Climate-driven differences in growth performance of cohabitant fir and birch in a subalpine forest in Dhorpatan Nepal

Himalayan Silver Fir (Abies spectabilis) and Himalayan Birch (Betula utilis) are tree species often found coexisting in sub-alpine forests of the Nepal Himalayas. To assess species-specific growth performances of these species, tree-ring samples were collected from the subalpine forest in the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, Nepal. Standard ring width chronologies of both species were correlated with climatic variables in both static and running windows. Differential and contrasting temporal responses of radial growth of these species to climate were found. Warmer and drier springs appeared to limit birch radial growth. Whereas radial growth of fir showed weakened climate sensitivity. Moving correlation analyses revealed divergent influences of spring climate on both fir and birch. Significant warming that occurred in the 1970s coincided with growth declines in birch and an increase in fir, as indicated by basal area increment. In summary, recent warming has been unfavorable for birch, and favorable to fir radial growth.publishedVersio

Status of micro/mini-grid systems in a Himalayan nation : a comprehensive review

Nepal is a Himalayan country with its 83% of its geography being composed of hills and mountains. Around 22% of the Nepalese population is not receiving electricity through the national power utility and is forced to identify alternative approaches to electrification. The Micro/Mini-Grid (MG) system is one of the promising approaches in terms of cost, reliability and performance for rural electrification, where electrification through national power utility is not techno-economically feasible. However, various issues must be identified and considered during the implementation of MGs in a rural community. In this paper, numerous technical, social and management issues are identified and discussed relating to the implementation and operation of reliable and stable MGs in the Himalayas. To our knowledge, this is the first scientific work that presents a comprehensive review of Himalayan MGs and their associated elements. This article reviews the available research articles, project documents, and Government reports on MG development, from which a clear roadmap is constructed. From the comprehensive study, it is observed that the existing MGs are not adequately designed for the specific area, considering the local resources and local information. Based on the identified issues, some practical and efficient recommendations have been made, so that future MG projects will address the possible problems during the design and implementation phase

Status of micro/mini-grid systems in a Himalayan nation: a comprehensive review

Nepal is a Himalayan country with its 83% of its geography being composed of hills and mountains. Around 22% of the Nepalese population is not receiving electricity through the national power utility and is forced to identify alternative approaches to electrification. The Micro/Mini-Grid (MG) system is one of the promising approaches in terms of cost, reliability and performance for rural electrification, where electrification through national power utility is not techno-economically feasible. However, various issues must be identified and considered during the implementation of MGs in a rural community. In this paper, numerous technical, social and management issues are identified and discussed relating to the implementation and operation of reliable and stable MGs in the Himalayas. To our knowledge, this is the first scientific work that presents a comprehensive review of Himalayan MGs and their associated elements. This article reviews the available research articles, project documents, and Government reports on MG development, from which a clear roadmap is constructed. From the comprehensive study, it is observed that the existing MGs are not adequately designed for the specific area, considering the local resources and local information. Based on the identified issues, some practical and efficient recommendations have been made, so that future MG projects will address the possible problems during the design and implementation phase

Influence of resource gradients and habitat edges on density variation in tiger populations in a multi-use landscape

Spatial heterogeneity in the local densities of terrestrial carnivores is driven by multiple interacting biotic and abiotic factors. Space-use patterns of large carnivores reflect the competing demands of resource selection (e.g., exploitation of habitats with abundant prey) and minimization of risks arising from human interactions. Estimating the relative strength of these drivers is essential to understand spatial variation in densities of large carnivores and there are still key knowledge gaps for many large carnivore populations. To better understand the relative roles of environmental and human drivers of spatial variation in tiger (Panthera tigris) densities, we surveyed a 3000 km2 landscape in North India using camera trap data. Over two years, we photo-captured 92 unique adult tigers. Associating spatial covariates with patterns of detection allowed us to test hypotheses about the relative influence of prey abundance, habitat structure and extent, and proximity to habitat edges on spatial variation in tiger densities across a gradient of anthropogenic disturbance. We documented extensive variation in tiger density within and across management units and protected areas. Spatial variation in prey abundance and proximity to grassland habitats, rather than human use (e.g. extent of human-dominated edge habitat and protection status), explained most of the spatial variation in tiger density in two of the five surveyed sites. The region’s largest tiger population occurred in a multi-use forest beyond protected area boundaries, where wild ungulates were abundant. Our results suggest that tigers can occur at high densities in areas with extensive human use, provided sufficiently high prey densities, and tracts of refuge habitats (eg. areas with dense vegetation with low human use). We argue that tiger conservation portfolio can be expanded across multi-use landscapes with a focus on areas that are adaptively managed as “zones of coexistence” and “refuge habitats”. Advancing this conservation strategy is contingent on greatly strengthening systems to effectively and equitably redress human–wildlife conflict and leveraging existing policies to strengthen local participation in conservation planning and forest stewardship. Our insights into the environmental drivers of spatial heterogeneity in tiger populations can inform both local management and guide to species recovery in working landscapes

Enhancing IoT Device Security through Network Attack Data Analysis Using Machine Learning Algorithms

