Radio and γ\gamma-ray variability in the BL Lac PKS 0219 -164: Detection of quasi-periodic oscillations in the radio light curve

In this work, we explore the long-term variability properties of the blazar PKS 0219-164 in the radio and the $\gamma$-ray regime, utilizing the OVRO 15 GHz and the \fermi/LAT observations from the period 2008--2017. We found that $\gamma$-ray emission is more variable than the radio emission implying that $\gamma$ ray emission possibly originated in more compact regions while the radio emission represented continuum emission from the large scale jets. Also, in $\gamma$-ray the source exhibited spectral variability characterized by the \emph{ softer-when-brighter} trend, a less frequently observed feature in the high energy emission by BL Lacs. In radio, using Lomb-Scargle periodogram and weighted wavelet z-transform, we detected a strong signal of quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) with a periodicity of 270 $\pm$ 26 days with possible harmonics of 550 $\pm$ 42 and 1150 $\pm$ 157 days periods. At a time when the issue of the detection of QPOs in blazars is still under debate, the observed QPO with high statistical significance ( $\sim$ 97\% -- 99\% global significance over underlying red-noise processes) and persistent over nearly 10 oscillations could make one of the strongest cases for the detection of QPOs in blazar light curves. We discuss various blazar models that might lead to the $\gamma$-ray and radio variability, QPO, and the achromatic behavior seen in the high energy emission from the source.Comment: ApJ, in press. 9 pages and 5 figure

Water allocation policies in coastal Karnataka: an analysis of Nethravathy River Basin

The paper to looks at the water allocation policy follow in coastal Karnataka. The state water policy accords top priority to drinking water followed by irrigation, power generation through hydroelectric projects, agro industries, industries and transport. However, there is a mismatch in the policy and its implementation. The analysis of the information and data shows that there are negative social and ecological impacts on the livelihood of the farmers and fisher folk because of poor implementation of these policies. Karnataka Agricultural Policy - 2006 is focused on doubling the agricultural production in the next decade with the aim of achieving a 4.5% growth rate for the agriculture sector and a subsequent increase in the net income of the farmer. Simultaneously, the Karnataka government is planning to set up a PCPIL (petroleum, chemicals and petrochemical investment region) in Dakshin Kanadda (DK) and set up MSEZ near Mangalore as a precursor to the PCPIL project. The area selected for setting up the petrochemical zone comprise villages which are currently involved in agriculture, horticulture and fisheries. The establishment of PCPIL and MSEZ are likely to increase the pressure on the Nethrawathy and Gurupur river basins and cause serious degradation of the marine ecology of the region adversely affecting fist yields. The proposed project is similar to the Reliance petrochemicals project in Jamnagar, Gujarat, which has had serious implications for the welfare of the villages displaced and the ecology. The paper tries to analyses and point out ways in which DK and Mangalore region are likely to be affected because of the proposed petrochemical development. The state has pursued and implemented the water policy contrary to the suggestions from expert recommendations. This is likely to lead to negative impacts on the livelihood of the local communities.Length: pp.558-568River basinsWater pollutionIndustrializationCoastal areaWater allocationWater policyFisheriesSocial impactEconomic impact

Simulating farm income under the current soil management regime in the mid-hills of Nepal

Farmers in the mid-hills of Nepal follow diverse farming systems. The peri-urban area of this region, where population density is higher, faces several problems in farming. While hills suffer from erosion because they are erodible, the peri-urban areas face the problem of decline in factor productivity, particularly in intensively cultivated farmlands. The present study is concerned with simulating farm income on a regional scale based on soil management practices. Spatial explicit simulation shows that the loss of farm income due to degradation is substantially higher in hills while it is lower in valley bottoms. Strategy formulation and testing in the spatial environment indicates that Geographic Information System is an appropriate methodological tool for simulating the consequences of particular interventions

Farming Differentiation in the Rural-urban Interface of the Middle Mountains, Nepal: Application of Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)Modeling

