Rheological Behavior of Al-7Si-0.3Mg Alloy at Mushy State

In recent years, semisolid manufacturing has emerged as an attractive option for near net shape forming of components with aluminum alloys. In this class of processes, the key to success lies mainly in the understanding of rheological behavior of the semi-solid slurry in the temperature range between liquidus and solidus. The present study focuses on the non-Newtonian flow behavior of the pseudo plastic slurry of Al-7Si-0.3Mg alloy for a wide shear range using a high-temperature Searle-type rheometer. The rheological behavior of the slurry is studied with respect to relevant process variables and microstructural features such as shear rate, shear duration, temperature history, primary particle size, shape, and their distribution. The experiments performed are isothermal tests, continuous cooling tests, shear jump tests, and shear time tests. The continuous cooling experiments are aimed toward studying the viscosity and shear stress evolution within the slurry matrix with increasing solid fraction at a constant shear rate. Three different cooling rates are considered and their effect on flow behavior of the slurry was studied under iso-shear condition. Descending shear jump experiments are performed to understand the viscous instability of the slurry.

An island called India: phylogenetic patterns across multiple taxonomic groups reveal endemic radiations

Island systems from around the world have provided fascinating opportunities for studies pertaining to various evolutionary processes. One recurring feature of isolated islands is the presence of endemic radiations. In this regard, the Indian subcontinent is an interesting entity given it has been an island during much of its history following separation from Madagascar and currently is isolated from much of Eurasia by the Himalayas in the north and the Indian Ocean in the south. Not surprisingly, recent molecular studies on a number of endemic taxa from India have reported endemic radiations. These studies suggest that the uniqueness of Indian biota is not just due to its diverse origin, but also due to evolution in isolation. The isolation of India has generated some peculiarities typically seen on oceanic islands. However, these patterns might be confined to, groups with low dispersal ability.

Distribution, relative abundance, and conservation status of Asian elephants in Karnataka, southern India

Karnataka state in southern India supports a globally significant and the country's largest population of the Asian elephant Elephas maximus. A reliable map of Asian elephant distribution and measures of spatial variation in their abundance, both vital needs for conservation and management action, are unavailable not only in Karnataka, but across its global range. Here, we use various data gathered between 2000 and 2015 to map the distribution of elephants in Karnataka at the scale of the smallest forest management unit, the `beat', while also presenting data on elephant dung density for a subset of `elephant beats.' Elephants occurred in 972 out of 2855 forest beats of Karnataka. Sixty percent of these 972 beats and 55% of the forest habitat lay outside notified protected areas (PM), and included lands designated for agricultural production and human dwelling. While median elephant dung density inside protected areas was nearly thrice as much as outside, elephants routinely occurred in or used habitats outside PM where human density, land fraction under cultivation, and the interface between human-dominated areas and forests were greater. Based on our data, it is clear that India's framework for elephant conservation which legally protects the species wherever it occurs, but protects only some of its habitats while being appropriate in furthering their conservation within PM, seriously falters in situations where elephants reside in and/or seasonally use areas outside PAs. Attempts to further elephant conservation in production and dwelling areas have extracted high costs in human, elephant, material and monetary terms in Karnataka. In such settings, conservation planning exercises are necessary to determine where the needs of elephants or humans must take priority over the other, and to achieve that in a manner that is based not only on reliable scientific data but also on a process of public reasoning. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Wireless scheduling with partial channel state information: large deviations and optimality

We consider a server serving a time-slotted queued system of multiple packet-based flows, where not more than one flow can be serviced in a single time slot. The flows have exogenous packet arrivals and time-varying service rates. At each time, the server can observe instantaneous service rates for only a subset of flows ( selected from a fixed collection of observable subsets) before scheduling a flow in the subset for service. We are interested in queue length aware scheduling to keep the queues short. The limited availability of instantaneous service rate information requires the scheduler to make a careful choice of which subset of service rates to sample. We develop scheduling algorithms that use only partial service rate information from subsets of channels, and that minimize the likelihood of queue overflow in the system. Specifically, we present a new joint subset-sampling and scheduling algorithm called Max-Exp that uses only the current queue lengths to pick a subset of flows, and subsequently schedules a flow using the Exponential rule. When the collection of observable subsets is disjoint, we show that Max-Exp achieves the best exponential decay rate, among all scheduling algorithms that base their decision on the current ( or any finite past history of) system state, of the tail of the longest queue. To accomplish this, we employ novel analytical techniques for studying the performance of scheduling algorithms using partial state, which may be of independent interest. These include new sample-path large deviations results for processes obtained by non-random, predictable sampling of sequences of independent and identically distributed random variables. A consequence of these results is that scheduling with partial state information yields a rate function significantly different from scheduling with full channel information. In the special case when the observable subsets are singleton flows, i.e., when there is effectively no a priori channel state information, Max-Exp reduces to simply serving the flow with the longest queue; thus, our results show that to always serve the longest queue in the absence of any channel state information is large deviations optimal.

