Comparison of electrical resistivity by geophysical method and neutron probe logging for soil moisture monitoring in a forested watershed

Geophysical methods are becoming more popular nowadays in the field of hydrology due to their time and space efficiency. So an attempt has been made here to relate electrical resistivity with soil moisture content in the field. The experiments were carried out in an experimental watershed `Mulehole' in southern India, which is a forested watershed with approximately 80% red soil. Five auger holes were drilled to perform the soil moisture and electrical resistivity measurements in a toposequence having red and black soils, with sandy weathered soil at the bottom. Soil moisture was measured using neutron probe and electrical resistivity was measured using electrical logging tool. The results indicate that electrical resistivity measurements can be used to measure soil moisture content for red soils only.

In-situ power monitoring scheme and its application in dynamic voltage and threshold scaling for digital CMOS integrated circuits

An in-situ power monitoring technique for Dynamic Voltage and Threshold scaling (DVTS) systems is proposed which measures total power consumed by load circuit using sleep transistor acting as power sensor. Design details of power monitor are examined using simulation framework in UMC 90nm CMOS process. Experimental results of test chip fabricated in AMS 0.35µm CMOS process are presented. The test chip has variable activity between 0.05 and 0.5 and has PMOS VTH control through nWell contact. Maximum resolution obtained from power monitor is 0.25mV. Overhead of power monitor in terms of its power consumption is 0.244 mW (2.2% of total power of load circuit). Lastly, power monitor is used to demonstrate closed loop DVTS system. DVTS algorithm shows 46.3% power savings using in-situ power monitor.

Cross-taxon surrogacy of biodiversity in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya

Biodiversity surveys were conducted in 13, 10x50 m(2) plots located between 1400 to 3100 in abode mean sea level in a range of habitats in temperate mixed Oak and Coniferous forests through sub-alpine to the alpine grasslands in Chamoli district of Uttaranchal state in the Indian Garhwal Himalaya. Cross-taxon congruence in biodiversity (alpha-diversity and beta-diversity) across macrolichens, mosses, liverworts, woody plants (shrubs and trees) and ants was investigated, so as to examine the extent to which these group, of organisms can function as Surrogates for each other. Although woody plants provided a major substrate for macrolichens and mosses, there was no species-specific association between them. Woody plant species richness was highly positively correlated with mosses (r(2) = 0.63, P < 0.001) but the relationship, as not particularly very strong with lichens and liverworts. While there was a significant correlation in the species turnover (β-diversity) of macrolichens with mosses (r(2) = 0.21 P < 0.005). the relationship was relatively poor with the woody plants. On the other hand. negative correlations emerged in the species richness of ants with those of macrolichens, mosses and woody plants (r(2) = -0.44 P < 0.05). but most of the complementarity (turnover) relationships among them were positive, Since diversity between taxonomic hierarchies within the group was consistently significantly positively correlated in all these taxa, the higher taxonomic categories Such as genus and family may be employed as surrogates for rapid assessment and monitoring of species diversity, Although no single group other than macrolichens has emerged as a good indicator of changes in species richness in all other groups, some concordant relationships between them conform to the hypothesis that species assemblages of certain taxonomic groups could still be used as surrogates for efficient monitoring of species diversity in other groups whose distribution may further predict the importance of conserving overall biodiversity in landscapes such as the Garhwal Himalaya. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Woody plant seedling distribution under invasive Lantana camara thickets in a dry-forest plot in Mudumalai, southern India

Lantana camara, a shrub of Central and South American origin, has become invasive across dry forests worldwide. The effect of the thicket-forming habit of L. camara as a dispersal and recruitment barrier in a community of native woody seedlings was examined in a 50-ha permanent plot located in the seasonally dry forest of Mudumalai, southern India. Sixty 100-m(2) plots were enumerated for native woody seedlings between 10-100 cm in height. Of these, 30 plots had no L. camara thickets, while the other 30 had dense thickets. The frequency of occurrence and abundance of seedlings were modelled as a function of dispersal mode (mammal, bird or mechanical) and affinities to forest habitats (dry forest, moist forest or ubiquitous) as well as presence or absence of dense L. camara thickets. Furthermore, frequency of occurrence and abundance of individual species were also compared between thickets and no L. camara. At the community level, L. camara density, dispersal mode and forest habitat affinities of species determined both frequency of occurrence and abundance of seedlings, with the abundance of dry-forest mammal-dispersed species and ubiquitous mechanically dispersed species being significantly lower under L. camara thickets. Phyllanthus emblica and Kydia calycina were found to be significantly less abundant under L. camara, whereas most other species were not affected by the presence of thickets. It was inferred that, by affecting the establishment of native tree seedlings, L. camara thickets could eventually alter the community composition of such forests.

