Urban land use mapping: A case study of ahmedabad city and its environs

Proper urban planning and effective implementation requires reliable urban land use statistics. In this context, satellite remote sensing data has been studied using both visual and digital techniques. A portable eight-band radiometer has been used to collect spectral signatures of surface features present in Ahmedabad city and its environs. Using these signatures a suitable approach employing visual and digital techniques has been developed for urban land use/sprawl mapping. Urban land-use maps of Ahmedabad city and its environs were prepared on 1:25,000 scale and for Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority Area on 1:50,000 scale using this methodology. It has been found that edge-enhancement techniques are useful to enhance the contrast among different urban land uses. Classification techniques such as MXL and Bayes classifiers are not successful in discriminating urban land uses. Tonal characteristics alongwith other elements of interpretation are required to classify urban land uses such as residential, industrial etc. Spatial distribution of various urban and uses and the space devoted to each urban land use has been brought out.     

Nuclear changes in blood, early liver anomalies and hepatocellular cancers in flounder (Platichthys flesus L.) as prognostic indicator for a higher cancer risk?

Nuclear changes (micronuclei) in blood are a well-established biomarker of toxic injury and related genotoxicity in mussel, fish and humans, as well. Yet, the relationship between the frequencies of micronuclei in blood and nuclear changes in liver cells itself and the higher potential risk to develop liver cancer is not yet fully implemented. We analysed and diagnosed macroscopic liver changes and H&E and Feulgen stained histological liver sections (2 microm of thickness) together with blood smears (stained with Sytox Green) from same individuals in flounder caught along a well-known contaminant gradient in the North Sea. Results showed an increase in micronuclei frequencies in blood at the more contaminated sites and higher frequencies of macroscopically visible neoplastic liver changes. In livers of the same individuals, nuclear changes were diagnosed in early to degenerative liver lesion, extra-focal tissue surrounding neoplastic lesion and various stages during cancer progression from early neoplastic foci, benign adenomas and malignant carcinomas. The aim of this approach is to expand diagnostic criteria, well-established in the frame of BEQUALM to nuclear changes which might help diagnosis of malignancies in doubtful cases.     

Assessment of land degradation hazards,etah district,uttar pradesh using landsat data

To understand the nature of land degradation and factors responsible for it, investigations were carried out in Etah district with an area of 4.45 lakh hectares. For identification of soil/land degradation problems, multidate Landsat, TM spectral bands and FCC were used. It is observed that salt-affected soils are sharply depicted by light and dark gray mixed tone on band 3, while they are not clear on band 4. Flood plain and waterlogged soils are clearly observed on band 4. Band 6 (10.3 – 12.5 µm) helps in separation of broad zones of coarse and fine-textured soils, active flood plain of rivers, and eroded and gullied lands. The confusion between coarse-textured droughty soils and salt-affected areas in TM FCC (2, 3, 4) could be eliminated by use of band-6 data in combination with FCC. For delineation of problematic areas, two approaches were followed viz. (i) physiographic approach, and (ii) direct approach. In the physiographic approach landscape map associated with image characteristics was prepared. Further the image interpretation units were interpreted for land degradation hazards. With this approach physiography and soil relationship and the degradation problems vis-a-vis soil units could be established and ameliorative measures as per soil condition can be suggested. In direct approach, the problematic areas as per predetermined key were demarcated. Out of 4.45 lakh ha of the area, 1.99 lakh ha is affected by various soil degradation problems, like droughty soils, flooding hazard and salinity and alkalinity which cover 22.1%, 50.0% and 27.9%, respectively. To study the distribution of a salt-affected lands, major physiographic boundaries were superimposed over the land degradation map prepared by direct approach. It is observed that 81.5% of the salt-affected areas lie in the old alluvial plain while 18.5% is in recent flood plain.     

Species-dependent sensitivity to contaminants: an approach using primary hepatocyte cultures with three marine fish species

There is limited knowledge about the sensitivity of different fish species to environmental pollutants. Such information is pivotal in risk assessment and to understand why some species appear to be more tolerant to contaminants than others. The aim of the current study was to evaluate whether primary hepatocyte cultures of three marine fish species could be established in the field and whether their sensitivity to selected contaminants would differ. Primary hepatocyte cultures of three marine fish species (plaice, long rough dab, Atlantic cod) were established and exposed for 24 h to copper (20-2500 mg L?1) and statins (1-200 mg L?1). Endpoints were esterase activity, metabolic activity and reduced glutathione (GSH) content, all using fluorescent probes. Flatfish hepatocytes were more susceptible to copper and statin exposure than hepatocytes from cod. This study has shown that species-dependent differences in contaminant sensitivity can be investigated using primary hepatocyte cultures.     

Estimation of sediment sources using selected chemical tracers in the Perry lake basin,Kansas,USA

The ability to achieve meaningful decreases in sediment loads to reservoirs requires a determination of the relative importance of sediment sources within the contributing basins. In an investigation of sources of fine-grained sediment （clay and silt） within the Perry Lake Basin in northeast Kansas, representative samples of channel-bank sources, surface-soil sources （cropland and grassland）, and reservoir bottom sediment were collected, chemically analyzed, and compared. The samples were sieved to isolate the 〈63μt m fraction and analyzed for selected nutrients （total nitrogen and total phosphorus）, organic and total carbon, 25 trace elements, and the radionuclide cesium-137 （^137Cs）. On the basis of substantial and consistent compositional differences among the source types, total nitrogen （TN）, total phosphorus （TP）, total organic carbon （TOC）, and ^137Cs were selected for use in the estimation of sediment sources. To further account for differences in particle-size composition between the sources and the reservoir bottom sediment, constituent ratio and clay-normalization techniques were used. Computed ratios included TOC to TN, TOC to TP, and TN to TP. Constituent concentrations （TN, TP, TOC） and activities （^137Cs） were normalized by dividing by the percentage of clay. Thus, the sediment-source estimations involved the use of seven sediment-source indicators. Within the Perry Lake Basin, the consensus of the seven indicators was that both channel-bank and surface-soil sources were important in the Atchison County Lake and Banner Creek Reservoir subbasins, whereas channel-bank sources were dominant in the Mission Lake subbasin. On the sole basis of ^137Cs activity, surface-soil sources contributed the most free-grained sediment to Atchison County Lake, and channel-bank sources contributed the most fine-grained sediment to Banner Creek Reservoir and Mission Lake. Both the seven-indicator consensus and ^137Cs indicated that channelbank sources were dominant for Perry Lake and that channel-bank sources increased in importance with distance downstream in the basin.