Comments on "New hypergeometric identities arising from Gauss’s second summation theorem"

In 1997, Exton [J. Comput. Appl. Math. 88 (1997) 269–274] obtained a general transfor- mation involving hypergeometric functions by elementary manipulation of series. A number of hypergeometric identities not previously recorded in the literature were then deduced by application of Gauss’ second summation theorem and other known hypergeometric summa- tion theorems. However, many of the results stated by Exton contain errors. It is the purpose of this note to present the corrected forms of these hypergeometric identities

Evaluation of ground water quality near Chandi Devi bridge solid waste dumping site at Hairdwar city, (Uttarakhand), India : A case study

The present study observed groundwater quality around Chandi Devi bridge open dumping site at Hardwar (Uttarakhand), India. Five experimental sites viz. sites 2,3 and 5 (hand pumps) and  two sites 4,6  (tubewells) within the vicinity of the dumpsite and a reference site viz. site 1 (hand pump) (Bilkeshwar temple) as a control about 5000 meter away, were selected to ascertain the influence of solid waste dumping on groundwater quality around the area. The study showed that physicochemical parameters viz temperature, colour, turbidity, pH, hardness, BOD, COD, fluoride  and heavy metals ( lead and iron) of the ground water near the dumping sites-2,3,4,5,6 were higher than their counterpart parameters of the ground water at control site. However, arsenic was not detected in any sample of all the sites. The parameters viz., colour (2.08-3.49 hazen), turbidity (3.05-5.35 NTU), odour (agreeable), pH (7.46-7.80),fluoride (0.10-0.38 ppm), lead (0.00-0.032 ppm), iron (0.01-0.03 ppm) of ground water of all experimental sites were within permissible limits while the parameters BOD (3.73-3.21 ppm), hardness (240.41-203.15 ppm) at site-2, site-3 and DO (5.38-6.28 ppm) of all experimental sites were not found within permissible limits  as prescribed by Bureau  of Indian standards (2012). Although water was safe for drinking which may be due to higher infiltration rate of river Ganga and Eastern Ganga Canal water but higher value of temperature (oC), colour (hazen), turbidity (ppm), hardness (ppm), BOD (ppm), COD (ppm) fluoride (ppm), iron (ppm) and lead (ppm) at site- 2 was quite alarming. The study would help in making public awareness for waste sorting, adopting green technology and to predict level of contaminants in ground water produced by land filling dumping site

Impact of climate change on biodiversity of India with special reference to Himalayan region-An overview

India possesses a distinct identity, not only because of its geography, history and culture, but also because of the great diversity of its natural ecosystems. The panorama of Indian biological diversity is much wider, as it comes under the twelve mega biodiverse (Hot-spot) centers of the world. It contains a great wealth of biological diversity in its forests, its wetlands and in its marine areas which are distributed all over the country. This richness is shown in absolute numbers of species and the proportion they represent of the world total. The great Himalayan region has peculiar identity in the perspective of its unique biogeography. It supports a large number of glaciers, lakes, rivers, flora and fauna due to its variable climate. It has a profound effect on the climate of the subcontinent. But due to anthropogenic activities the global climate has changed since last few decades. The climate of the subcontinent has also adversely affected the biological resources of the country along with that of the Himalayan region. The present paper discusses the various causes responsible for melting and shrinkage of glaciers, decreasing water flow in the major rivers, increasing pressure of extinction of the ecological wealth of the country. It also talks about the control measures and various management steps which can be taken, with special reference to the Himalayan region

From social machines to social protocols:Software engineering foundations for sociotechnical systems

