scholarly journals ESTIMATING ABOVE GROUND BIOMASS OF <i>PINUS ROXBHURGHII</i> USING SLOPE BASED VEGETATION INDEX MODEL

Author(s):  
A. M. Joshi ◽  
S. Shahnawaz ◽  
B. Ranjit

Abstract. Pinus roxburghii is one of the important and most widely planted tree species in Nepal. Despite its large abundance and high economic values, limited studies on its AGB have been conducted in Nepal, especially using in situ non-destructive method. There are different methods to study the AGB. Regression equation based on the correlation between VI and AGB is cost effective method, and replicable in another sites of similar environment by just acquiring satellite images. Numerous methods have been developed to calculate VIs and each calculated VI shows different relation with AGB in different environments for same species. Therefore, there is a need to identify a most appropriate VI that has the highest correlation with AGB of P. roxburghii. The current study was carried out in Hattiban and Dollu community forests of Kathmandu district, using ResourceSat-2 imagery. In this study, Slope based VIs were used. Regression analysis between slope based VIs and AGB showed that relation between all VIs and AGB were significant. However, NDVI had the highest relation with AGB compared to others. Therefore, it was concluded that NDVI was the most appropriate VI to estimate AGB of P. roxburghii, and the regression equation with NDVI was used to estimate the AGB of P. roxburghii in the study area.

2016 ◽  
Vol 74 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corey B. Wakefield ◽  
Julia Santana-Garcon ◽  
Stacey R. Dorman ◽  
Stuart Blight ◽  
Ainslie Denham ◽  
...  

To improve bycatch mitigation of chondrichthyans, reptiles and cetaceans for a tropical demersal fish-trawl fishery, species-specific responses to bycatch reduction devices (BRDs) were investigated using both in situ subsurface and onboard observations. There are few, if any, studies that have determined mitigation performances of BRDs from subsurface interactions for these species, as most are rarely encountered and thus require substantial levels of observer coverage for robust assessments. This study combined in-net and onboard (774 day trawls and 1320 day trawl hours of subsurface observer coverage) electronic monitoring on all fish-trawl vessels (n = 3) to compare bycatch mitigation performances among nine megafauna groups, based on escape rates and interaction durations for three BRDs over 6 months (June to December 2012). Overall, 26.9% of day trawls had no megafauna interactions and 38.3% of the 1826 interactions escaped, with most in rapid time (91.4% in ≤ 5 min). The upward inclined exclusion grid significantly improved the escape proportions for most chondrichthyans by 20–30%. All BRDs were highly effective in reducing reptile (turtles and seasnakes) bycatch, but irrelevant for the few sawfish (n = 13) that readily entangled in the anterior of the net. Cetacean (bottlenose dolphins only) interactions with BRDs were very rare (n = 7) despite high levels of attendance and depredation during trawling. Loss of targeted teleosts through the BRD hatch was rare (1.3% of day trawls). This relatively cost-effective method of electronic monitoring achieved very high levels of subsurface observer coverage (60% of day trawls or 56% of day trawl hours), and provided evidence that the subsurface expulsion of megafauna in poor condition is negligible. Furthermore, this study provides species-specific improvements toward bycatch mitigation strategies for demersal fish trawling.


2011 ◽  
Vol 2011 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Pandey ◽  
Hema Singh

Easy, accurate, inexpensive, and nondestructive methods to determine individual leaf area of plants are a useful tool in physiological and agronomic studies. This paper introduces a cost-effective alternative (called here millimeter graph paper method) for standard electronic leaf area meter, using a millimeter graph paper. Investigations were carried out during August–October, 2009-2010, on 33 species, in the Botanical garden of the Banaras Hindu University at Varanasi, India. Estimates of leaf area were obtained by the equation, leaf area (cm2) = x/y, where x is the weight (g) of the area covered by the leaf outline on a millimeter graph paper, and y is the weight of one cm2 of the same graph paper. These estimates were then compared with destructive measurements obtained through a leaf area meter; the two sets of estimates were significantly and linearly related with each other, and hence the millimeter graph paper method can be used for estimating leaf area in lieu of leaf area meter. The important characteristics of this cost-efficient technique are its easiness and suitability for precise, non-destructive estimates. This model can estimate accurately the leaf area of plants in many experiments without the use of any expensive instruments.


