Modeling the bi-national city process of Eilat–Aqaba,a bi-national city in a cold peace setting

Officially at peace since 1994, Israel and Jordan have since established multiple cooperation schemes with the aim of transitioning from a described cold peace to a self-sustaining warm peace. One cooperation scheme that is particularly interesting from the point of view of Border and Urban Studies is the case of Eilat, Israel and Aqaba, Jordan. These tourist cities, located in the Arava Valley, are both physically isolated and strategically placed on the Red Sea coast. Since 2001 they have been considered as a potential bi-national city, and so far remain as the only one studied in a cold peace setting. Yet doubt persists as to whether a bi-national city can actually exist under such conditions. The purpose of this article is to firmly establish the place of Eilat–Aqaba as a bi-national city through the use of a unique analysis of the region that updates and elaborates findings dating from 2001. This concludes in modeling the Bi-national City Process of Eilat–Aqaba.     

Mean structure of the tropical tropopause and its variability over the Indian longitude sector

The mean spatiotemporal variations in tropopause parameters over the tropics (±35°, in latitude) in the Indian monsoon region are examined using the upper air data for an extended period obtained from radiosonde and Radio Occultation measurements. In general, the altitude of cold point tropopause (CPT) is a minimum near the equator and increases with latitude on either side. While CPT over the entire southern tropical latitudes and northern equatorial region is cooler (higher) during boreal winter and warmer (lower) during boreal summer, the annual pattern of CPT-temperature reverses in the northern hemispheric off-equatorial region. The temperature of lapse rate tropopause (LRT) is always negatively correlated with its altitude. While the annual variation of LRT-temperature in tropics is always positively correlated with CPT-temperature, the annual variation of LRT-altitude differs mainly in the off-equatorial regions. While the altitude of the convective tropopause is positively correlated with CPT-altitude over the latitude region 20°S–5°N, they are negatively correlated at the north of 10°N. In general, the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is very thin (~3 km) near the equator and its thickness increases with latitude on either side of the equator to reach a peak value (of ~6 km) around ±30°. A pronounced decrease in TTL-thickness observed over the northern off-equatorial region during the ASM period can be attributed to the manifestation of very deep convection over the land near the Head Bay-of-Bengal region. The TTL-lapse-rate (γ_TTL) is large in the equatorial region and decreases with increase in latitude. While γ_TTL in the northern hemispheric off-equatorial region is low during winter, it increases and becomes comparable to that over equatorial region during the ASM period. The annual variations in CPT parameters as well as the TTL- thickness are significantly modulated by quasi-biennial oscillation and the El Niño Southern Oscillation.     

Stakeholder perspectives on use, trade, and conservation of medicinal plants in the Rasuwa district of central Nepal

People’s livelihood in several Himalayan regions largely depends on collection, use, and trade of medicinal plants. Traditional use is generally not a problem, but commercial gathering of selected species to meet increasing national and international demand can result in over-exploitation. Sustainable management of medicinal plants requires a clear understanding of the respective roles, responsibilities and viewpoints of the various stakeholders involved. Through personal interviews and group discussions, this study aimed at investigating the views of two stakeholder groups on use, trade and conservation of medicinal plants in the Rasuwa district of Nepal. Local people and district and national organizations agreed that medicinal plants are collected for a combination of commercial and personal uses. Perceptions on market availability differed significantly: 100 % of the respondents from district and national organizations saw markets as easily available, against only 36 % for local people. This could explain why medicinal plants were perceived by local people to contribute less to income generation than to livelihood improvement. Different viewpoints were also expressed concerning the status of medicinal plants in the district: 81 % of the respondents from district and national organizations considered that medicinal plants were threatened, compared to only 28 % for local people. Despite this disparity, both stakeholder groups agreed upon potential threats to medicinal plants: over-harvesting; habitat loss due to land-use change and deforestation; and over-grazing by livestock. Several challenges were identified regarding sustainable management of medicinal plants, such as ambiguous policies; lack of resources, information and infrastructures; habitat degradation; and over-exploitation. Despite these challenges, respondents agreed that the medicinal plants sector offers huge opportunities in the Rasuwa district, given resource availability, community awareness and motivation, and the priority given to the sector by governments and other agencies. Proper collaboration, communication and coordination among stakeholders are needed to grab these opportunities.     

Ordinary chondritic micrometeorites from the Indian Ocean

Extraterrestrial particulate materials on the Earth can originate in the form of collisional debris from the asteroid belt, cometary material, or as meteoroid ablation spherules. Signatures that link them to their parent bodies become obliterated if the frictional heating is severe during atmospheric entry. We investigated 481 micrometeorites isolated from ~300 kg of deep sea sediment, out of which 15 spherules appear to have retained signatures of their provenance, based on their textures, bulk chemical compositions, and relict grain compositions. Seven of these 15 spherules contain chromite grains whose compositions help in distinguishing subgroups within the ordinary chondrite sources. There are seven other spherules which comprise either entirely of dusty olivines or contain dusty olivines as relict grains. Two of these spherules appear to be chondrules from an unequilibrated ordinary chondrite. In addition, a porphyritic olivine pyroxene (POP) chondrule‐like spherule is also recovered. The bulk chemical composition of all the spherules, in combination with trace elements, the chromite composition, and presence of dusty olivines suggest an ordinary chondritic source. These micrometeorites have undergone minimal frictional heating during their passage through the atmosphere and have retained these features. These micrometeorites therefore also imply there is a significant contribution from ordinary chondritic sources to the micrometeorite flux on the Earth.     