The overarching vision of social machines is to facilitate social processes by having computers provide administrative support. We conceive of a social machine as a sociotechnical system (STS): a software-supported system in which autonomous principals such as humans and organizations interact to exchange information and services. Existing approaches for social machines emphasize the technical aspects and inadequately support the meanings of social processes, leaving them informally realized in human interactions. We posit that a fundamental rethinking is needed to incorporate accountability, essential for addressing the openness of the Web and the autonomy of its principals. We introduce Interaction-Oriented Software Engineering (IOSE) as a paradigm expressly suited to capturing the social basis of STSs. Motivated by promoting openness and autonomy, IOSE focuses not on implementation but on social protocols, specifying how social relationships, characterizing the accountability of the concerned parties, progress as they interact. Motivated by providing computational support, IOSE adopts the accountability representation to capture the meaning of a social machine’s states and transitions. We demonstrate IOSE via examples drawn from healthcare. We reinterpret the classical software engineering (SE) principles for the STS setting and show how IOSE is better suited than traditional software engineering for supporting social processes. The contribution of this paper is a new paradigm for STSs, evaluated via conceptual analysis

Influence of sugar mill effluent on physico-chemical characteristics of soil at Haridwar (Uttarakhand), India

The influence of seven rates of Sugar mill effluent (viz. 0, 5, 10 25, 50, 75 and 100 ml/kg soil) along with control (Bore-well water, BWW) on the physical and chemical properties of soils revealed that among various concentrations of the effluents, the irrigation with 100% effluent concentration decreased moisture content (20.44%),WHC (13.80%), BD (4.14%) and increased pH (9.56%), EC (64.28%), ECEC (149.25%), Cl- (194.71%), OC (3228.89%), HCO3- (22.34%), CO3-2 (29.38%), Na + (185.48%), K+(53.40%), Ca2+ (1262.24%), Mg2+ (1818.24%), TKN (1206.36%), NO32- (80.87%), PO43- (236.04%), SO42- (72.08%), Fe2+ (234.34%), Zn (317.72%), Cd (404.35%), Cu (374.90%), Pb (645.71%) and Cr (1024.80%) in the soil when compared to control. There was a significant (P<0.001) effect on EC, pH, Cl-, OC, HCO3- , CO32- , Na + , K + , Ca2+, Mg 2+, Fe 2+, TKN, NO3 2- , PO4 3- and SO42- , Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr and Pb and insignificant (P>0.05) effect on moisture content, WHC and bulk density after sugar mill effluent irrigation when compared to control. There was no momentous change in the soil texture of the soil. The enrichment factor (Ef) of various micronutrients in the soil was recorded in order of Cr>Pb>Cd>Cu>Zn after irrigation with sugar mill effluent

Agronomical Performance of High Yielding Cultivar of Eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) Grown in Sewage Sludge Amended Soil

A field study was conducted to assess the agronomical performance of eggplant (Solanum melongena cv. Pusa Purple Long Hybrid-F1) grown in sewage sludge amended soil in rainy and summer seasons during two consecutive years 2012 and 2013. The results showed that sewage sludge significantly (P Cr > Cd > Zn > Cu for soil and Cr > Cd > Cu > Mn > Zn for S. melongena plants after treatment of sewage sludge. Thus, use of sewage sludge increased concentration of heavy metals in soil and S. melongena. Hence, sewage sludge can be governed as organic fertilizer in lower proportion to avoid the contamination of soil and S. melongena

Removal of Zn2+ and Pb2+ using new isolates of Bacillus spp. PPS03 and Bacillus subtilis PPS04 from Paper mill effluents using indigenously designed Bench-top Bioreactor