Author(s):  
Gerry May

Pipe support functionality is critical to the long term life of piping system. Spring supports degrade with time due to flexing in the spring and wear in constant support bearings. It is not unusual to measure constant support hangers with resistance 25% to 50% different than the design load. This leads to excessive sustained pipe stress, pipe sag (or uplift), and in high temperature systems, accelerated creep damage. Supports may also not move properly from shut down to full operation, which can create excessive fatigue stress, failed hanger components, and other piping system damage. In-situ hanger testing has been found to be a reliable and cost effective method to determine the functionality of pipe supports. Results are used as input to set revised recommended loads, and to determine if any hangers need to be replaced. This paper provides examples of the types of problems that are often found in the field, the method to test, and typical resolutions to maximize the pipe life and minimize the risk of failure.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 03024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolae Cioica ◽  
Cătălina Tudora ◽  
Dorin Iuga ◽  
György Deak ◽  
Monica Matei ◽  
...  

Heavy metals are among the most common types of contaminants in agricultural soils, especially those bordering the cities, due to the uncontrolled use of sewage sludge, compost, mining waste and chemical fertilizers. Excessive accumulation of heavy metals, which do not degrade over time, adversely affects crop yields by decreasing microbial activity and fertility of contaminated soils. Also, excess of heavy metals in the soil poses a serious threat to plant and animal health and, through their entry into the food chain, to human health. For this reason, the decontamination of soils contaminated with heavy metals has become a necessity. This review presents the current state of phytoremediation research as the most cost-effective method of in-situ environmental decontamination of soils contaminated with heavy metals.


Author(s):  
Ben Scoulding ◽  
Rudy Kloser

Abstract Visually verified in situ target strengths (TS) are the state of the science for determining the conversion from acoustic echo-integration surveys to biomass. Here, we show how these measurements can be made by high seas fisheries during normal operations using a net-attached acoustic optical system (AOS) without specialized personnel on board. In situ TS were collected from ∼45 cm standard length (SL) orange roughy (Hoplostethus atlanticus) in the southern Indian Ocean at 38 and 120 kHz. We use a multiple lines of evidence approach to demonstrate that the previous TS–SL equation developed for ∼10 cm smaller fish in Australia and New Zealand is not suitable for the larger orange roughy and instead propose new TS–SL equations. Our findings show that biomass estimates at 38 kHz will be reduced by ∼58% when using this new TS–SL compared to the existing TS–SL for smaller fish. This highlights the error of extrapolating TS–SL equations outside the measurement range. For this high sea region, the net-attached AOS represented a practical cost-effective method to obtain measurements and provide a result that could be used to inform the management of the stocks. We suggest that this method would be useful in all deep-water fisheries to monitor the TS of the fish for a range of environmental and ontogenetic conditions.


Crystals ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 1043
Author(s):  
Noor Zaman ◽  
Rizwan Ahmed Malik ◽  
Hussein Alrobei ◽  
Jaehwan Kim ◽  
Muhammad Latif ◽  
...  

In this research, a facile and cost-effective method of graphene synthesis by the modified carburization process and its applications for supercapacitor electrodes is reported. In this simple approach, carbon was diffused into nickel foam and naturally cooled to obtain carbon precipitation for the in situ growth of graphene by decarburization. Phase-structure and surface-morphology analysis revealed the presence of a highly reduced structure of the graphene layer. Furthermore, the large-intensity D, substantial G, and 2D bands in Raman spectra were attributed to disordered multilayer graphene. The three-electrode systems were used to measure electrochemical efficiency. The electrode sample exhibited enhanced current density of 0.6 A/g, electrode energy of 1.0008 Wh/kg, and power density of 180 W/kg, showing significant electrochemical performance for supercapacitor electrode applications.


