Urbanization and its impact on groundwater: a remote sensing and GIS-based assessment approach

The perils of unplanned urbanization and increasing pressure of human activities on hydro-geomorphologic system often result in modification of the existing recharge mechanism, which leads to many environmental consequences. In the present research, an attempt has been made to investigate the applicability of remote sensing and geographical information system (GIS) in dealing with spatial and temporal variability of dynamic phenomena, like urbanization and its impact on groundwater. This paper covers primarily, quantitative and qualitative impacts of urban growth on the behavior of aquifer in Ajmer city (India). Urban growth of the Ajmer city in last 17 years has been estimated from the satellite images. Database related to urbanization and groundwater has been created in GIS. Groundwater recharge has been computed using a water balance approach known as Water Level Fluctuation Methodology. Recharge estimation methodology has been implemented in GIS to introduce the spatial variability of hydro-geological characteristics. Further, temporal and spatial variations in groundwater quality and quantity have been correlated with urban growth using overlay analysis in GIS. The study reveals a general decline in water table and quality with urbanization. Further, remote sensing and GIS technologies have been found useful in assessment of spatial and temporal phenomena of urbanization and its impact on groundwater system.     

Gender (in)difference in private offices: A holistic approach for assessing satisfaction and personalization

This research is a combination of gender studies, which highlights differences between men and women, and workplace research, which focuses on the performances that are assumed to affect employee satisfaction. The study proposes a multi-dimensional assessment model that enables consideration of several workplace issues in tandem. Focusing on user satisfaction, the first part of the study is a holistic approach concerned with technical, functional and behavioral variables that provides a broad understanding about gender (in)differences. Personalization, the core issue of the second part of the study, is measured through personal display items, autonomous behavior and office layout preferences of men and women employees. The findings indicate the presence of significant gender differences in terms of satisfaction felt with regard to the behavioral variables. The results also support previous findings indicating that men and women use different personal display items in order to personalize their offices. More women were diagnosed to be changing their room layout on a temporary basis whereas men and women were evidenced for having similar attitudes in making permanent changes and in preferring an office layout for themselves. The findings suggest that gender difference is still a valid subject in workplace research although the differences may not be as sharp as the conventional gender difference myth claims, implying a better understanding of the issues that differently satisfy men and women.     

Vegetation and outdoor recess time at elementary schools: What are the connections?

Empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that landscapes with more vegetation have a positive impact on children's focus, attention, and cognitive development. In school, children are able to regain focus, suppress impulses, and pay attention in class longer after exposure to natural settings. Because children spend much of their time in school, the amount and types of vegetation on school grounds may influence their development. Public elementary schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia (N = 988) were surveyed to examine correlations between school ground vegetation and outside recess. The number of trees on school grounds, the size of the school grounds, and the presence of sports fields were modestly correlated with greater outside recess time. These correlations support common sense because sports fields facilitate supervised play and larger school grounds provide space for sports fields and playgrounds and additional opportunities for free play. More trees on school grounds provide a welcoming environment for students and teachers, and encourage outside play. These results may help school personnel design and maintain school grounds that increase outdoor recess time.     

A method for ranking components importance in presence of epistemic uncertainties

Importance Measures (IMs) are used to rank the contributions of components or basic events to the system performance, e.g. its reliability or risk. Most times, IMs are calculated without due account of the uncertainties in the model of the behavior of the system. The objective of this work is to investigate how uncertainties can influence IMs and to develop a method for giving them due account in the corresponding ranking of the components or basic events. The uncertainties considered in this work affect the model parameters values and are assumed to be described by probability density functions. The method for ranking the contributors to the system performance measure is applied to the auxiliary feedwater system of a nuclear pressurized water reactor.     

Emission of isoprene from common Indian plant species and its implications for regional air quality

Isoprene is most dominant volatile organic compounds (VOC) emitted by many plants. In this study 40 common Indian plant species were examined for isoprene emission using dynamic flow through enclosure chamber technique. Isoprene emission rates of plants species were found to vary from undetectable to 69.5 microg g(-1) h(-1) (Madhuca latifolia). Besides, an attempt has been made to evaluate suitability of 80 common Indian plant species for planting programmes. Out of 80 species, 29 species were moderate to high emitters (10 to < or =25 microg g(-1) h(-1)), 12 species were low emitter emitters (1 to < or =10 microg g(-1) h(-1)) and remaining 39 species were found to be negligible or non emitters (<1 microg g(-1) h(-1)) of isoprene. About 50% plant species selected for planting programmes in India were found to be moderate to high emitters of isoprene.     

Biomonitoring of heavy metals by pollen in urban environment

Abstract Industrial development and consumption of petroleum products leads to increase air pollution levels especially in urban and industrial areas. Heavy metal components associated with air pollutants have far reaching effects with respect to economic and ecological importance of pollens. The pollens are male reproductive organs of the plant and travel through air from flower to flower for pollination purpose. During this period they are exposed to air pollutants. Present investigation thus pertains to study of effect of air pollutants on pollens especially biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals. The pollens of three commonly occurring plants namely Cassia siamea, Cyperus rotundus, Kigelia pinnata have been studied from the NH-6 of Nagpur city, India. The pollens exposed to polluted air showed the presence of higher concentrations of Ca, Al and Fe as compared to unexposed pollens. Higher concentration of these metals was observed in Cyperus rotundus followed by Cassia siamea and Kigelia pinnata. These results indicate that pollens act as good indicator of air pollution giving results in short time of exposure of 5–10 h. Apart from this, it is also reported that some of these metals play crucial role in the metabolic activity in pollens for example Calcium is necessary for growth of pollen tube and other metabolic activities in pollens. The presence of these metals in pollens may also enhance the allergenicity of the pollens. Similarly accumulation of heavy metals may also deteriorate the quality of pollen for their economical use. The viability of pollen is also affected by these pollutants in sensitive species leading to impairment of their fertility.     

