A viable mechanism for the production of energy in active galactic nuclei

It is suggested that a collapsing supermassive object, which acts as an ultra-high energy particle accelerator, is the precursor of an active galactic nucleus and that the gravitational energy released during the collapse of the object is locked in the quark-gluon plasma permeated by leptons into which the entire matter in the core of the object is converted as a result of the collapse. It is also pointed out that the collapse of the object to a space-time singularity is inhibited by Pauli's exclusion principle as well as by Heisenberg's uncertainty principle and that the object explodes, before it could collapse to a singularity, thereby releasing the enormous amount of energy locked in the quark-gluon plasma.     

Probable gas hydrate/free gas model over western continental margin of India

Multi-channel seismic reflection data from the western continental margin of India (WCMI) have been analyzed to construct a plausible model for gas hydrate formation. A reflector at 2950 ms two way travel time (TWT) on one of the sections is interpreted to represent the base of the layer of the methane hydrate, identified by a bottom simulating reflector (BSR) that lies almost 500 ms beneath the sea floor. BSRs of similar origin are common world wide, where they are usually interpreted to mark the base of gas hydrate bearing clastic sediment, with or without underlying free gas. In this study we present a model with the contrasting physical properties that produce synthetic wavelets that match with the observed BSR amplitude and waveforms for varying source-receiver offsets of multi-channel seismic reflection data. The preliminary results presented here put important constraints on models that predict the distribution and formation of hydrate. Offset-dependent amplitude recovery also gives an appropriate response for hydrate characterization.     

Analysis of earth dams affected by the 2001 Bhuj Earthquake

An earthquake of magnitude of 7.6 (M_w 7.6) occurred in Bhuj, India on January 26, 2001. This event inflicted damages of varying extents to a large number of small to moderate size multi-zone earth dams in the vicinity of the epicenter. Some of the distress was due to the liquefaction of saturated alluvium in foundation. Liquefaction was relatively localized for the majority of these dams because the earthquake struck in the middle of a prolonged dry season when the reservoirs behind these dams were nearly empty and shallow alluvium soils underneath the downstream portions of the dams were partly dry. Otherwise, liquefaction of foundation soils would have been more extensive and damage to these dams more significant. Six such dams have been examined in this paper. Four of these facilities, Chang, Shivlakha, Suvi, and Tapar were within the 50 km of epicenter region. These dams underwent free-field ground motion with peak ground accelerations between 0.28g to 0.52g. Of these Chang Dam underwent severe slumping, whereas Shivlakha, Suvi, and Tapar Dams were affected severely especially over the upstream sections. Fatehgadh Dam and Kaswati Dam were affected relatively less severely. Foundation conditions underneath these dams were first examined for assessing liquefaction potential. A limited amount of subsurface information available from investigations undertaken prior to the earthquake indicates that, although the foundation soils within the top 2.0 to 2.5 m underneath these dams were susceptible to liquefaction, Bhuj Earthquake did not trigger liquefaction because of lack of saturation of these layers underneath the downstream portions of these dams. These dams were then analyzed using a simple sliding block procedure using appropriate estimates of undrained soil strength parameters. The results of this analysis for these structures were found to be in general agreement with the observed deformation patterns.     

Biosafety assessment of municipal wastewater after treatment by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Serratia</Emphasis> sp. ISTVKR1

The previously described potent biodegrading bacterial strain Serratia sp. ISTVKR1 isolated from sludge of Vasant Kunj Sewage Treatment Plant (VK STP) was used for the study of detoxification of municipal wastewater contaminants with the help of in vitro bioassays conducted on human liver cancer cell line HepG2. The strain has previously been shown to reduce wastewater contaminant load as revealed by a sevenfold reduction in COD and removal of some organic contaminants in the GC–MS analysis of wastewater post-72-h bacterial treatment. Cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and dioxin-like behavior of real municipal wastewater (collected from inlet of VK STP) was assessed before and after bacterial treatment using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT), alkaline comet and 7-ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD) assays, respectively. The bacterial strain was inoculated into MSM broth (pH = 7.2) containing 50% v/v filter-sterilized influent of VK STP and incubated up to 240 h at 30 °C and 130 rpm. Physicochemical and toxicological analyses were performed for the culture samples. The results of bioassays revealed an increase in cell viability by 40.16% and a reduction in the % EROD activity by 58.4% in the 240-h bacteria-treated sample as compared to the 0-h sample. Genotoxicity as indicated by tail moment (TM) and olive tail moment (OTM) was found to reduce by five- and threefold, respectively, after 240-h bacterial treatment. The results of the study confirmed the potency of the bacterial strain in detoxification of wastewater contaminants.     

Electro-chemical mineralization of recalcitrant indole by platinum-coated titanium electrode: multi-response optimization,mechanistic and sludge disposal study

Indole is a highly recalcitrant aromatic heterocyclic organic compound consisting of a five-membered nitrogen-containing pyrrole ring fused to a six-membered benzene ring. This study presents the results of the electro-chemical mineralization of indole in an aqueous solution using platinum-coated titanium (Pt/Ti) electrode. A central composite design was used to investigate the effect of four parameters namely initial pH (pH_o), current density (j), conductivity (k) and treatment time (t) at 5 levels. Multiple responses namely chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal (Y ₁) and specific energy consumption (Y ₂) were simultaneously maximized and minimized, respectively, by optimizing the parameters affecting the mineralization of indole by using the desirability function approach. At the operating conditions of pH 8.6, j = 161 A/m², k = 6.7 mS/cm and t = 150 min, 83.8% COD removal with specific energy consumption of 36.3 kWh/kg of COD removed was observed. Ultra performance liquid chromatography, UV–visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry of the indole solution were performed at the optimum condition of the treatment so as to report a plausible mechanism of indole degradation. Field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis of electrodes before and after treatment was performed for determining the changes on anode surface during the treatment. Thermal analysis of the solid residue (scum) obtained was also performed for exploring its disposal prospects. Present study shows that electro-chemical oxidation can be used for mineralization of nitrogenous heterocyclic compounds such as indole.     