1991 ◽  
Vol 1991 (1) ◽  
pp. 533-540 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Jones ◽  
Jeffrey H. Greenfield

ABSTRACT On July 5, 1988, as a result of overfilling, about 3,200 barrels of No. 6 fuel was spilled onto surface soils surrounding a Florida Power and Light Company storage tank, and spread over about 60,000 square feet of soil. About 2,300 barrels were recovered, leaving 900 barrels in the upper six to eight inches of the soil. The spill was chosen as the site for a trial of in-situ enhanced bioremediation. An initial feasibility study in the laboratory was followed by groundwater monitoring, field remediation, and a small-plot research program. In the feasibility study, lower concentrations of nutrients applied periodically were almost as effective as a single application using a larger concentration. The small-plot study indicated that treatment with added bacteria and nutrients offered the greatest reduction in hydrocarbons. Addition of bacteria alone provided no advantage. In the field remediation program, two- and three-ring compounds were completely degraded, while four-, five-, and six-ring compounds were more resistant. The research demonstrated that in-situ enhanced bioremediation can be a cost-effective method for treating soils contaminated with No. 6 fuel oil.


Nanomaterials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 2538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osman El-Atwani ◽  
Hyosim Kim ◽  
Jonathan G. Gigax ◽  
Cayla Harvey ◽  
Berk Aytuna ◽  
...  

Beyond the current commercial materials, refining the grain size is among the proposed strategies to manufacture resilient materials for industrial applications demanding high resistance to severe environments. Here, large strain machining (LSM) was used to manufacture nanostructured HT-9 steel with enhanced thermal stability, mechanical properties, and ductility. Nanocrystalline HT-9 steels with different aspect rations are achieved. In-situ transmission electron microscopy annealing experiments demonstrated that the nanocrystalline grains have excellent thermal stability up to 700 °C with no additional elemental segregation on the grain boundaries other than the initial carbides, attributing the thermal stability of the LSM materials to the low dislocation densities and strains in the final microstructure. Nano-indentation and micro-tensile testing performed on the LSM material pre- and post-annealing demonstrated the possibility of tuning the material’s strength and ductility. The results expound on the possibility of manufacturing controlled nanocrystalline materials via a scalable and cost-effective method, albeit with additional fundamental understanding of the resultant morphology dependence on the LSM conditions.


2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (9) ◽  
pp. 1986-1995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rudy J. Kloser ◽  
Tim E. Ryan ◽  
Gavin J. Macaulay ◽  
Mark E. Lewis

Abstract Kloser, R. J., Ryan, T. E., Macaulay, G. J., and Lewis, M. E. 2011. In situ measurements of target strength with optical and model verification: a case study for blue grenadier, Macruronus novaezelandiae. – ICES Journal of Marine Science, 68: 1986–1995. In situ measurements of target strength (TS) of isolated fish surrounding dense schools need to be representative of the schooling fish to calculate their echo-integrated biomass. Using synchronous optical and acoustic measurements from a pelagic fishing net, the standard length (81 cm, n = 128), tilt-angle (−9°), and net-disturbed in situ TS (−34.4 dB) of Australian Macruronus novaezelandiae (blue grenadier) were confirmed at depth. In situ drift experiments of assumed undisturbed but dispersed blue grenadier recorded a mean TS of −31.8 dB (CI −33.1 to −30.9 dB) with attributed fish standard lengths of 83 cm (s.d. 7.5 cm) and weight 2.5 kg. Modelling the gasbladder showed that uncertainties in fish length, orientation, and gasbladder size could explain the differences observed. Blue grenadiers have negative buoyancy because the cavity size of their gasbladder is smaller than the volume of gas required for neutral buoyancy at depth. For the same species and length, New Zealand hoki weigh less and have smaller gasbladders than Australian blue grenadier, suggesting a conversion factor of 1.10 in length for comparative measurements. Net-attached acoustic and optical measurements indicate that model and drift in situ measurements are biased high by 2.9 and 1.0 dB, respectively. Net-attached acoustic and optical measurements are a cost-effective method of monitoring TS routinely at depth for changes in species length and weight.


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