Winter Precipitations of Northern Part of Farming-pastoral Zone and Hulunbuir Grassland

In January 2018 a high record of monthly total precipitation in northern China drew our attention. This number is 4 times more than that in normal winters over the past 30 years, and its location is in northern China. Thus our research region is composed by the northern part of the farming-pastoral zone and the Hulunbuir Grassland. We target our research at understanding the phenomena and causes of such high precipitations. We explore the heavy precipitation locations, and use dynamical analyses on different pressure levels to find out the cause of the high score. We analyze wind fields, geopotential heights and relative humidity for the pressure levels of 200 hPa, 500 hPa, 700 hPa and 850 hPa. We find that the location of the highest monthly total precipitation in January 2018 is on the mountain, whereas the spots of heavy precipitations during one event are not located on the mountain. Zooming in January 2018, it is the precipitation frequency that drastically increased, not the number of heavy precipitation events. The dynamical analyses show that the heavy precipitation events in January 2018 are mainly caused by appearance of cyclones either in or near the research region at high geopotential heights.

Limnology of rock pools in the river Chenab at Dhoomi, Akhnoor, in Jammu region of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir

Small and temporary freshwater rock pools, compared to lakes, ponds and rivers, have received a very little scientific attention in India. For the present limnological study, six rock pools in the river Chenab at Dhoomi, Akhnoor, were analysed seven times for water quality and fauna during 17-01-2011 to 26-01-2011 and have been described. Among various water parameters depth (6-11 cm), transparency (6-11 cm) and turbidity (1.4-6.88 NTU) recorded a decrease after high record on first observation. Salinity remained constant (0.1 ppt) on all the seven observations. Dissolved oxygen (DO) observed maximum (12.81 mg/l) record on 19-01-2011 and minimum (9.99 mg/l) on 26-01-2011. Chloride (Cl?) was minimum (2.73 mg/l) on 17-01-2011 and 18-01-2011 and maximum (6.81 mg/l) on 24-01-2011. Conductivity (75.50 – 178.8 µS cm?¹), total dissolved solids (TDS) (40.13 – 85.5 mg/l), Biological oxygen demand (BOD) (2.5 – 6.63 mg/l), pH (8.26 – 9.12), carbonate ( CO3-2) (2.31 – 22.84 mg/l), bicarbonate (HCO3-) (29.83 – 71.29 mg/l), calcium (Ca+2) (9.45 – 29.50 mg/l), magnesium (Mg+2) (2.24 – 5.38 mg/l), total hardness (TH) (35.34 – 95.80 mg/l) and sodium (Na+) (0.44 – 1.05 mg/l) showed highest record on last observation. Potassium (K+) (0.60 – 1.70 mg/l) was minimum on 18-01-2011 and maximum on 24-01-2011. Nitrate (NO3?) (0.084-0.373 mg/l), phosphate (PO4³? ) (0.043 – 0.140 mg/l), silicate (SiO4-4) (1.28 – 3.95 mg/l) and sulphate (SO4-2) (4.89 – 7.84 mg/l) observed an irregular pulse. Fauna in these rock pools was represented by zooplankton (passive dispersers) belonging to Protozoa (27 species), Rotifera (3 species), gemmules of Porifera (2 species) and Turbellaria (1 species) only. Zooplanktonic maximum qualitative record was observed on 6th observation and quantitative on 7th observation. In the absence of any earlier study on freshwater rock pools in the Himalayan rivers, present work shall be of great help for future workers.

Hydrological and Morphological Changes of the Lower Danube Near Mohács, Hungary

Various direct human impacts changed the hydro-morphology of the Danube during the last centuries. The aims of the present study are (1) to analyze the water regime of the Danube River using the data of Mohács gauging station (1900-2013), and (2) to study the channel development (1952-2014) in connection with water regime changes and human impacts at a section near Bogyiszló (upstream of Mohács). According to the results the height of low water stages decreased by approx. 136 cm (1.2 cm/year), and new, high record flood stages were measured too. The discharge values appertaining to the same low water stages doubled, thus nowadays almost twice as much water flows through the cross-section of the channel at a given stage as at the beginning of the studied period. As the duration of low stages increased, the sandbar development intensified, thus the channel became narrower (by 48% at some places) and deeper thalweg evolved. Therefore, a smaller cross-section for flood-waves evolved, affecting the height of flood. These changes affect shipping, as due to riverbed incision and decrease of low water stages, the lowest shipping water level has to be set repeatedly at lower stages. Besides water extraction from the channel will have difficulties, thus irrigation and industrial cooling water supply will be limited in the future.

Bicuspid aortic valve with severe aortic stenosis: a case report

A bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) can be a serious disorder of heart valve in which the valve only has two leaflets or flaps that control blood flow through the heart. Between one and two percent of all people have this defect and it affects more men than women. This report presents a case of severe aortic stenosis with mild to moderate aortic regurgitation due to bicuspid aortic valve with hypertension. A 37 years old male presented with high record of blood pressure and occasional shortness of breath on exertion. Echocardiography (Color Doppler) revealed severe aortic stenosis with mild to moderate aortic regurgitation due to bicuspid aortic valve with moderately severe concentric LV wall hypertrophy. Surgical treatment (aortic valve replacement) was scheduled based on echocardiography findings. On surgical resection a well defined bicuspid aortic valve was found with calcification and friable valve leaflet. Histopathology of valve tissue shows large areas of calcification. Patient was discharged from hospital on 7th POD with an advice to attend cardiac surgery OPD after 1 month. Aortic valve replacement must be considered in this type of lesion.Bangladesh Med J. 2015 May; 44 (2): 105-108

Superior performance of CuInS2 for photocatalytic water treatment: full conversion of highly stable nitrate ions into harmless N2 under visible light

CuInS2 exhibits a high record of photocatalytic efficiency in visible light driven nitrate reduction without over-reduction nor H2 generation.

Thailand Citizen Centric e-Government Service

The current ICT master plan has put more attention on the governance factor since there have been lessons learnt during the first master plan implementation: a lack of properly conducted governance caused most project misconducts and less citizen engagement. Therefore e-governance has been underlined both in terms of front and back-end services. Likewise, challenges toward success for the next phase of e-government are to define clearly the governance elements in both vertical and horizontal dimensions. Most importantly, “citizen centricity” is crucial in all those angles to keep the online activities in high record of citizen community attention. Above all, the e-government development efforts must lead the country toward a smarter and more sustainable condition and environment.

Thailand Citizen Centric e-Government Service

The current ICT master plan has put more attention on the governance factor since there have been lessons learnt during the first master plan implementation: a lack of properly conducted governance caused most project misconducts and less citizen engagement. Therefore e-governance has been underlined both in terms of front and back-end services. Likewise, challenges toward success for the next phase of e-government are to define clearly the governance elements in both vertical and horizontal dimensions. Most importantly, “citizen centricity” is crucial in all those angles to keep the online activities in high record of citizen community attention. Above all, the e-government development efforts must lead the country toward a smarter and more sustainable condition and environment.