An unusual occurrence of coesite at the Lonar crater,India

Coesite has been identified within ejected blocks of shocked basalt at Lonar crater, India. This is the first report of coesite from the Lonar crater. Coesite occurs within SiO₂ glass as distinct ~30 μm spherical aggregates of “granular coesite” identifiable both with optical petrography and with micro‐Raman spectroscopy. The coesite+glass occurs only within former silica amygdules, which is also the first report of high‐pressure polymorphs forming from a shocked secondary mineral. Detailed petrography and NMR spectroscopy suggest that the coesite crystallized directly from a localized SiO₂ melt, as the result of complex interactions between the shock wave and these vesicle fillings.     

Optimizing the Determination of Roughness Parameters for Model Urban Canopies

We present an objective optimization procedure to determine the roughness parameters for very rough boundary-layer flow over model urban canopies. For neutral stratification the mean velocity profile above a model urban canopy is described by the logarithmic law together with the set of roughness parameters of displacement height d, roughness length \(z_0\), and friction velocity \(u_*\). Traditionally, values of these roughness parameters are obtained by fitting the logarithmic law through (all) the data points comprising the velocity profile. The new procedure generates unique velocity profiles from subsets or combinations of the data points of the original velocity profile, after which all possible profiles are examined. Each of the generated profiles is fitted to the logarithmic law for a sequence of values of d, with the representative value of d obtained from the minima of the summed least-squares errors for all the generated profiles. The representative values of \(z_0\) and \(u_*\) are identified by the peak in the bivariate histogram of \(z_0\) and \(u_*\). The methodology has been verified against laboratory datasets of flow above model urban canopies.     

Rare Earth and Other Trace Element Content of NRCC HISS-1 Sandy Marine Sediment Reference Material

The National Research Council (NRC), Ottawa, Canada sandy marine sediment reference material HISS-1 was characterised for thirty-seven trace elements by neutron activation optimised irradiation, cooling and counting protocols using the low power Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) as a neutron source. This INAA methodology quantified twenty additional elements including ten rare earth (Ce, Dy, Eu, Ho, La, Lu, Nd, Sm, Tb and Yb) and ten other elements (Ba, Br, Cs, Ga, Hf, Rb, Sc, Ta, Th and Zr) missing in the final NRCC certification. A large number of values produced by different irradiation schemes together with the use of certified reference materials in the quantification step that showed good precision, provided confidence in the results. The reliability of the REE data was checked by plotting chondrite-normalised graphs.     

A critical review on waste paper sorting techniques

Efficient waste paper recycling has a significant role in the sustainable environment. Recyclable waste paper as a fundamental ingredient of municipal solid wastes (MSWs) is indeed an “urban ore”. Waste papers are considered as the solid recovered fuel which is recovered from MSW. Recyclable waste papers are segregated into various grades to produce high-quality products. Moreover, sorted paper streams save energy, chemicals, and water, as well as reduce sludge and rejects. Information technology is widely integrated with the waste management industry into its operations such as recycling, reuse, segregating based on categories and so on. This review article focuses on the life cycle of waste paper and existing waste paper sorting techniques. In the paper industry, many types of sensors are used in different mechanical and optical waste paper sorting systems. Such sensors include lignin, gloss, stiffness, mid-infrared, infrared, and color sensors. In this review, also described the effectiveness of different waste paper sorting systems, and finally, recommended appropriate waste paper sorting techniques based on effectiveness and low-cost implementation.     

Dust-ion-acoustic solitary waves and their multi-dimensional instability in a magnetized dusty electronegative plasma with trapped negative ions

A theoretical investigation has been made on obliquely propagating dust-ion-acoustic solitary waves (DIASWs) in magnetized dusty electronegative plasma containing Boltzmann electrons, trapped negative ions, cold mobile positive ions, and arbitrarily charged stationary dust. The reductive perturbation method has been employed to derive the modified Zakharov-Kuznetsov (MZK) equation which admits solitary wave solution under certain conditions. The multi-dimensional instability of these solitary waves is also studied by the small-k (long wavelength plane wave) perturbation-expansion technique. The basic properties (speed, amplitude, width, instability, etc.) of small but finite amplitude DIASWs are significantly modified by the effects of external magnetic field, obliqueness, polarity of dust, and trapped negative ions. The implications of our results in space and laboratory plasmas are briefly discussed.     

Dynamics of land use/cover changes and the analysis of landscape fragmentation in Dhaka Metropolitan, Bangladesh

Rapid urban expansion due to large scale land use/cover change, particularly in developing countries becomes a matter of concern since urbanization drives environmental change at multiple scales. Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, has been experienced break-neck urban growth in the last few decades that resulted many adverse impacts on the environment. This paper was an attempt to document spatio-temporal pattern of land use/cover changes, and to quantify the landscape structures in Dhaka Metropolitan of Bangladesh. Using multi-temporal remotely sensed data with GIS, dynamics of land use/cover changes was evaluated and a transition matrix was computed to understand the rate and pattern of land use/cover change. Derived land use statistics subsequently integrated with landscape metrics to determine the impact of land use change on landscape fragmentation. Significant changes in land use/cover were noticed in Dhaka over the study period, 1975–2005. Rapid urbanization was manifested by a large reduction of agricultural land since urban built-up area increased from 5,500?ha in 1975 to 20,549?ha in 2005. At the same time, cultivated land decreased from 12,040 to 6,236?ha in the same period. Likewise, wetland and vegetation cover reduced to about 6,027 and 2,812?ha, respectively. Consequently, sharp changes in landscape pattern and composition were observed. The landscape became highly fragmented as a result of rapid increase in the built-up areas. The analysis revealed that mean patch size decreased while the number of patches increased. Landscape diversity declined, urban dominance amplified, and the overall landscape mosaics became more continuous, homogenous and clumped. In order to devise sustainable land use planning and to determine future landscape changes for sound resource management strategies, the present study is expected to have significant implications in rapidly urbanizing cities of the world in delivering baseline information about long term land use change and its impact on landscape structure.     

Magnetoacoustic solitons in dense astrophysical electron-positron-ion plasmas

Nonlinear magnetoacoustic waves in dense electron-positron-ion plasmas are investigated by using three fluid quantum magnetohydrodynamic model. The quantum mechanical effects of electrons and positrons are taken into account due to their Fermionic nature (to obey Fermi statistics) and quantum diffraction effects (Bohm diffusion term) in the model. The reductive perturbation method is employed to derive the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation for low amplitude magnetoacoustic soliton in dense electron-positron-ion plasmas. It is found that positron concentration has significant impact on the phase velocity of magnetoacoustic wave and on the formation of single pulse nonlinear structure. The numerical results are also illustrated by taking into account the plasma parameters of the outside layers of white dwarfs and neutron stars/pulsars.     

Quantifying deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon using Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS PALSAR) and Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR)-C data

The study examined the capability of dual-polarization SAR data for forest cover mapping and change assessment in the Brazilian Amazon Forest regions. Shuttle Imaging Radar (SIR)-C and Advanced Land Observing Satellite Phased Array L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS PALSAR) data were analysed to map and quantify deforestation. The images were classified using hybrid classifier, where each land cover was grouped in various spectral sub-classes interpreted on the imagery and later merged together to generate the desired land cover classes. The classification accuracy for forest was reasonably high (>90%). The technique applied in this study can be extended for operational mapping and monitoring of deforestation in the tropics, particularly for those regions which are often covered by cloud.