This article investigates the dominant factors of farming differentiation in the rural-urban interface of the densely populated Kathmandu Valley, using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) modeling. The rural-urban interface in the Kathmandu Valley is an important vegetable production pocket which supplies a large amount of the vegetables in the city core. While subsistence farming in the rural area is characterized by a system which integrates livestock and forestry with agriculture, the intensification in the urban fringe is characterized by triple crop rotations and market-oriented intensive vegetable production. Seven factors which were supposed to cause farming variation in the interface were incorporated in the AHP framework and then subjected to the farmers’ judgment in distinctly delineated three farming zones. These factors played crucial yet differing roles in different farming zones. Inaccessibility and use of local resources; higher yield and accessibility and agro-ecological consideration and quality production are the key impacting factors of subsistence, commercial inorganic and smallholder organic farming respectively. The quantification of such factors of farming differentiation through AHP is an important piece of information that will contribute in modeling farming in the rural-urban interface of developing countries which are characterized by a high diversity of farming practices and are undergoing a rapid change in the land use pattern

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF FARMING PRACTICES IN THE PERI-URBAN HINTERLANDS OF NEPAL

Spatial location of the farm households shapes farming practices and livelihoods of the farmers. Many socio-economic variables have strong spatial relations that would otherwise be missed by data aggregation at household level. Geographic Information System (GIS)provides display and analysis of socio-economic data that may be fundamental for many social scientists to understand socio-economic reality influenced by geographical position of the farm households. Present article aims at integrating socio-economic data into GIS environment to examine spatial relation in the resource availability and use employing spatial and random sampling techniques. Result demonstrates the variation in the socioeconomic attributes along the spatial gradient which is mainly related to the infrastructures such as road, market and improved agro-inputs. While households with better access to these infrastructures have tendency to use more agro-chemicals, have larger family, land holding and livestock units, better off-farm opportunities, commercial farming orientation and hence higher family income; opposite is true for the households with poor access to these infrastructures. Peri-urban farmlands, wherever agro-chemicals are applied imprudently, faces the problems of agro-ecological degradation while rural subsistence farming faces the problem of spatial poverty

Microvariability in BL Lacertae : "zooming'' into the innermost blazar regions

In this work, we present the results of our multi-band microvariability study of the famous blazar BL Lac. We performed microvariablity observations of the source in the optical VRI bands for four nights in 2016. We studied the intranight flux and spectral variability of the source in detail with an objective to characterize microvariability in the blazars, a frequently observed phenomenon in blazars. The results show that the source often displays a fast flux variability with an amplitude as large as ~0.2 magnitude within a few hours, and that the color variability in the similar time scales can be characterized as “bluer-when-brighter” trend. We also observed markedly curved optical spectrum during one of the nights. Furthermore, the correlation between multi-band emission shows that in general the emission in all the bands are highly correlated; and in one of the nights V band emission was found to lead the I band emission by ~13 min. The search for characteristic timescale using z-transformed auto-correlation function and the structure function analyses reveals characteristic timescale of ~50 min in one of the R band observations. We try to explain the observed results in the context of the passage of shock waves through the relativistic outflows in blazars

Cost of sovereign debt and foreign bias in bond allocations

Finance theory suggests that markets where foreign bond portfolio investors overweight their portfolio relative to the prescribed theoretical benchmark should experience higher international risk sharing. Correspondingly, the cost of debt in such markets should be lower compared to markets facing a lower degree of international risk sharing. We empirically examine this prediction using a panel data set of sovereign bond yield spreads and a measure of suboptimal foreign bond portfolio allocations for 50 emerging and ten developed markets. Consistent with theory, our results show higher levels of foreign bond allocations – relative to the theoretical benchmark – are negatively related to the cost of debt. These results have important policy implications as a country’s cost of debt could potentially be lowered by encouraging foreign portfolio investors to hold their optimal allocation