Biosorption processes have the potential to decrease environmental hazards through their factors such as initial metal ion concentration, temperature, pH and biomass concentration in the solution. In the present study biosorption process was performed using the strains of Bacillus spp. PPS 03 (KF710041) and Bacillus subtilis PPS 04 (KF710042) isolated from sediment core of Paper mill effluent (PME) for the removal of Zn2+and Pb2+ in an indigenously designed Bench-top Bioreactor. The temperature, initial pH, biomass and incubation period of PME for Zn2+ and Pb2+ reduction was standardized. The strains exhibited significant reduction in Zn2+ and Pb2+ of PME to the extent of 73.29% and 85.64% with PPS 03 and 78.15% and 87.57% respectively with PPS 04 after 120 hrs of aerobic treatment. The reduction in the metals occurred from first day of the treatment, but the maximum reduction in these metals was observed after 120 hrs. at pH (7.0±0.2), temperature (35±1.0°C) and biomass (5% v/ v) of the bacterial strains. The removal of metals with strain PPS 04 was more in comparison to the strain PPS 03. The Freundlich isotherms on the data showed that it was linearly fitted for Zn2+and Pb2+. The values of correlation coefficient (R2) of Freundlich isotherms were greater than 0.812 for Pb2+ and Zn2+. The kinetic study for the rate of removal of Pb2+ and Zn2+ by both species was found to best fit a Pseudo first order reaction. The rate constant was found to be inversely proportional to the concentration of parameters. Thus, the microbial strains were found efficient for the biosorption/removal of Pb2+ and Zn2+

Efficiency of turbidity and BOD removal from secondarily treated sewage by electrochemical treatment

The present investigation observed the effect of operating time, current density, pH and supporting electrolyte on the removal efficiency of Turbidity (TD) and Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of secondarily treated sewage (STS) using electrochemical process. A glass chamber of 2 litre volume was used for the experiment with two electrode plates of aluminum, each having an area of 125 cm2 and 2 cm distance apart from each other. The treatment showed that the removal efficiency of TD and BOD increased to 87.41 and 81.38 % respectively with theincrease of current density (1.82 -7.52 mA/cm2), time (5 - 40 mins.) and different pH (4-8) of the STS. The most effective removal efficiency was observed around the pH 7. Further, 0.5 g/l NaCl as a supporting electrolyte for electrochemical treatment of STS was found to be more efficient for an increase to 95.56 % and 86.99 % for the removal of TD and BOD at 7.52 mA/cm2 current density in 40 mins. respectively. The electrode and energy consumption was found to vary from 2.52 x10-2 to 10.51 x10-2 kg Al/m3 and 2.76 kwh/m3 to 45.12 kWh/m3 depending on the operating conditions.The kinetic study results revealed that reaction rate (k) increased from 0.0174 to 0.03 min-1 for TD and 0.0169 to 0.024 min-1 for BOD with increase in current density from 1.82 to 7.52 mA/cm2

Influence of operating conditions on the electrolytic treatment for the removal of color, TSS, hardness and alkalinity using Al-Al electrode combination

The present investigation observed the effect of current density (CD), operating time (OT), inter electrode distance (IED), electrode area (EA), initial pH and settling time (ST) using Al-Al electrode combination on the removal of color, total suspended solids (TSS), hardness (HR) and alkalinity (ALK) from biologically treated municipal wastewater (BTMW) of Sewage Treatment Plant (STP), Jagjeetpur, Haridwar, India. The maximum removal of color (99.86%), TSS (98.7%), HR (78.9%) and ALK (43.69 %) from BTMW was found with the optimum operating conditions of CD (2.65 A/m2), OT (40 mins.), IED (0.5 cm), EA (160 cm2), initial pH (7.5) and ST (60 min.). However, the maximum removal of ALK was found with the optimum operating conditions of CD (1.68 A/m2), OT (40 mins.), IED (1.0 cm), EA (80 cm2), initial pH (7.5) and ST (90 min.) The electrolytic treatment ( ET) brought down the concentration of HR and ALK to the desirable limit of the BIS standards of drinking water. There was no need of pH adjustment of the BTMW during ET as the optimal removal efficiency was close to the pH of 7.5. Under optimal operating conditions, the operating cost was found to be 1.01 $/m3 in terms of the electrode consumption (23.71x 10-5 kg Al/m3) and energy consumption (101.76 Kwh/m3). The study revealed that BTMW can be effectively treated with the Al-Al electrode combination for color, TSS, HR and ALK removal