Distribution of butyltins in the waters and sediments along the coast of India

Water and surface sediment samples were analyzed for butyltins (TBT, DBT, MBT) from various ports along the east and west coast of India. The total butyltin (TB) in water samples varied between ∼1.7 and 342 ng Sn l⁻¹, whereas for sediments it varied between below detection limit to 14861 ng Sn g⁻¹ dry weight of sediment. On an average Chennai port recorded the highest level of butyltins in the sediments while Paradip recorded the highest level of butylins in the waters. A fairly good relationship between the TB in the sediment and overlying water samples, as well as between organic carbon and TB, implicates the importance of adsorption/desorption process in controlling the levels of TBT in these port areas. In India the data on organotin pollution is very sparse; most of the port areas have been surveyed for butyltins for the first time during this study.     

Significant changes in the ENSO-monsoon relationship and associated circulation features on multidecadal timescale

Climate Dynamics - We observe significant changes in the ENSO–Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) relationship in past three multidecadal epochs (early epoch: 1931–1960, middle epoch:...     

Long hiatus in Proterozoic sedimentation in India: Vindhyan,Cuddapah and Pakhal Basins — A plate tectonic model

Most of the Proterozoic basins in India, viz. the Vindhyan, the Cuddapah and the Pakhal Basins have experienced long hiatus between the upper and the lower group of rocks. It is proposed that the older group of rocks of Paleoproterozoic period (∼1.9–1.6 Ga) formed during the rifting phase caused by large scale magmatism in respective basins possibly due to plume tectonics. On the other hand, the younger group of rocks of Neoproterozoic (∼1.0–0.7 Ga) are formed during the final phase of convergence after mountain building that supplied sediments. These geological processes explain large scale disturbances in the older group of rocks during subsequent convergence and collision as they usually occurred along the rifted margins of the cratons. These processes also explain the undisturbed nature, devoid of magmatic rocks of the younger group of rocks and hiatus of about 0.5–0.6 Ga in each case. It is suggested that the plume that was responsible for these rifting of the Indian cratons during Paleo-Mesoproterozoic might have also been responsible for the break up of contemporary Columbian agglomeration in this section. Same model can be used to explain the formation of Proterozoic basins and related hiatus any where else where similar geological environment exist.     

A comparative evaluation of minerals and trace elements in the ashes from lignite, coal refuse, and biomass fired power plants

Coal being a limited source of energy, extraction of energy from other sources like lignite, coal-refuse, and biomass is being attempted worldwide. The minerals and inorganic elements present in fuel feeds pose different technological and environmental concerns. Lignite ash, refuse ash, and biomass ash collected from Indian power plants burning lignite, coal-refuse, and mustard stalk, respectively, were analyzed for physico-chemical characteristics and trace elements. The lignite ash has high SiO₂, CaO, MgO, Al₂O_3, and SO₃; the refuse ash has high SiO₂ and Fe₂O₃, but low SO₃; the biomass ash has high SiO₂ (but low Al₂O₃), and high CaO, MgO, K₂O, Na₂O, SO₃, and P₂O₅. A substantial presence of chloride (2.1%) was observed in the biomass ash. Quartz is the most abundant mineral species. Other minerals are mullite, hematite, gehlenite, anhydrite, and calcite in the lignite ash; orthoclase in the refuse ash; albite, sanidine, gehlenite, anhydrite, and calcite in the biomass ash. Ashes with high concentrations (> 100 mg/kg) of trace elements are: lignite ash (V < La < Mn < Cr < Ni < Nd < Ba < Ce, Zn < Sr); refuse ash (Cr < Ce < V < Rb < Mn < Sr, Zn < Ba); biomass ash (Cu < Zn < Ba, Sr). Based on Earth crust normalization, Co, Ni, As, Se, Mo, Zn, Pb, U, and REEs (except Pr and Er) are enriched in the lignite ash; molybdenum, Zn, Cs, Pb, Th, U, La, Ce, and Lu in the refuse ash; and Mo, Zn, Sr, Cs, Pb, and Lu in the biomass ash. Elements As, Zn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, Cr, V, Ba, Sr, and REEs are correlated with Al, indicating the possibilities of their association with aluminum silicates minerals. Similarly, barium, Cs, Th, and U are correlated with iron oxides; molybdenum and Sr may also be associated with sulfates and chlorides. Due to the alkaline nature of these ashes, the high concentrations of As and Se in the lignite ash; molybdenum in the biomass ash; and Se in the refuse ash may pose environmental concerns.