Looking beyond protected areas: Identifying conservation compatible landscapes in agro-forest mosaics in north-eastern India

Small-sized protected areas face increasing pressures from developmental activities and are often rendered inadequate and isolated to conserve wide-ranging species. However, in situations where wildlife persists outside protected areas, conservation goals may be met by aligning the ecological needs of wildlife with the socio-economic needs of local communities and offsetting losses arising due to shared spaces. We explore the potential of a tea-plantation dominated landscape of multiple land-use in north-eastern India to conserve the Asian elephant and the Indian leopard. We assess conservation potential by identifying predictors of species use of particular habitats using species distribution models and identify challenges by reviewing the available literature. Elephants used ~680 km2 of this 1200 km2 non-forested landscape; within this area, habitats with a higher proportion of deciduous forest patches were favored. Leopards were found to be ubiquitous in tea-plantation and used ~950 km2 of the study area, with the proportion of tea cover being the single best predictor of leopard habitat-use. With more than 30 human deaths and 100 injuries per year caused by these two species in the study area alone, the high frequency of human casualties and economic losses remain the prime hurdles to long-term conservation efforts. We discuss specific mitigation measures to reduce human casualties and call for the inclusion of important stakeholders in the mitigation process. The study provides a template for identifying conservation-compatible landscapes outside protected areas and a framework for identifying challenges and potential to mitigate current or future conservation conflicts

A solution for the flood cost sharing problem

In this study, we model and study the flood cost sharing problem on a successive transboundary river shared between n-riparian states. We propose a Sequential Upstream Proportional Allocation (SUPA) solution and axiomatically characterise it. We make use of the Extended Producer Responsibility principle to define a characteristic form game which models cooperative behaviour among riparian states. We show that the proposed sharing rule coincides with the Shapley value of this game. The proposed allocation is also a member of the Core of the game

A form of Schwarz's lemma and a bound for the Kobayashi metric on convex domains

We present a form of Schwarz's lemma for holomorphic maps between convex domains D1 and D2. This result provides a lower bound on the distance between the images of relatively compact subsets of D1 and the boundary of D2. This is a natural improvement of an old estimate by Bernal-González that takes into account the geometry of �D1. Using similar techniques, we also provide a new estimate for the Kobayashi metric on bounded convex domains

Evolution of local flame displacement speeds in turbulence

gIn this study, we assess the veracity of models for density-weighted local flame displacement speed of turbulent premixed flames. It will be shown that a combination of two models, one for the weakly stretched laminar flame state and another derived for a configuration where a curved laminar flame interacts with itself to annihilate, can describe most local realizations of a turbulent premixed flame. To that end, we have performed direct numerical simulations of a reactive mixture of hydrogen-air at atmospheric pressure using a detailed chemical reaction mechanism and analysed the dataset with recently developed flame particle tracking techniques. Forward tracking a large number of flame particles from the generating locations of the corresponding flame surfaces (given by backward tracking) to the corresponding annihilating locations, creates a manifold of local states that can represent nearly all possible states realizable for the turbulent premixed flame under consideration. With all the states of the flame accessible over time, we first assess the applicability of the two-parameter Markstein length based flame speed model. It is found that the model prediction is reasonably accurate for a significant part of the flame particles' lifetime, for turbulent premixed flames with Karlovitz number O.10 /. However, during the final stage of annihilation of the flame particles in the negatively curved trailing regions, the local structure of the flame no longer resembles a standard premixed flame, even qualitatively. A new interaction model for the flame displacement speed, during these final stages of annihilation of the flame elements, has been derived

Evolution of local flame displacement speeds in turbulence

gIn this study, we assess the veracity of models for density-weighted local flame displacement speed of turbulent premixed flames. It will be shown that a combination of two models, one for the weakly stretched laminar flame state and another derived for a configuration where a curved laminar flame interacts with itself to annihilate, can describe most local realizations of a turbulent premixed flame. To that end, we have performed direct numerical simulations of a reactive mixture of hydrogen-air at atmospheric pressure using a detailed chemical reaction mechanism and analysed the dataset with recently developed flame particle tracking techniques. Forward tracking a large number of flame particles from the generating locations of the corresponding flame surfaces (given by backward tracking) to the corresponding annihilating locations, creates a manifold of local states that can represent nearly all possible states realizable for the turbulent premixed flame under consideration. With all the states of the flame accessible over time, we first assess the applicability of the two-parameter Markstein length based flame speed model. It is found that the model prediction is reasonably accurate for a significant part of the flame particles' lifetime, for turbulent premixed flames with Karlovitz number O.10 /. However, during the final stage of annihilation of the flame particles in the negatively curved trailing regions, the local structure of the flame no longer resembles a standard premixed flame, even qualitatively. A new interaction model for the flame displacement speed, during these final stages of annihilation of the flame elements, has been derived

Microstructures and mechanical properties of ternary Ti-Si-Sn alloys

Titanium based alloys are one of the important structural materials with applications ranging from aerospace to biomedical industries. Several ternary Ti-Si-Sn alloys were explored in this study to design the microstructure comprising of binary and ternary eutectics corresponding to Ti-Si, Ti-Sn and Ti-Si-Sn system. The microstructural evolution in these alloys was studied using a combination of characterization techniques and thermodynamic calculations. The predicted solidification path from thermodynamic calculations well supported the experimental microstructural data. In addition, mechanical property and microstructure relationship were determined by performing hardness measurements and evaluating stress-strain curves under compression