The Internet of Things (IoT) shares the idea of an autonomous system responsible for transforming physical computational devices into smart ones. Contrarily, storing and operating information and maintaining its confidentiality and security is a concerning issue in the IoT. Throughout the whole operational process, considering transparency in its privacy, data protection, and disaster recovery, it needs state-of-the-art systems and methods to tackle the evolving environment. This research aims to improve the security of IoT devices by investigating the likelihood of network attacks utilizing ordinary device network data and attack network data acquired from similar statistics. To achieve this, IoT devices dedicated to smart healthcare systems were utilized, and botnet attacks were conducted on them for data generation. The collected data were then analyzed using statistical measures, such as the Pearson coefficient and entropy, to extract relevant features. Machine learning algorithms were implemented to categorize normal and attack traffic with data preprocessing techniques to increase accuracy. One of the most popular datasets, known as BoT-IoT, was cross-evaluated with the generated dataset for authentication of the generated dataset. The research provides insight into the architecture of IoT devices, the behavior of normal and attack networks on these devices, and the prospects of machine learning approaches to improve IoT device security. Overall, the study adds to the growing body of knowledge on IoT device security and emphasizes the significance of adopting sophisticated strategies for detecting and mitigating network attacks

Lighting for Cultural and Heritage Site

Nepal houses many traditional and cultural sites rich in historical cultural diversity. These sites are also economically important to the nation. These monuments show the culture and the living beliefs of the communities; hence, people from all over the world are attracted to such place to observe the beauty and to feel the spirit and the conservational perspectives behind these articulated edifices. In today’s context, artificial light is a basic necessity for human activities and has been used in various applications: one such application being night-time illumination of historical sites and monuments. Most of the historic monuments in Nepal were constructed during the 15th to 18th century and are designed to incorporate oil-based wick lamp as the light source. Recently with the availability of modern luminaires and lack of technical expertise and scientific approach, most of the historic sites are being filled up with uneven, exaggerated, and inappropriate illumination. This inappropriate illumination practice may lead to negative consequences that may create disturbance to human and the surrounding environment. Scope of this paper is to identify the special needs for illuminating cultural and heritage sites with Pagoda-style architecture and introduce a methodology for a case study in Nepal. As a first step, this paper analyzes lighting malpractices in the temples of Nepal at different geographical locations and cultural values. As a next step, a prototype LED luminaire that enhances the unique type of architecture of Nepalese heritage sites was built, installed, and demonstrated in one of the temples. The work presents the design process of the lighting system and the results of a new lighting installation. The study also discusses possible problems that may arise while designing lighting for cultural and heritage site and provides recommendations on considerations to be taken during the design.Peer reviewe

Climate-driven differences in growth performance of cohabitant fir and birch in a subalpine forest in Dhorpatan Nepal

Himalayan Silver Fir (Abies spectabilis) and Himalayan Birch (Betula utilis) are tree species often found coexisting in sub-alpine forests of the Nepal Himalayas. To assess species-specific growth performances of these species, tree-ring samples were collected from the subalpine forest in the Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve, Nepal. Standard ring width chronologies of both species were correlated with climatic variables in both static and running windows. Differential and contrasting temporal responses of radial growth of these species to climate were found. Warmer and drier springs appeared to limit birch radial growth. Whereas radial growth of fir showed weakened climate sensitivity. Moving correlation analyses revealed divergent influences of spring climate on both fir and birch. Significant warming that occurred in the 1970s coincided with growth declines in birch and an increase in fir, as indicated by basal area increment. In summary, recent warming has been unfavorable for birch, and favorable to fir radial growth

Comparative Study of Different Approaches for Islanding Detection of Distributed Generation Systems

The issue of unintentional islanding in grid interconnection still remains a challenge in grid-connected, Distributed Generation System (DGS). This study discusses the general overview of popular islanding detection methods. Because of the various Distributed Generation (DG) types, their sizes connected to the distribution networks, and, due to the concern associated with out-of-phase reclosing, anti-islanding continues to be an issue, where no clear solution exists. The passive islanding detection technique is the simplest method to detect the islanding condition which compares the existing parameters of the system having some threshold values. This study first presents an auto-ground approach, which is based on the application of three-phase, short-circuit to the islanded distribution system just to reclose and re-energize the system. After that, the data mining-decision tree algorithm is implemented on a typical distribution system with multiple DGs. The results from both of the techniques have been accomplished and verified by determining the Non-Detection Zone (NDZ), which satisfies the IEEE standards of 2 s execution time. From the analysis, it is concluded that the decision tree approach is effective and highly accurate to detect the islanding state in DGs. These simulations in detail compare the old and new methods, clearly highlighting the progress in the field of islanding detection

Status of Micro/Mini-Grid Systems in a Himalayan Nation: A Comprehensive Review

Nepal is a Himalayan country with its 83% of its geography being composed of hills and mountains. Around 22% of the Nepalese population is not receiving electricity through the national power utility and is forced to identify alternative approaches to electrification. The Micro/Mini-Grid (MG) system is one of the promising approaches in terms of cost, reliability and performance for rural electrification, where electrification through national power utility is not techno-economically feasible. However, various issues must be identified and considered during the implementation of MGs in a rural community. In this paper, numerous technical, social and management issues are identified and discussed relating to the implementation and operation of reliable and stable MGs in the Himalayas. To our knowledge, this is the first scientific work that presents a comprehensive review of Himalayan MGs and their associated elements. This article reviews the available research articles, project documents, and Government reports on MG development, from which a clear roadmap is constructed. From the comprehensive study, it is observed that the existing MGs are not adequately designed for the specific area, considering the local resources and local information. Based on the identified issues, some practical and efficient recommendations have been made, so that future MG projects will address the possible problems during the design and implementation phase

Tigers in the Terai: Strong evidence for meta-population dynamics contributing to tiger recovery and conservation in the Terai Arc Landscape - Fig 2

<p>Minimum Convex Polygon (MCP) from multiyear camera trap surveys carried out in a) core area of Suklaphanta National Park; b) Babai valley within Bardia National Park.</p