Spectrophotometry of some Be stars

The continuum energy distribution of six Be stars, namely 25 Cyg, 31 Peg, HR 8758, 14 Lac, 12 Vul, and Psc, in the wavelength region 3200–7800 Å, are presented. Comparing the observed energy distributions with those of theoretical models given by Kurucz (1979), their effective temperatures are determined.A near-infrared excess emission at wavelengths above 6000 Å is seen in most of the stars.     

A response spectrum approach for seismic performance evaluation of actively controlled structures

To evaluate and measure the effectiveness of active control schemes in reducing the response of structures subjected to earthquake excitations, it is common to use recorded or artificially generated earthquakes as input motions. This paper introduces the response spectrum analysis to evaluate linear control systems for seismic inputs defined by code‐prescribed or site‐specific ground response spectra. Using such a method one can evaluate a control system in a single analysis for the ensemble of time histories that are represented by the input response spectra. The response spectrum analysis can also facilitate the implementation of comprehensive parametric studies. A generalized response spectrum method is used to analyse systems with non‐symmetrical matrices that are caused by the general nature of the control actions imposed on the structure. The application of the method is demonstrated on several numerical examples of a building structure where the control force is applied through an active tuned‐mass damper. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectrophotometric observations and evolutionary status of ten Be stars

The continuum energy distribution data of ten Be stars — namely, HR 1761, HR 1786, HR 1820, Ori, Ori, OT Gem, Lyr, HR 7983, Cyg, and 59 Cyg — have been presented in the wavelength range 3200–8000 Å. The observed energy distribution curve shows near infrared excess for majority of Be stars and a double Balmer jump for HR 8047 and HR 8146. Empirical effective temperatures of these stars have been estimated by comparing the observed continuum energy distributions with that of computed theoretical models given by Kurucz (1979).On the basis of an HR diagram with evolutionary tracks for different solar masses the masses of these Be stars have been estimated. Position of these studied stars on the HR diagram suggests that these Be stars may be in the stage of core contraction after exhausting hydrogen at the centre and have undergone hydrogen exhaustion in the thick shell.     

Initial mass functions of Wolf-Rayet stars

On the basis of evolutionary tracks on the HR diagram the lower limit of initial mass functions for Wolf-Rayet stars are estimated. The lower limit to the initial masses of the Wolf-Rayet stars seems to be 20M and in this respect there is no significant difference between the WN and WC stars.     

Land Cover Mapping for Namdapha National Park (Arunachal Pradesh), India Using Harmonized Land Cover Legends

Since last few decades RS-GIS is playing vital role in studying and mapping spatiotemporal responses of land cover, however, as a matter of fact, the mapping outputs largely depend on the expert's/user's preferences because location specific and people specific land cover classification systems are adopted autonomously for image classification in GIS. This may actually lead to an ambiguous definition of a particular land cover type when such different maps are compared at global level. In 1993, FAO and UNEP started efforts for development of a software tool know as LCCS which is a comprehensive standardized tool capable of providing land cover characterization to all possible land cover types in the world regardless of spatial relevance, mapping scale, data collection method etc. Adding to the global efforts of land cover legend harmonization and mapping, this study presents development of harmonized land cover legends for Namdapha National Park located in north-eastern Indian Himalayan region using LCCS and subsequent mapping. The potential of Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in forest/land cover mapping is very well recognized. Therefore, adopting the developed harmonized legends for the study area, land cover mapping was done using RS-GIS approach.     

Spatially resolved methane band photometry of Saturn: I. Absolute reflectivity and center-to-limb variations in the 6190-, 7250-, and 8900-Å bands

We present spatially resolved measurements of Saturn's absolute reflectivity in methane bands at 6190, 7250, and 8900 Å and in nearby continuum regions. Images were obtained through narrow-band interference filters with a 500 × 500-pixel charge-coupled device. Band/continuum ratios were measured to high accuracy by referencing to the ring brightness in each image. Several data processing techniques enhanced the quality of the observations. These are the use of the ring symmetry to find center position and orientation, accurate subtraction of ring light, and constrained image deconvolution. Uncertainty in the continuum absolute reflectivity is ±10%. Uncertainties in band/continuum ratios are from one to several percent. The Equatorial Zone was much brighter than any other latitude in the strong 8900 band image. Northern mid-latitudes were brighter than southern mid-latitudes. The latter observation indicates fewer high-altitude aerosols in the south, a possible result of atmospheric dynamics or seasonal sublimation of NH₃ crystals. The data are tabulated and presented in a form suitable for quantitative scattering model analyses.     

