Nonlinear electrostatic drift Kelvin-Helmholtz instability

Nonlinear analysis of electrostatic drift Kelvin-Helmholtz instability is performed. It is shown that the analysis leads to the propagation of the weakly nonlinear dispersive waves and the nonlinear behaviour is governed by the nonlinear Burger's equation.     

Thermal-convective instability of a composite rotating stellar atmosphere in the presence of a variable magnetic field

The thermal-convective instability of a composite stellar atmosphere is considered in the presence of rotation, variable horizontal magnetic field, and collisional effects. The criteria for monotonic instability are obtained which generalize the criterion derived for thermal-convective instability in the absence of above effects.     

Effect of a shear seam in the foundation of Karjan Dam

The use of the limit equilibrium method for the analysis of a dam foundation with a weak shear seam has many limitations. There is further uncertainty in such an analysis by this method when the seam is intercepted by a concrete key. The finite element method is the best alternative means of analysing such problems. In this paper, the finite element analysis of the Karjan Dam (India) foundation, which has a shear seam, is presented with and without the foundation treatment (i.e. the concrete key). The seam is simulated by joint elements. It has been found that a concrete key located near the toe of the dam significantly improves the stability of the foundation.     

A geographic perspective on intra-urban racial/ethnic diversity, segregation, and clustering in Knoxville, Tennessee: 1990-2000

Racial/ethnic diversity in the United States has increased significantly in recent decades, with minority groups now accounting for almost one-third of the total population. At the same time, growing diversity has spread into rural and non-metropolitan areas. Research suggests that changing diversity in the ‘New South’ has seen growth of non-Black communities. The question, however, is the degree to which increasing diversity equates with increasing intermixing or, alternatively, whether racial/ethnic clusters retain their prominence. This paper examines the geographic manifestations of growing racial/ethnic diversity within intra-urban context, using census-tracts as scale of analysis in the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) of Knoxville in Tennessee. The statistics used for analyzing intra-urban variations include Diversity Score, Theil Entropy Index, and Location Quotient. Tract and Block-group data for White, Black, American Indian, Asian, All Others and Hispanic are used for computing these indices. This paper concludes that diversity has increased during 1990-2000, and has dispersed into suburban counties. However, segregation and clustering for certain minority groups has also increased, in particular African-Americans still remain the most segregated and most clustered community confined to specific geographic locations. This research holds significance as local economic development patterns are very much guided by the geographic variability of human and social capital. Applied research can suggest avenues for growth and can help rebuild local communities. This paper will also contribute to literature focusing on methodological challenges in measuring diversity and its geographic manifestations.     

Variation of ambient SO2 over Delhi

The temporal variation of ambient SO₂ and the chemical composition of particulate matters (PM_2.5 and PM₁₀) were studied at National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi (28°38′N, 77°10′E). Spatial variation of SO₂ at seven air quality monitoring stations over Delhi was also studied simultaneously. Wide range of ambient SO₂ was recorded during winter (2.55 to 17.43 ppb) compare to other seasons. SO₂ mixing ratio was recorded significantly high at industrial sites during winter and summer; however, no significant spatial difference in SO₂ mixing ratio was recorded during monsoon. SO ₄ ^2? /(SO₂+SO ₄ ^2? ) ratio was recorded high (0.74) during winter and low (0.69) during summer. Monthly variation of PSCF was analyzed using HYSPLIT seven days backward trajectories and daily average SO₂ data. PSCF analysis suggests that, during winter (December, January, February) ambient SO₂ at the study site might have contributed from long distance sources, located towards west and southwest directions; during monsoon (July, August, September) marine contribution was noticed; whereas, during summer (April, May and June) it was from regional sources (located within few 100 km of study site). During winter there was significant contribution from the long distance sources located in western Asia, northwestern Pakistan, Rajasthan and Punjab provinces of India. Coal used in thermal power plants at Panipat (in the northwestern side) and Faridabad (in the southeastern side), local industries, soil erosion and biomass burning may be major contributing factors for SO₂ during summer. The study establishes that the transport sector may not be the major source of ambient SO₂ in Delhi.     

Vulnerability and adaptation to climate variability and water stress in Uttarakhand State, India

This paper presents a participatory approach to investigate vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate variability and water stress in the Lakhwar watershed in Uttarakhand State, India. Highly water stressed microwatersheds were identified by modelling surface runoff, soil moisture development, lateral runoff, and groundwater recharge. The modelling results were shared with communities in two villages, and timeline exercises were carried out to allow them to trace past developments that have impacted their lives and livelihoods, and stimulate discussion about future changes and possible adaptation interventions.     