Crustal Evolution of Kolli-Massif, Southern India

Southern India is a collage of numerous crustal fragments formed since the Archean (2500 Ma ago) and reworked several times during the geological history. A close look at these terrains provides a window to understand the crustal evolutionary processes experienced by the continental crust in the past, such as crustal growth (formation of crust through addition of new magma) and crustal reworking (modification of an already existing crust). Here we discuss the evolutionary history of such a crustal fragment from the Southern Granulite Terrain (SGT) in peninsular India, namely Kolli-massif. Geology, structural deformation through time, and the implications in crustal assembly of southern India are exponded.

Two new species of Gomphonema (Bacillariophyceae) from Doon Valley, Uttarakhand, India

This paper describes two new Gomphonema species from the lesser Himalayas, India, with their valve morphology using light and scanning electron microscopy. The two species, Gomphonema juettnerii sp. nov. and G. doonensis sp. nov., were found in Nalota stream in Doon Valley of Uttarakhand State. Main features of G. juettnerii are valve outline, shape of the areolae and striae pattern and presence of stigma. Main features of G. doonensis are rounded headpole, striae made by doubly punctate striae and features in central area. A detailed discussion on doubly punctate striae in members of gomphonemoid diatoms is presented.

A new rock dwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Chhattisgarh, India

A distinct new species of gecko of the genus Hemidactylus is described from the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh State, east-central India. This large-sized (SVL average 81.33 +/- 13.40 to at least 98.0 mm) Hemidactylus is characterized by a dorsum with small granules, intermixed with 10-12 rows of irregularly arranged, slightly larger, rounded, weakly-keeled tubercles at midbody; 10-12 and 13-15 subdigital lamellae on the first and fourth digits, respectively, of both manus and pes; a single enlarged postcloacal tubercle on either side of the tail; 10-12 femoral pores on each thigh separated by 5-8 poreless scales; 12-14 supralabials and 10-12 infralabials.

A new rock dwelling Hemidactylus (Squamata: Gekkonidae) from Chhattisgarh, India

A distinct new species of gecko of the genus Hemidactylus is described from the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh State, east-central India. This large-sized (SVL average 81.33 +/- 13.40 to at least 98.0 mm) Hemidactylus is characterized by a dorsum with small granules, intermixed with 10-12 rows of irregularly arranged, slightly larger, rounded, weakly-keeled tubercles at midbody; 10-12 and 13-15 subdigital lamellae on the first and fourth digits, respectively, of both manus and pes; a single enlarged postcloacal tubercle on either side of the tail; 10-12 femoral pores on each thigh separated by 5-8 poreless scales; 12-14 supralabials and 10-12 infralabials.

Reservoir Operation with Fuzzy State Variables for Irrigation of Multiple Crops

This paper presents the development and application of a stochastic dynamic programming model with fuzzy state variables for irrigation of multiple crops. A fuzzy stochastic dynamic programming (FSDP) model is developed in which the reservoir storage and soil moisture of the crops are considered as fuzzy numbers, and the reservoir inflow is considered as a stochastic variable. The model is formulated with an objective of minimizing crop yield deficits, resulting in optimal water allocations to the crops by maintaining storage continuity and soil moisture balance. The standard fuzzy arithmetic method is used to solve all arithmetic equations with fuzzy numbers, and the fuzzy ranking method is used to compare two or more fuzzy numbers. The reservoir operation model is integrated with a daily-based water allocation model, which results in daily temporal variations of allocated water, soil moisture, and crop deficits. A case study of an existing Bhadra reservoir in Karnataka, India, is chosen for the model application. The FSDP is a more realistic model because it considers the uncertainty in discretization of state variables. The results obtained using the FSDP model are found to be more acceptable for the case study than those of the classical stochastic dynamic model and the standard operating model, in terms of 10-day releases from the reservoir and evapotranspiration deficit. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Light Induced Metastable State of Silver Nitroprusside Probed by Raman Spectroscopy

Low temperature Raman spectroscopic measurements on silver nitroprusside (AgNP), Ag-2Fe(CN)(5)NO] powders display reversible features of a partially converted metastable state. The results are compared with similarly observed metastable state in case of sodium nitroprusside (NaNP) and the differences have been discussed in terms of possible resistance to metastable state formation offered by silver atoms on the basis of hard soft acid base (HSAB) theory.

