scholarly journals LONG TERM AEROSOL CHARACTERIZATION OVER KODAIKANAL, A HIGH ALTITUDE STATION IN SOUTH INDIA

MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 738-744
Author(s):  
V. VIZAYA BASKAR ◽  
S. M. LAHOGAONKAR
2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (1) ◽  
pp. 1397-1405 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Avila ◽  
O Valdés-Hernández ◽  
L J Sánchez ◽  
I Cruz-González ◽  
J L Avilés ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We present optical turbulence profiles obtained with a Generalized SCIDAR (G-SCIDAR) and a low-layer SCIDAR (LOLAS) at the Observatorio Astronómico Nacional in San Pedro Mártir (OAN-SPM), Baja California, Mexico, during three observing campaigns in 2013, 2014, and 2015. The G-SCIDAR delivers profiles with moderate altitude-resolution (a few hundred metres) along the entire turbulent section of the atmosphere, while the LOLAS gives high altitude resolution (on the order of tens of metres) but only within the first few hundred metres. Simultaneous measurements were obtained on 2014 and allowed us to characterize in detail the combined effect of the local orography and wind direction on the turbulence distribution close to the ground. At the beginning of several nights, the LOLAS profiles show that turbulence peaks between 25 and 50 m above the ground, not at ground level as was expected. The G-SCIDAR profiles exhibit a peak within the first kilometre. In 55 per cent and 36 per cent of the nights stable layers are detected between 10 and 15 km and at 3 km, respectively. This distribution is consistent with the results obtained with a G-SCIDAR in 1997 and 2000 observing campaigns. Statistics computed with the 7891 profiles that have been measured at the OAN-SPM with a G-SCIDAR in 1997, 2000, 2014, and 2015 campaigns are presented. The seeing values calculated with each of those profiles have a median of 0.79, first and third quartiles of 0.51 and 1.08 arcsec, which are in close agreement with other long term seeing monitoring performed at the OAN-SPM.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chandni Singh ◽  
Mark Tebboth ◽  
Jasmitha Arvind ◽  
Yashodara Udupa

This study focuses on disaster impacts and recovery in Tamil Nadu, drawing on insights from Chennai city and Nagapattinam district. The research is part of a larger three-year project called “Recovery with Dignity”, which examines the experiences of recovery in post-disaster situations across three states in India – Odisha, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala – and explores how recovery processes represent vulnerable populations. In this report, we focus on three key disasters in Tamil Nadu: the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the 2015 South India flood, and the 2018 Cyclone Gaja. Through these events, we examine how the ways disasters and their losses are represented shape recovery outcomes. The study uses a range of data, from a review of state policies in Tamil Nadu (2005-2019), an analysis of media articles published in English and Tamil (2004-2019), to interviews with disaster-affected people and secondary stakeholders. The findings indicate that disaster responses and outcomes are highly differentiated based on how disaster-affected people and their needs and losses are represented. To enable inclusive recovery, it is necessary to recognising the heterogenous nature of disaster impacts and acknowledge different ideas of what recovery means.


2007 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajendra Kumar ◽  
Michael L Best

In a study of social diffusion of telecenter use in rural south India, we find that these centers are being used only by a relatively small proportion of the village households despite their having been in operation for well over a year. Based on a survey of the telecenter users, we find that these users are, in general, young, male, school or college students, relatively more educated, belong to relatively higher income households, and come from socially and economically advanced communities. Thus the telecenters may sustain existing socioeconomic inequalities within these communities. However, we find some significant exceptions. We find that location of telecenters close to the residential localities where socially and economically backward communities live and presence of local champions within those communities are associated with attracting more users from those communities. We also find that providing localized content and services and making these services more affordable are other important factors in increasing usage and diffusion. We posit that incorporating these factors in the planning, spatial location, and operation of the telecenters can significantly improve their social diffusion and improve their long-term financial and social sustainability.


2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Grimminger ◽  
Manuel Richter ◽  
Khodr Tello ◽  
Natascha Sommer ◽  
Henning Gall ◽  
...  

With rising altitude the partial pressure of oxygen falls. This phenomenon leads to hypobaric hypoxia at high altitude. Since more than 140 million people permanently live at heights above 2500 m and more than 35 million travel to these heights each year, understanding the mechanisms resulting in acute or chronic maladaptation of the human body to these circumstances is crucial. This review summarizes current knowledge of the body’s acute response to these circumstances, possible complications and their treatment, and health care issues resulting from long-term exposure to high altitude. It furthermore describes the characteristic mechanisms of adaptation to life in hypobaric hypoxia expressed by the three major ethnic groups permanently dwelling at high altitude. We additionally summarize current knowledge regarding possible treatment options for hypoxia-induced pulmonary hypertension by reviewing in vitro, rodent, and human studies in this area of research.


2021 ◽  
Vol 89 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-142
Author(s):  
Amy L Allocco

AbstractDrawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Tamil-speaking South India, this article presents one Hindu invitation ritual to return dead relatives known as pūvāṭaikkāri to the world of the living and install them as household deities. This two-day ceremony demonstrates that prevailing scholarly perceptions of death and what follows it in Hindu traditions have constrained our ability to appreciate other models for ritual relationships between the living and the dead. These vernacular rituals call the dead back into the world, convince them to possess a human host, and persuade them to be permanently installed in the family’s domestic shrine so they may protect and sustain living kin. Rather than aiming to irrevocably separate the dead from the living, these rites are instead oriented toward eventual conjunction with the dead and therefore reveal a fundamentally different picture than that articulated in the majority of Hinduism’s sacred texts and scholarly accounts.


Author(s):  
Cynthia M. Beall ◽  
Kingman P. Strohl

Biological anthropologists aim to explain the hows and whys of human biological variation using the concepts of evolution and adaptation. High-altitude environments provide informative natural laboratories with the unique stress of hypobaric hypoxia, which is less than usual oxygen in the ambient air arising from lower barometric pressure. Indigenous populations have adapted biologically to their extreme environment with acclimatization, developmental adaptation, and genetic adaptation. People have used the East African and Tibetan Plateaus above 3,000 m for at least 30,000 years and the Andean Plateau for at least 12,000 years. Ancient DNA shows evidence that the ancestors of modern highlanders have used all three high-altitude areas for at least 3,000 years. It is necessary to examine the differences in biological processes involved in oxygen exchange, transport, and use among these populations. Such an approach compares oxygen delivery traits reported for East African Amhara, Tibetans, and Andean highlanders with one another and with short-term visitors and long-term upward migrants in the early or later stages of acclimatization to hypoxia. Tibetan and Andean highlanders provide most of the data and differ quantitatively in biological characteristics. The best supported difference is the unelevated hemoglobin concentration of Tibetans and Amhara compared with Andean highlanders as well as short- and long-term upward migrants. Moreover, among Tibetans, several features of oxygen transfer and oxygen delivery resemble those of short-term acclimatization, while several features of Andean highlanders resemble the long-term responses. Genes and molecules of the oxygen homeostasis pathways contribute to some of the differences.


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