Application of bio-fuel by-product sugarcane bagasse ash (SBA) as a principal raw material for the manufacturing of bricks was studied. The bricks were developed using the quarry dust as a replacement to natural river sand and lime as a binder.
The researchers studied the Farquhar model for carbon isotopic discrimination (change in carbon isotopic composition from air CO2 to tree-ring cellulose) in C3 plants to trees growing in the field. Two new carbon isotope datasets from Himalayan conifers with published data from another eight sites across the world show disparate trends in the plot of carbon isotope discrimination versus atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration.
Recent disasters including the deadly one of Kedarnath have brought into focus the role of space technology, in particular earth observation (remote sensing) into sharp focus. Natural disasters are deadly events caused by natural phenomena and bring damage to human societies. (Editorial)
The swampy intertidal zone and part of the backshore of Henry's Island coast of 1969 have now been submerged. Topographic surveys, analysis of textural and palynological character of sediments coupled with time-series analyais of shoreline change show phasewise erosion. This has resulted in ingression of sea. Modern sand, transported from near coastal seabed, are being deposited overe the ancient clayey silt bed depending on retreat of high water line and relief. The shoreline has been retreated by about 450 m to 1 km.
An attempt has been made to characterize the subglacial pathways that transport the meltwaters from Chaturangi and Raktavarn glaciers through the lower ablation zone of the Gangotri glacier, Indian Himalaya, by means of dye tracer experiments.
More than half of the vulture species is on the brink of extinction, with the most dramatic declines observed recently in the Indian subcontinent. While numerous factors have threatened vultures, persecution and poisoning have contributed to their decline. In India, Gyps vultures have declined by 99% due to unintentional poisoning by the veterinary drug diclofenac.
Earlier we had reported that the recurring annual seasonal outbreaks in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar, of what used to be considered viral encephalitis and called 'acute encephalitis syndrome' since no virus could be detected, is acute encephalopathy. Our report was based on a limited study and retrospective analysis of case records.
The unprecedented Uttarakhand floods of June 2013 generated a large volume of scientific literature. They offered clear technical explaination to the media reported sequence of events ofen in a historical perspective. Some ambiguities, however, remained in some of the works. For example. Dobhal et al. described that starting from 06:45 on 17 June 2013, the Chorabari lake catastrophically emptied within 5-10 min. (Correspondence)
The contribution of marine fisheries in Visakhapatnam at all stages of its life cycle to climate change during 2010-2012 was studied by determining its carbon footprint. Pre-harvest phase included vessel construction and maintenance and provision of fishing gear; harvest phase included harvest from mechanized and motorized craft and post-harvest phase involved fish transportation and fish processing.
Ganga River Basin (GRB) is the second most populous river basin in the world, which has been undergoing rapid land-use change during the last few decades. Here, the researchers analyse the landscape dynamics in Indian GRB (IGRB) using three indices, i.e. class area, mean patch size and number of patches for 14 land use and land cover classes using multi-temporal Landsat satellite datasets of 1975 and 2010.