Characteristics of chaotic pulse trains generated by lightning flashes

Pulse trains of irregular pulse characteristics and erratic amplitudes are observed in lightning flashes. These are termed “chaotic pulse trains” in this study. The average width of the individual pulses of these pulse trains is in the range of a few microseconds, with the lower limit of individual measurements extending into the sub-microsecond region. The typical pulse separation lies in the range of 2–. The pulse duration shows a consistent distribution with the most probable value at 400–. Chaotic pulse trains occur most often immediately prior to subsequent strokes. However, they occur also a few milliseconds to several tens of milliseconds prior to return strokes and sometimes do not precede return strokes at all. Twenty-six percent of the total subsequent strokes recorded in this study were preceded by chaotic pulse trains. A few of these pulse trains have occurred in a sequence of several tens of millisecond intervals in between return strokes. We have also found them to occur within very intense cloud flashes. These chaotic pulse trains have features that are different from those of other known pulse trains reported in the lightning literature. Hence, they may be caused by a physical process that has not yet been identified.     

Petrological considerations for the demineralization of Rajmahal coals with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas mendocina</Emphasis> B6-1

The present study entails the results of the petrological coniderations for demineralization of Rajmahal Gondwana coals with Psudomonas mendocina B6-1. Inertinite group macerals are the dominant constituents of these coals, followed by vitrinite group, while liptinite occurs in low concentration. The amount of Mineral matter is moderately high. The concentration of major, minor and trace elements is high when compared with Clarke values. After the treatment of these coals with Pseudomonas mendocina strain B6-1, a significant reduction in the elemental content of oxygen, hydrogen and sulphur was observed. A gradual reduction of pyrite phase due to bioleaching was identified and its signatures were reflected in the XRD spectra and FTIR absorption bands. Over 5 % reduction in the ash content and decrease of major, minor and trace element to variable degrees were also noticed. Fe, As, and Ca positively correlate with the ash removal percentage indicating that the samples with high concentration of these elements were prone to demineralization with Pseudomonas mendocina strain B6-1 whereas Ni, Zn, Cr and Cu, negatively correlate with the ash removal percentage and shows that their enrichment impeded the process of demineralization. With increasing concentration of vitrinite the removal of major/minor/trace elements also increased which is attributed to the possible association of these elements with the mineral matter occurring as superficial mounting and superficial blanketing over the vitrinite macerals. This could facilitate the bacterial access to the elements to act upon and remove it to the variable extent. Some minerals occur intergrown with inertinites causing restricted bacterial action owing to the nonexposure of the mineral particles and less surface area available to the bacteria for bioleaching. Sulfur removal strongly relates with increase in inertinite content and decrease in liptinite content. This appears that sulfur associated with liptinites have shown difficult removal condition. The maximum removal of the trace elements like Cd, Cu, Co, Zn and Pb was observed from the ‘banded dull coal’ samples of the Rajmahal basin while maximum removal of major/minor elements like Fe, Ca and Mg was noticed from the ‘banded bright coal’ samples. However, maximum removal of Mn and As was also observed in the samples of ‘banded coal’.     

3-D GRACE gravity model for the 2011 Japan earthquake

The GRACE mission has contributed to the seismic characterization of major earthquakes in offshore regions of the world. Here, we isolate satellite gravity signal (μGal range) for the Japan Earthquake of 2011 using a difference method. Contrary to the existing gravity models, we propose a unit vertical pyramid based five-layer 3-D thrust fault model, which extends to the hypocenter and honors the ocean water layer and sea floor upheaval also. Our model partly uses existing seismological information (hypocenter depth of 32 km, rupture length of 300 km and vertical slip of 4 m), provides a snapshot of episodic subduction of the Pacific Plate below the Atlantic Plate and its gravity response closely matches the observed gravity (RMS error of 3.4012×10^?13μGal), fully accounting for co-seismic mass redistribution including sea surface deformation. Our inferred rupture length, rupture velocity, average seismic moment magnitude and momentum, respectively, are 300 km, 4.49 km/s, 1.152×10²¹?1.8816×10²¹ N m and 2.319×10⁶ GNs, which fairly agree with the literature. Further, our model inferred momentum at the sea floor corresponds to an area pulse that led to Tsunami generation.     

Temperature of interstellar warm ionized medium

This investigation on the temperature of the interstellar warm ionized medium (WIM) is characterized by the number and energy balance of the constituents of the WIM complex plasma viz. H plasma (electrons/ions/neutral atoms) and graphite dust, having a size distribution, characterized by the MRN (Mathis, Rumpl and Nordsieck) power law. Ionization of neutral atoms, electron–ion recombination, photoemission of electrons from and accretion on the dust and cooling through electron collisional excitation, followed by radiative decay of atoms has been included in the analysis. An appropriate expression for the rate of emission and mean energy of photoelectrons emitted from the surface of positively charged dust particles has been used which takes into account the dependence of absorption efficiency on wavelength of the radiation, radius of the particle and spectral irradiance distribution. The results of the parametric analysis have been displayed graphically. It is seen that the consensus values of temperature, surface potential on the dust particles and electron/ion/neutral atom densities, characteristic of interstellar warm ionized medium can be explained on the basis of plausible combinations of the dust particle density n _d and the parameter f _ex α _ex , where f _ex is the fraction of the energy of the neutral gas atoms which gets irradiated, α _ex n _e n _n is the number of the neutral atoms, which get excited per unit volume per unit time and n _e (n _n ) correspond to the density of electrons (neutral atoms).