Evaluation and Forecasting of Highway Traffic Noise in the city of Nagpur, India

The noise levels in Indian cities are largely affected due to increase in the number of vehicles and growth of the transportation sector in the past few years. Transportation is crucial owing to Nagpur’s strategic location in central India. The City is linked with four metros Viz. Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai through roads, rails, and air. It’s also a major conjugation for roadways as India's two national highways, Hajira-Kolkata (NH-06) and Kanyakumari-Varanasi (NH-07) are passing through the city. The main objective of this study is to assess and predict the traffic noise levels of uninterrupted traffic flow on prominent highways, and an attempt has been made to develop noise maps to represent an overall noise scenario of the city. Noise modelling and prediction are performed using a modified Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) model. Substantial correlation has been obtained between the measured and estimated noise levels, which gives R2 of 0.503 having an error band of ± 3.8% with respect to the observed noise levels. Octave band spectral analysis reveals the dominance of noise emission levels in the medium and high-frequency range. This study perceives the observed equivalent noise levels at all the locations during the day and night hours exceeds up to 7.8 dB and 19.6 dB respectively, when compared with the permissible limits prescribed by National standard and signifies that the FHWA model is suitable for Indian road traffic conditions

Ambient Noise Level Prediction during Festival Season in Metro City of South East Asian Region

Physical pollutants such as noise, causes so much confusion regarding its effect, often take the back seat when deleterious effects to the environment are considered. Metropolitan city of South East Asian region was selected for the study where day and night noise is monitored in higher levels in festival seasons as well as in normal seasons in all zones. It was found that prescribed noise level were increased 19.23%, 19.33% and 23.08% near Courts, schools and hospitals respectively under the silent zone. Slum areas are already affected whole year and noise level in middle class areas recorded 7.69% higher in festival season where as high class residential areas are found safer than the other two types of areas under the residential zone. Almost 85% areas under commercial zone are affected by higher noise levels in both the seasons where as in festival season only 4% readings were increases in day and night. Over all 10.25% and 8.12% day & night noise level were increases where as hectic city traffic increases 36.58% rapidly in festival season in all the zones. The affects can also be seen in the form of variety of negative emotions including anger, disappointment, unhappiness, anxiety and even depression. Therefore to avoid the adverse effects there is an urgent need to control noise pollution by implementing strict rules and through launching awareness-campaign

Toxic effect of Ore Mining on Soil and Water Quality at Chhattisgarh, India

Physical pollutants such as noise, causes so much confusion regarding its effect, often take the back seat when deleterious effects to the environment are considered. Metropolitan city of South East Asian region was selected for the study where day and night noise is monitored in higher levels in festival seasons as well as in normal seasons in all zones. It was found that prescribed noise level were increased 19.23%, 19.33% and 23.08% near Courts, schools and hospitals respectively under the silent zone. Slum areas are already affected whole year and noise level in middle class areas recorded 7.69% higher in festival season where as high class residential areas are found safer than the other two types of areas under the residential zone. Almost 85% areas under commercial zone are affected by higher noise levels in both the seasons where as in festival season only 4% readings were increases in day and night. Over all 10.25% and 8.12% day & night noise level were increases where as hectic city traffic increases 36.58% rapidly in festival season in all the zones. The affects can also be seen in the form of variety of negative emotions including anger, disappointment, unhappiness, anxiety and even depression. Therefore to avoid the adverse effects there is an urgent need to control noise pollution by implementing strict rules and through launching awareness-campaign

Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field (ELF-EMF) and childhood leukemia near transmission lines: a review

This article presents a systematic review of most cited studies from developed countries those shed light on the potential relation between childhood leukemia and extremely low frequency electromagnetic field (ELF-EMF). All the findings of articles critically segregated as per some neglected parameters like number of samples, exposure duration, frequency range, distance from the radiation sources, and location during measurement of magnetic field density near power lines. Literature of major 50 studies are divided according to pooled analysis / meta-analysis, residential zone assessment and case-control studies