Effect of Super-exchange Interaction on Ground state Magnetic Properties of Spin-dependent Falicov-Kimball Model on a Triangular Lattice

Ground state magnetic properties are studied by incorporating the super-exchange interaction (J(se)) in the spin-dependent Falicov-Kimball model (FKM) between localized (f-) electrons on a triangular lattice for half filled case. Numerical diagonalization and Monte-Carlo simulation are used to study the ground state magnetic properties. We have found that the magnetic moment of (d-) and (f-) electrons strongly depend on the value of Hund's exchange (J), super-exchange interaction (J(se)) and also depends on the number of (d-) electrons (N-d). The ground state changes from antiferromagnetic (AFM) to ferromagnetic (FM) state as we decrease (N-d). Also the density of d electrons at each site depends on the value of J and J(se).

Fuzzy State Real-Time Reservoir Operation Model for Irrigation with Gridded Rainfall Forecasts

A short-term real-time operation model with fuzzy state variables is developed for irrigation of multiple crops based on earlier work on long-term steady-state policy. The features of the model that distinguish it from the earlier work are (1) apart from inclusion of fuzziness in reservoir storage and in soil moisture of crops, spatial variations in rainfall and soil moisture of crops are included in the real-time operation model by considering gridded command area with a grid size of 0.5 degrees latitude by 0.5 degrees longitude; (2) the water allocation model and soil moisture balance equations are integrated with the real-time operation model with consideration of ponding water depth for Paddy crop; the model solution specifies reservoir releases for irrigation in a 10-day time period and allocations among the crops on a daily basis at each grid by maintaining soil moisture balance at the end of the day; and (3) the release policy is developed using forecasted daily rainfall data of each grid and is implemented for the current time period using actual 10-day inflow and actual daily rainfall of each grid. The real-time operation model is applied to Bhadra Reservoir in Karnataka, India. The results obtained using the real-time operation model are compared with those of the standard operating policy model. Inclusion of fuzziness in reservoir storage and soil moisture of crops captures hydrologic uncertainties in real time. Considerations of irrigation decisions on a daily basis and the gridded command area result in variations in allocating water to the crops, variations in actual crop evapotranspiration, and variations in soil moisture of the crops on a daily basis for each grid of the command area. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Microhyla laterite sp nov., A New Species of Microhyla Tschudi, 1838 (Amphibia: Anura: Microhylidae) from a Laterite Rock Formation in South West India

In recent times, several new species of amphibians have been described from India. Many of these discoveries are from biodiversity hotspots or from within protected areas. We undertook amphibian surveys in human dominated landscapes outside of protected areas in south western region of India between years 2013-2015. We encountered a new species of Microhyla which is described here as Microhyla laterite sp. nov. It was delimited using molecular, morphometric and bioacoustics comparisons. Microhyla laterite sp. nov. appears to be restricted to areas of the West coast of India dominated by laterite rock formations. The laterite rock formations date as far back as the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary and are considered to be wastelands in-spite of their intriguing geological history. We identify knowledge gaps in our understanding of the genus Microhyla from the Indian subcontinent and suggest ways to bridge them.

Language model combination and adaptation using weighted finite state transducers

In speech recognition systems language model (LMs) are often constructed by training and combining multiple n-gram models. They can be either used to represent different genres or tasks found in diverse text sources, or capture stochastic properties of different linguistic symbol sequences, for example, syllables and words. Unsupervised LM adaptation may also be used to further improve robustness to varying styles or tasks. When using these techniques, extensive software changes are often required. In this paper an alternative and more general approach based on weighted finite state transducers (WFSTs) is investigated for LM combination and adaptation. As it is entirely based on well-defined WFST operations, minimum change to decoding tools is needed. A wide range of LM combination configurations can be flexibly supported. An efficient on-the-fly WFST decoding algorithm is also proposed. Significant error rate gains of 7.3% relative were obtained on a state-of-the-art broadcast audio recognition task using a history dependently adapted multi-level LM modelling both syllable and word sequences. ©2010 IEEE.