An improved tunnel field-effect transistor with an L-shaped gate and channel

An improved tunnel field-effect transistor with an L-shaped gate and channel (LLTFET) is proposed herein. The new structure shows an increased ON-current without any change in the overall area in comparison with state-of-the-art structures. The L-shaped gate extends into the substrate and overlaps with part of the source. An N+ pocket located just below the gate facilities tunneling in both the horizontal and vertical directions, which results in the increased ON-current. Three different models are proposed herein to increase the ON-current with the added advantage of simplified fabrication steps. For one of the proposed models, the ON-current is improved by 63 while the OFF-current is reduced to 12.5 compared with an L-shaped gate TFET (LGTFET) described in literature. An optimum model is also proposed, achieving a subthreshold swing of 21.2Â mV/decade at 0.05Vgs. The simulations are performed using Silvaco ATLAS with the nonlocal band to band tunneling (BTBT) model

Site Response Study and Amplification Factor for Shallow Bedrock Sites

Amplification is a key paramter considered to account modifcation of seimic wave in the soil for earthquake resistance design of structure placed on soil. Initially, earthquake wave amplifications are related with shear wave velocity (Vs) ratio of soil and foundation layer, and then it was related to average value of Vs up to 30 m (Vs 30). Application of Vs 30 concept to represent amplification in shallow bedrock sites is questionable and has rock velocity added to soil velocity. In this study, shallow bedrock sites in Bengaluru, Chennai, Coimbatore and Vishakhapatnam has been analyzed to understand amplifications and its proximity to Vs 30. The site response calculations are done using one-dimensional nonlinear approach. Intraplate recordings from around the world suitable for the study area are selected. For comparison with known data, the amplification factors are evaluated considering the period ranges similar to international codes. Then, considering spectral signatures from response spectra for all site rock and surface motions, the factors are calculated for period range 0.01�0.06 s and 0.05�1.0 s. Based on the study, only one mid-period amplification factor has been proposed. This amplification factor represents the significant amplification of the site. Acceleration spectra show similar trends for different site classes irrespective of the fact that profiles are selected based on Vs values or SPT-N values. This is observed over a wide range of results and indicates shear modulus as an influencing parameter. Comparison of spectral signatures for different site classes suggests that amplification reduces as the modulus of the soil column increases. Thus, it may be appropriate to classify sites based on shear modulus of soil column

Hybrid Microgrids for Diesel Consumption Reduction in Remote Military Bases of India

Grid connection is often not available at remote locations. As a result, diesel generators are commonly used in Indian remote military bases to generate electricity locally. Transportation of diesel to these remote locations is often difficult and expensive task. Communication and surveillance equipments along with border fences and illumination need reliable electricity supply. Any disruption in diesel supply can severely impact the operation of the military base. Fuel transportation routes are often cut off during extreme weather conditions. In addition, diesel generators are prone to failure and cause significant air pollutions. Renewable energy sources are often available at these remote locations. These renewable energy sources can be used to substitute the diesel based generation partially. In this paper, hybrid microgrids consisting of both renewable and diesel generators are proposed for remote military bases. Use of local renewable sources reduces the dependence on external diesel supply. In addition, the consumption of diesel is reduced due to the use of renewable energy sources. Detailed Cost Benefit analysis has been done to show the effectiveness of the hybrid microgrid. It is shown that this hybrid microgrid can be a possible solution for reduction of diesel consumption in remote military bases of India

Robust emergence of sharply tuned place-cell responses in hippocampal neurons with structural and biophysical heterogeneities

Hippocampal pyramidal neurons sustain propagation of fast electrical signals and are electrotonically non-compact structures exhibiting cell-to-cell variability in their complex dendritic arborization. In this study, we demonstrate that sharp place-field tuning and several somatodendritic functional maps concomitantly emerge despite the presence of geometrical heterogeneities in these neurons. We establish this employing an unbiased stochastic search strategy involving thousands of models that spanned several morphologies and distinct profiles of dispersed synaptic localization and channel expression. Mechanistically, employing virtual knockout models (VKMs), we explored the impact of bidirectional modulation in dendritic spike prevalence on place-field tuning sharpness. Consistent with the prior literature, we found that across all morphologies, virtual knockout of either dendritic fast sodium channels or N-methyl-d-aspartate receptors led to a reduction in dendritic spike prevalence, whereas A-type potassium channel knockouts resulted in a non-specific increase in dendritic spike prevalence. However, place-field tuning sharpness was critically impaired in all three sets of VKMs, demonstrating that sharpness in feature tuning is maintained by an intricate balance between mechanisms that promote and those that prevent dendritic spike initiation. From the functional standpoint of the emergence of sharp feature tuning and intrinsic functional maps, within this framework, geometric variability was compensated by a combination of synaptic democracy, the ability of randomly dispersed synapses to yield sharp tuning through dendritic spike initiation, and ion-channel degeneracy. Our results suggest electrotonically non-compact neurons to be endowed with several degrees of freedom, encompassing channel expression, synaptic localization and morphological microstructure, in achieving sharp feature encoding and excitability homeostasis