Impact of intensive agricultural practices on drinking water quality in the EVROS Region (NE GREECE) by GIS analysis

Chemical fertilizers are used extensively in modern agriculture, in order to improve yield and productivity of agricultural products. However, nutrient leaching from agricultural soil into groundwater resources poses a major environmental and public health concern. The Evros region is one of the largest agricultural areas in Northern Greece, extending over 1.5 million acres of cultivated land. Many of its drinking water resources are of groundwater origin and lie within agricultural areas. In order to assess the impact of agricultural fertilizers on drinking water quality in this region, tap-water samples from 64 different locations were collected and analyzed for the presence of nitrates [Formula: see text], nitrites [Formula: see text], ammonium [Formula: see text], sulfate [Formula: see text] and phosphate [Formula: see text]. These chemicals were selected based on the information that ammonium nitrate, ammonium sulfate and inorganic phosphate were the primary fertilizers used in local crop production. [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] levels exceeding accepted values were recorded in 6.25, 4.70 and 9.38% of all sampling points, respectively. [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] concentrations, on the other hand, were inside the permitted range. The data generated were introduced into a geographic information system (GIS) program for computer analysis and projection maps representing afflicted areas were created. Our results indicate a profound geographic correlation in the surface distribution of primary contaminants in areas of intensified agricultural production. Thus, drinking water pollution in these areas can be attributed to excessive fertilizer use from agricultural sources.     

Origin and characterisation of microparticles in an ice core from the Central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica

The scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopic (SEM-EDS) study of selected samples from an ice core collected from Central Dronning Maud Land (CDML), East Antarctica, revealed several microparticles. They are mainly siliceous and carbonaceous particles and have distinct variations in their shape and composition. The morphology and major element chemistry of the particles suggest their origin from either volcanic eruptions or continental dust. The EDS analysis revealed that the volcanic particles are enriched in silica (average SiO2 62%), compared to the continental dust particle (average SiO2 56%). We found that the tephra relating to Agung (1963) and Karkatau (1883) volcanic eruptions, as recorded, in the ice core harbored microbial cells (both coocoid and rods). The occurrence of organic and inorganic particles which bear relation to volcanic eruption and continental dust implies significant environmental changes in the recent past.     

Development of tiger habitat suitability model using geospatial tools—a case study in Achankmar Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWLS), Chhattisgarh India

Geospatial tools supported by ancillary geo-database and extensive fieldwork regarding the distribution of tiger and its prey in Anchankmar Wildlife Sanctuary (AMWLS) were used to build a tiger habitat suitability model. This consists of a quantitative geographical information system (GIS) based approach using field parameters and spatial thematic information. The estimates of tiger sightings, its prey sighting and predicted distribution with the assistance of contextual environmental data including terrain, road network, settlement and drainage surfaces were used to develop the model. Eight variables in the dataset viz., forest cover type, forest cover density, slope, aspect, altitude, and distance from road, settlement and drainage were seen as suitable proxies and were used as independent variables in the analysis. Principal component analysis and binomial multiple logistic regression were used for statistical treatments of collected habitat parameters from field and independent variables respectively. The assessment showed a strong expert agreement between the predicted and observed suitable areas. A combination of the generated information and published literature was also used while building a habitat suitability map for the tiger. The modeling approach has taken the habitat preference parameters of the tiger and potential distribution of prey species into account. For assessing the potential distribution of prey species, independent suitability models were developed and validated with the ground truth. It is envisaged that inclusion of the prey distribution probability strengthens the model when a key species is under question. The results of the analysis indicate that tiger occur throughout the sanctuary. The results have been found to be an important input as baseline information for population modeling and natural resource management in the wildlife sanctuary. The development and application of similar models can help in better management of the protected areas of national interest.     

Assessing impact of industrialization in terms of LULC in a dry tropical region (Chhattisgarh), India using remote sensing data and GIS over a period of 30 years

The main focus of the paper is to assess the land use/ land cover (LULC) change in northern Chhattisgarh due to industrialization using remote sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS). The impact was assessed using an information extraction method applied to temporal satellite data (LANDSAT and IRS scenes) in GIS domain. For assessing the impact on natural resources, the classification scheme was restricted to (1) Forest patches ((a) completely cleared, (b) partially cleared, (c) least affected), (2) Non-Forest ((d) completely changed, (e) least changed), (3) Industrial/Mining area, and (4) River. Over the three decades 22.22% of forests have been completely cleared and converted to industrial setup. Another 25% is completely cleared and 10% is degraded. Around 4% of agricultural area is totally affected due to industrial activity. Random assessment of plant distribution (Trees, Shrubs and Herbs) indicates significant changes in the herb distribution directly related to distance gradient form the industrial/mining setup. Visual recording, socio-economic survey and satellite data also helped in delineation of extent of environmental pollution in forest and non-forest areas. The paper presents methodology for the environmental impact assessment.