Bacteriophages as a model for studying carbon regulation in aquatic system

The interconversion of carbon in organic, inorganic and refractory carbon is still beyond the grasp of present environmentalists. The bacteria and their phages being the most abundant constituents of the aquatic environment, represents an ideal model for studing carbon regulation in aquatic system. The refractory dissolved organic carbon (DOC) a recently coined terminology from the microbe-driven conversion of bioavailable organic carbon into difficult-to-digest refractory DOC by microbial carbon pump (MCP) is suggested to have potential to revolutionize our view of carbon sequestration. It is estimated that about 95% of organic carbon is in the form of refractory DOC which is the largest pool of organic matter in the ocean. The refractory DOC is supposed to be the major factor in the global carbon cycle whose source is not yet well understood. A key element of the carbon cycle is the microbial conversion of dissolved organic carbon into inedible forms. The time studies of phagehost interaction under control conditions reveals their impact on the total carbon content of the source and their interconversion among organic, inorganic and other forms of carbon with respect to control source. The TOC- analysis statistics stipulate increase in inorganic carbon content by 15-25 percent in the sample with phage as compared to sample without phage. The results signify 60-70 fold increase in inorganic carbon content in sample with phage, whereas,50-55 fold in the case of sample without phages as compared with control. This increase in inorganic carbon content may be due to lysis of the host cell releasing its cellular constituents and utilization of carbon constituent for phage assembly and development. It also provesthe role of phages in regulating the carbon flow in the aquatic systems like oceans where their concentration outnumbered other species

Maize (Zea mays L.) yield and aflatoxin accumulation responses to exogenous glycinebetaine application

Abstract Exogenously applied glycinebetaine (GB) accumulates at high levels in maize (Zea mays L.). Under water deficit and high temperature conditions GB application produces yield benefits. These sub-optimum conditions often result in high levels of aflatoxin accumulation which reduces grain quality. A 3-year (2008, 2009 and 2010) field experiment was conducted to determine the effects of GB on maize yield and aflatoxin accumulation. Weekly and alternate weekly GB application increased plant biomass by 10 and 13%, respectively. Net photosynthesis increased by 6% with GB application; however, stomatal conductance, transpiration rate and electron transport rate were not significantly affected. Grain yield increased by 6 and 13% with GB applied alternate weekly and weekly, respectively, over control plots averaged over years. GB application resulted in a trend of reduced aflatoxin accumulation in inoculated ears compared with non-inoculated controls in 2009 and 2010; however, inherent field and sampling variation did not allow us to conclude statistically any advantage attributable to GB application. We can conclude that GB did not significantly reduce aflatoxin production in the inoculated treatments

Response of Anaerobic Digester Sludge for Activator Aided Rapid Composting and its Effects on Compost Quality

The anaerobic treatment is in growing demand as an advanced methodology rendering sustainable treatment option for organic wastes. The Anaerobic digester sludge (ADS) is the product of anaerobic digestion of organic matter by microbial activity in an oxygen-deficit environment. It is a good supplement to soil as it enriches soil with nutrients, increases the availability of minerals to plants and helps in soil conditioning. Though ADS is frequently used in agriculture, there are opinions supporting the fact that ADS contains more recalcitrant than its nutritional components. Hence, there is a need for the post-processing of ADS to make it compatible for soil application. In the present study, an attempt has made to assess the response of ADS for CA aided composting and to study the effectiveness composting on the quality of finished compost

Synthesis and Characterization of Tin Disulfide (SnS2) Nanowires

The ordered tin disulfide (SnS2) nanowire arrays were first fabricated by sulfurizing the Sn nanowires, which are embedded in the nanochannels of anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) template. SnS2nanowire arrays are highly ordered and highly dense. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and corresponding selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns demonstrate the SnS2nanowire is hexagonal polycrystalline. The study of UV/Visible/NIR absorption shows the SnS2nanowire is a wide-band semiconductor with three band gap energies (3.3, 4.4, and 5.8 eV)