Quantifying land use/land cover spatio-temporal landscape pattern dynamics from Hyperion using SVMs classifier and FRAGSTATS®

This study aims to quantify the landscape spatio-temporal dynamics including Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) changes occurred in a typical Mediterranean ecosystem of high ecological and cultural significance in central Greece covering a period of 9 years (2001–2009). Herein, we examined the synergistic operation among Hyperion hyperspectral satellite imagery with Support Vector Machines, the FRAGSTATS^® landscape spatial analysis programme and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) for this purpose. The change analysis showed that notable changes reported in the experimental region during the studied period, particularly for certain LULC classes. The analysis of accuracy indices suggested that all the three classification techniques are performing satisfactorily with overall accuracy of 86.62, 91.67 and 89.26% in years 2001, 2004 and 2009, respectively. Results evidenced the requirement for taking measures to conserve this forest-dominated natural ecosystem from human-induced pressures and/or natural hazards occurred in the area. To our knowledge, this is the first study of its kind, demonstrating the Hyperion capability in quantifying LULC changes with landscape metrics using FRAGSTATS^® programme and PCA for understanding the land surface fragmentation characteristics and their changes. The suggested approach is robust and flexible enough to be expanded further to other regions. Findings of this research can be of special importance in the context of the launch of spaceborne hyperspectral sensors that are already planned to be placed in orbit as the NASA’s HyspIRI sensor and EnMAP.     

尼泊尔低喜马拉雅推覆带油源对比及油气成藏

尼泊尔低喜马拉雅推覆带油气苗来源不清极大地影响了该区油气勘探.在地质-地球物理综合调查的基础上,利用油气地球化学、碳同位素及生烃史模拟对尼泊尔代莱克地区油源和成藏过程进行了研究.结果表明:①尼泊尔代莱克地区油苗产于Padukasthan断裂,可分两期,第一期呈含油断层泥产出,氯仿沥青"A"为149～231 μg/g,RR.为0.81％,氯仿沥青"A"的δ13C相对较重(-26.24‰～-27.10‰),族组分具有正碳同位素序列,发黄绿色荧光,为典型的低熟煤成油,第二期呈液态油产出并遭受微生物降解,金刚烷IMD指数为0.33～0.45,R.为1.24％～1.53％,3,4-DMD含量46％～47％,全油δ13C为-29.50‰～-29.45‰,族组分碳同位素趋于一致,发蓝色荧光,为海相成因高熟油;②第一期油来源于Surkhet群的Melpani组和Gondwana群煤系烃源岩,为Ⅲ型有机质低熟阶段的产物,第二期来源于Surkhet群的Swat组浅海陆棚相黑色页岩,为Ⅱ1型有机质生油高峰的产物,两期油与Lakharpata群过成熟黑色泥岩和Siwalik群未熟泥岩没有亲缘关系;③尼泊尔低喜马拉雅推覆带具有"多源多期、推覆增熟、砂体控储、披覆控聚"的油气成藏模式,油气成藏过程可划分为沉积浅埋、构造圈闭形成、深埋油藏形成、气藏形成和晚期改造定型5个演化阶段;④尼泊尔低喜马拉雅推覆有利于Gondwana群、Surkhet群深埋增温、持续快速生烃和晚期成藏,对比邻区巴基斯坦的含油气盆地,尼泊尔低喜马拉雅推覆带及相邻类似地区具备良好的油气成藏条件.     

An interpretation of wave refraction and its influence on foreshore sediment distribution

To analyze the grain size and depositional environment of the foreshore sediments, a study was undertaken on wave refraction along the wide sandy beaches of central Tamil Nadu coast. The nearshore waves approach the coast at 45° during the northeast(NE) monsoon, at 135° during the southwest(SW) monsoon and at 90° during the non-monsoon or fair-weather period with a predominant wave period of 8 and 10 s. A computer based wave refraction pattern is constructed to evaluate the trajectories of shoreward propagating waves along the coast in different seasons. The convergent wave rays during NE monsoon, leads to high energy wave condition which conveys a continuous erosion at foreshore region while divergent and inept condition of rays during the SW and non-monsoon, leads to moderate and less energy waves that clearly demarcates the rebuilt beach sediments through littoral sediment transport. The role of wave refraction in foreshore deposits was understood by grain size and depositional environment analysis. The presence of fine grains with the mixed population, during the NE monsoon reveals that the high energy wave condition and sediments were derived from beach and river environment. Conversely, the presence of medium grains with uniform population, during SW and non-monsoon attested less turbulence and sediments were derived from prolong propagation of onshore-offshore wave process.These upshots are apparently correlated with the in situ beach condition. On the whole, from this study it is understood that beaches underwent erosion during the NE monsoon and restored its original condition during the SW and non-monsoon seasons that exposed the stability of the beach and nearshore condition.