Health monitoring,of a helicopter rotor in forward flight using fuzzy logic

A fuzzy logic system is developed for helicopter rotor system fault isolation. Inputs to the fuzzy logic system are measurement deviations of blade bending and torsion response and vibration from a "good" undamaged helicopter rotor. The rotor system measurements used are flap and lag bending tip deflections, elastic twist deflection at the tip, and three forces and three moments at the rotor hub. The fuzzy logic system uses rules developed from an aeroelastic model of the helicopter rotor with implanted faults to isolate the fault while accounting for uncertainty in the measurements. The faults modeled include moisture absorption, loss of trim mass, damaged lag damper, damaged pitch control system, misadjusted pitch link, and damaged flap. Tests with simulated data show that the fuzzy system isolates rotor system faults with an accuracy of about 90-100%. Furthermore, the fuzzy system is robust and gives excellent results, even when some measurements are not available. A rule-based expert system based on similar rules from the aeroelastic model performs much more poorly than the fuzzy system in the presence of high levels of uncertainty.

Hyper-activation of the TCP4 transcription factor in Arabidopsis thaliana accelerates multiple aspects of plant maturation

Plant organs are initiated as primordial outgrowths, and require controlled cell division and differentiation to achieve their final size and shape. Superimposed on this is another developmental program that orchestrates the switch from vegetative to reproductive to senescence stages in the life cycle. These require sequential function of heterochronic regulators. Little is known regarding the coordination between organ and organismal growth in plants. The TCP gene family encodes transcription factors that control diverse developmental traits, and a subgroup of class II TCP genes regulate leaf morphogenesis. Absence of these genes results in large, crinkly leaves due to excess division, mainly at margins. It has been suggested that these class II TCPs modulate the spatio-temporal control of differentiation in a growing leaf, rather than regulating cell proliferation per se. However, the link between class II TCP action and cell growth has not been established. As loss-of-function mutants of individual TCP genes in Arabidopsis are not very informative due to gene redundancy, we generated a transgenic line that expressed a hyper-activated form of TCP4 in its endogenous expression domain. This resulted in premature onset of maturation and decreased cell proliferation, leading to much smaller leaves, with cup-shaped lamina in extreme cases. Further, the transgenic line initiated leaves faster than wild-type and underwent precocious reproductive maturation due to a shortened adult vegetative phase. Early senescence and severe fertility defects were also observed. Thus, hyper-activation of TCP4 revealed its role in determining the timing of crucial developmental events, both at the organ and organism level.

Comparative Assessment of Techniques for Bioresource Monitoring Using GIS and Remote Sensing

Growing concern over the status of global and regional bioenergy resources has necessitated the analysis and monitoring of land cover and land use parameters on spatial and temporal scales. The knowledge of land cover and land use is very important in understanding natural resources utilization, conversion and management. Land cover, land use intensity and land use diversity are land quality indicators for sustainable land management. Optimal management of resources aids in maintaining the ecosystem balance and thereby ensures the sustainable development of a region. Thus sustainable development of a region requires a synoptic ecosystem approach in the management of natural resources that relates to the dynamics of natural variability and the effects of human intervention on key indicators of biodiversity and productivity. Spatial and temporal tools such as remote sensing (RS), geographic information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS) provide spatial and attribute data at regular intervals with functionalities of a decision support system aid in visualisation, querying, analysis, etc., which would aid in sustainable management of natural resources. Remote sensing data and GIS technologies play an important role in spatially evaluating bioresource availability and demand. This paper explores various land cover and land use techniques that could be used for bioresources monitoring considering the spatial data of Kolar district, Karnataka state, India. Slope and distance based vegetation indices are computed for qualitative and quantitative assessment of land cover using remote spectral measurements. Differentscale mapping of land use pattern in Kolar district is done using supervised classification approaches. Slope based vegetation indices show area under vegetation range from 47.65 % to 49.05% while distance based vegetation indices shoes its range from 40.40% to 47.41%. Land use analyses using maximum likelihood classifier indicate that 46.69% is agricultural land, 42.33% is wasteland (barren land), 4.62% is built up, 3.07% of plantation, 2.77% natural forest and 0.53% water bodies. The comparative analysis of various classifiers, indicate that the Gaussian maximum likelihood classifier has least errors. The computation of talukwise bioresource status shows that Chikballapur Taluk has better availability of resources compared to other taluks in the district.