respectively. This study reveals that the FTWs vegetated with different plant species exhibit varying performances in removing CIP from water. This investigation is a step forward toward sustainable bioremediation of water contaminated with antibiotics.     

The 2014 seismic hazard model of the Middle East: overview and results

The Earthquake Model of Middle East (EMME) Project aimed to develop regional scale seismic hazard and risk models uniformly throughout a region extending from the Eastern Mediterranean in the west to the Himalayas in the east and from the Gulf of Oman in the south to the Greater Caucasus in the North; a region which has been continuously devastated by large earthquakes throughout the history. The 2014 Seismic Hazard Model of Middle East (EMME-SHM14) was developed with the contribution of several institutions from ten countries. The present paper summarizes the efforts towards building a homogeneous seismic hazard model of the region and highlights some of the main results of this model. An important aim of the project was to transparently communicate the data and methods used and to obtain reproducible results. By doing so, the use of the model and results will be accessible by a wide community, further support the mitigation of seismic risks in the region and facilitate future improvements to the seismic hazard model. To this end all data, results and methods used are made available through the web-portal of the European Facilities for Earthquake Hazard and Risk (www.efehr.org).     

Evolution of seismic risk management for insurance over the past 30 years

During the past 30 years, there has been spectacular growth in the use of risk analysis and risk management tools developed by engineers in the financial and insurance sectors. The insurance, the reinsurance, and the investment banking sectors have enthusiastically adopted loss estimation tools developed by engineers in developing their business strategies and for managing their financial risks. As a result, insurance/reinsurance strategy has evolved as a major risk mitigation tool in managing catastrophe risk at the individual, corporate, and government level. This is particularly true in developed countries such as US, Western Europe, and Japan. Unfortunately, it has not received the needed attention in developing countries, where such a strategy for risk management is most needed. Fortunately, in the last five years, there has been excellent focus in developing "Insur Tech" tools to address the much needed "Insurance for the Masses", especially for the Asian Markets. In the earlier years of catastrophe model development, risk analysts were mainly concerned with risk reduction options through engineering strategies, and relatively little attention was given to financial and economic strategies. Such state-of-affairs still exists in many developing countries. The new developments in the science and technologies of loss estimation due to natural catastrophes have made it possible for financial sectors to model their business strategies such as peril and geographic diversification, premium calculations, reserve strategies, reinsurance contracts, and other underwriting tools. These developments have not only changed the way in which financial sectors assess and manage their risks, but have also changed the domain of opportunities for engineers and scientists.This paper will address the issues related to developing insurance/reinsurance strategies to mitigate catastrophe risks and describe the role catastrophe risk insurance and reinsurance has played in managing financial risk due to natural catastrophes. Historical losses and the share of those losses covered by insurance will be presented. How such risk sharing can help the nation share the burden of losses between tax paying public, the "at risk" property owners, the insurers and the reinsurers will be discussed. The paper will summarize the tools that are used by the insurance and reinsurance companies for estimating their future losses due to catastrophic natural events. The paper will also show how the results of loss estimation technologies developed by engineers are communicated to the business flow of insurance/reinsurance companies. Finally, to make it possible to grow "Insurance for the Masses – IFM", the role played by parametric insurance products and Insur Tech tools will be discussed.     

Geochemistry of Gneisses from Dabie Complex and Tongbai Complex in Qinling-Tongbai-Dabie Orogenic Belt: Implications for Location of Yangtze-Sino-Korean Suture

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＴｈｅＱｉｎｌｉｎｇ Ｔｏｎｇｂａｉ ＤａｂｉｅｏｒｏｇｅｎｉｃｂｅｌｔｉｓａｃｏｌｌｉｓｉｏｎａｌｏｒｏｇｅｎｉｃｂｅｌｔｂｅｔｗｅｅｎｔｈｅＳｉｎｏ ＫｏｒｅａｎａｎｄＹａｎｇｔｚｅｃｒａｔｏｎｓ.Ｕｌｔｒａｈｉｇｈｐｒｅｓｓｕｒｅ (ＵＨＰ)ａｎｄｈｉｇｈｐｒｅｓｓｕｒｅ (ＨＰ)ｍｅｔａｍｏｒ ｐｈｉｃｒｏｃｋｓｓｕｃｈａｓｃｏｅｓｉｔｅ ｂｅａｒｉｎｇｅｃｌｏｇｉｔｅｓａｒｅｗｉｄｅｌｙｄｉｓｔｒｉｂｕｔ ｅｄｉｎｔｈｅｅａｓｔｅｒｎｅｎｄｏｆｔｈｅｏｒｏｇｅｎｉｃｂｅｌｔ …     

The Moon sight by KALPANA imager

Visible and infra-red (IR) channel data of KALPANA imager received at Bopal Earth Station at Space Application Centre has captured the Moon at several times. The range of Moon surface brightness in the visible channel image is compared with that of similar size Earth scene. The increase in brightness due to a closer Moon on a particular day is also seen in the histogram of the surface brightness. The brightness temperature map from the IR channel data of the Moon is also constructed. The analysis of the Moon images has a potential for monitoring degradation of the sensor optics over time.     

Large Area X-Ray Proportional Counter (LAXPC) Instrument on AstroSat and Some Preliminary Results from its Performance in the Orbit

Large area X-ray propositional counter (LAXPC) instrument on AstroSat is aimed at providing high time resolution X-ray observations in 3–80 keV energy band with moderate energy resolution. To achieve large collecting area, a cluster of three co-aligned identical LAXPC detectors, is used to realize an effective area in access of \({\sim }6000\,\hbox {cm}^{2}\) at 15 keV. The large detection volume of the LAXPC detectors, filled with xenon gas at \({\sim }\)2 atmosphere pressure, results in detection efficiency greater than 50%, above 30 keV. In this article, we present salient features of the LAXPC detectors, their testing and characterization in the laboratory prior to launch and calibration in the orbit. Some preliminary results on timing and spectral characteristics of a few X-ray binaries and other type of sources, are briefly discussed to demonstrate that the LAXPC instrument is performing as planned in the orbit.     

Petrology of calc-alkaline/adakitic basement hosting A-type Neoproterozoic granites of the Malani igneous suite in Nagar Parkar,SE Sindh,Pakistan

The Nagar Parkar area contains three distinct groups of rocks, from oldest to youngest, (1) basement rocks ranging in composition from mafic to (quartz)diorite, tonalite, granite, and younger granodiorite, (2) granite plutons similar in general features to those of the Malani Igneous Suite of Rajasthan, and (3) abundant mafic, felsic and rhyolitic dykes. The basement rocks show strong brittle and local plastic deformation, and epidote amphibolite/upper greenschist facies metamorphic overprint. The chemistry of the basement rocks contrasts the commonly agreed within plate A-type character of the Neoproterozoic granites (group 2) that are emplaced into them. The basement rock association is calc-alkaline; the granodiorite displays the compositional characteristics of adakites, whereas the tonalite has intermediate composition between typical adakite and classical island arc rocks. This paper presents detailed petrography of the basement rocks and compares their geochemistry with those of the group 2 granites as well as with rocks from other tectonic environments. It is proposed that the Nagar Parkar basement is part of a 900–840 Ma magmatic arc that was deformed before it was intruded 800–700 Ma ago by the A-type continental granitic rocks followed by mafic to felsic dykes.