Dynamical passage to approximate equilibrium shapes for spinning, gravitating rubble asteroids

Many asteroids are thought to be particle aggregates held together principally by self-gravity. Here we study — for static and dynamical situations — the equilibrium shapes of spinning asteroids that are permitted for rubble piles. As in the case of spinning fluid masses, not all shapes are compatible with a granular rheology. We take the asteroid to always be an ellipsoid with an interior modeled as a rigid-plastic, cohesion-less material with a Drucker-Prager yield criterion. Using an approximate volume-averaged procedure, based on the classical method of moments, we investigate the dynamical process by which such objects may achieve equilibrium. We first collapse our dynamical approach to its statical limit to derive regions in spin-shape parameter space that allow equilibrium solutions to exist. At present, only a graphical illustration of these solutions for a prolate ellipsoid following the Drucker-Prager failure law is available [Sharma, I., Jenkins, J.T., Burns, J.A., 2005a. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 37, 643; Sharma, I., Jenkins, J.T., Burns, J.A., 2005b. Equilibrium shapes of ellipsoidal soil asteroids. In: García-Rojo, R., Hermann, H.J., McNamara, S. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Micromechanics of Granular Media, vol. 1. A.A. Balkema, UK; Holsapple, K.A., 2007. Icarus 187, 500-509]. Here, we obtain the equilibrium landscapes for general triaxial ellipsoids, as well as provide the requisite governing formulae. In addition, we demonstrate that it may be possible to better interpret the results of Richardson et al. [Richardson, D.C., Elankumaran, P., Sanderson, R.E., 2005. Icarus 173, 349-361] within the context of a Drucker-Prager material. The graphical result for prolate ellipsoids in the static limit is the same as those of Holsapple [Holsapple, K.A., 2007. Icarus 187, 500-509] because, when worked out, his final equations will match ours. This is because, though the formalisms to reach these expressions differ, in statics, at the lowest level of approximation, volume-averaging and the approach of Holsapple [Holsapple, K.A., 2007. Icarus 187, 500-509] coincide. We note that the approach applied here was obtained independently [Sharma, I., Jenkins, J.T., Burns, J.A., 2003. Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 35, 1034; Sharma, I., 2004. Rotational Dynamics of Deformable Ellipsoids with Applications to Asteroids. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University] and it provides a general, though approximate, framework that is amenable to systematic improvements and is flexible enough to incorporate the dynamical effects of a changing shape, different rheologies and complex rotational histories. To demonstrate our technique, we investigate the non-equilibrium dynamics of rigid-plastic, spinning, prolate asteroids to examine the simultaneous histories of shape and spin rate for rubble piles. We have succeeded in recovering most results of Richardson et al. [Richardson, D.C., Elankumaran, P., Sanderson, R.E., 2005. Icarus 173, 349-361], who obtained equilibrium shapes by studying numerically the passage into equilibrium of aggregates containing discrete, interacting, frictionless, spherical particles. Our mainly analytical approach aids in understanding and quantifying previous numerical simulations.     

On distribution of CMEs speed in solar cycle 23

We have analyzed the data for more than 12900 coronal mass ejections (CMEs) which were obtained by SOHO/LASCO during the period of 1996-2007. The online CME catalogue contains all major CMEs detected by LASCO C2 and C3 coronagraphs. Basically we determine the CME speeds from the linear and quadratic fits to the height-time measurements. It is found that linear (constant speed) fit is preferable for 90% of the CMEs. The distribution of speeds of CMEs in solar cycle 23 is presented along with those obtained by others. As expected, the speeds decrease in the decay phase of the cycle 23. There is an unusual drop in speed in the year 2001 and an abnormal increase in speed in the year 2003 due to the high concentration of CMEs, X-class soft X-ray flares, solar energetic particle (SEP) events and interplanetary shocks observed during October-November period called Halloween events.     

The role of fluids in the formation of talc deposits of Rema area,Kumaun Lesser Himalaya

Talc deposits of Rema area in the Kumaun Inner Lesser Himalaya are hosted within high magnesium carbonates of the Proterozoic Deoban Formation. These deposits occur as irregular patches or pockets mainly within magnesite bodies, along with impurities of magnesite, dolomite and clinochlore. Textures represent different phases of reactions between magnesite and silica to produce talc. Petrography, XRD and geochemistry reveal that the talc has primarily developed at the expense of magnesite and silica, leaving dolomite largely un-reacted. Early fluid inclusions in magnesite and dolomite associated with talc are filled with H₂O+NaCl+KCl ± MgCl₂ ± CaCl₂ fluids, which represent basin fluid system during diagenesis of carbonates. Their varied degree of re-equilibration was although not pervasive but points to increased burial, and hence requires careful interpretation. H₂O-CO₂ fluid with XCO₂ between 0.06 and 0.12 was equilibrated with talc formation. The reaction dolomite+quartz → talc was not extensive because T-X_CO2 was not favourable, and talc was developed principally after magnesite+quartz.