Abstract

Pervasive large scale land cover land use (LULC) changes leading to deforestation have enhanced concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and significantly impacted the regional water cycle and bio-geo chemical cycles. This neceissates assessment of current level of transitions and likely future transitions for an effective decision making towards sustainable management of natural resources. Karwar taluk of Central Western Ghats has been experiencing rapid landscape changes due to unplanned developmental activities and the consequences were evident form frequent occurrence of landslides with the loss of life and property. Analysis of land cover transitions based on temporal spatial data helps more efficient land management policies. The present study aims to visualize and forecast forest land status (2000-2026) by exploring the effects of various factors such as protected areas, slope, waterbodies, proximity to roads, industries and urban centers through agent based model on land use change. The land use change inducing factors are normalized and relative weights were generated through fuzzyfication and Multi criteria Evaluation (MCE). The spatial patterns were quantified using metrics such as Number of Patches (NP), the Edge Density (ED) and Area-Weighted Mean Patch Fractal Dimension (AWMPFD). The forest cover has reduced from 73.59 % (2000) to 67.32% (2016) with an increase in built-up from 3.17 (2000) to 8.65% (2016). Forest cover in 2024 would be about 60.44% with increase in built-up area 14.79%. Unplanned developmental activities with the increasing trends of urbanisation are the prime reasons for disasters such as landslides, water scarcity, etc. The technique has provided insights to unsustainable land cover transitions in the region for an integrated and holistic path of development to sustain natural resources while mitigating human made disasters.

Abstract

etties are one of the most important structures in the coastal area, which can be used for transporting large quantities of goods and raw materials from one place to the other. Their functionality is very much essential because they are lifeline structures of the country. It is observed during the past earthquakes that jetties have been damaged even under mild shaking. Damaged and unserviceable jetties cause delay of export and import business. It directly affects the economy of particular region in terms of business, employment and growth. This clearly indicates the need to design these facilities so that they can withstand natural disasters particularly earthquakes and tsunamis. In this paper, a study has been carried out to find out the damage (D) to the Jetty. The Jetty is modeled using 2D Applied Element Method (AEM) to perform damage analysis of structure. Pushover analysis is done to get base shear vs roof displacement of building using displacement control method. Using the dissipated energy approach, damage is quantified at every displacement level and normalized to 1. A fragility curve has been developed to quantify the damage of Jetty with respect to different peak ground accelerations. The damage values were calculated for the PGA values of KHF Mandvi, NKF Jodiya and KMF Jhangi and found that the Jetty got light damage (D= 0.2), and moderate damage (D= 0.38 and 0.42) respectively.

Abstract

Drastic land use land cover changes (LULC) in forest landscape alters the functional ability of forest ecosystem, evident from decline in quantity and duration of water flow in streams, loss of carbon sequestration potential, etc. affecting the local livelihood, while inducing changes in the climate. This necessitates inventorying, mapping and monitoring of LULC dynamics to evolve appropriate location specific mitigation strategies. The LULC dynamics can be assessed effectively through free and open source software using temporal remote sensing data and modeling and forecasting techniques. The current research work aims to identify spatio-temporal land use changes from 2007-2016 in Kaiga Nuclear Power house (NPH) and its environs with the help of GRASS GIS (a robust free and open source software). Land uses in 2022 is predicted through Cellular Automata–Markov Chain model with the knowledge of land use transitions during the four decades. Validation of the model is done using Kappa indices, which shows good accuracy due to agreement of the predicated and actual land uses. The region has lost forest cover from 23 to 16.81 % (2016-2022) with an increase of built-up are of 42.01 to 46.81 % (2016-2022). The land use modeling, planning and policy by implying ecological science perspectives can improve understanding of ecological processes. The recent study reports of higher instances of cancer in humans with the functioning of NPH during the last decade. Any further expansion of NPH area would have serious ecological implications due to loss of vast tracts of forests, farmlands and would threaten the health and livelihood of local population.

Abstract

Earthquake resistant design of structures requires the knowledge of quantified seismic hazard. To quantify the seismic hazard, Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) is used for design procedures. The maximum possible PGA of a particular region depends on seismic parameters like magnitude, hypocentral distance, type of soil etc. Though it can be obtained by observing the past seismic events, it is more realistic to relate it with the parameters that influence it. Due to high seismic activity at the Himalayan region, this paper is aimed at developing a Ground Motion Prediction Equation (GMPE) for this region. For this purpose, two sets of 168 earthquakes (2.5-7.2 Mw) have been selected that are recorded at different stations within 500 km radius along the Himalayan belt. A statistical analysis is carried out on both sets separately based on the relation of PGA with magnitude, hypocentral distance and the type of soil. New GMPE equations have been proposed. The same are compared with the existing GMPE for the same region and seismically similar regions.

Abstract

Experiences from past earthquake disasters clearly shows that the ground motion was responsible for majority of property and life loss. Among the collapsed structures during the 1964 Niigata earthquake, the 1995 Kobe earthquake, the 1999 Koceli earthquake, the 2001 Bhuj earthquake and the 2004 Sumatra earthquake, excessive damage was occurred to pile supported bridges, towers, chimneys, high rise structures, etc. In view of this, there is a need to study the complex behaviour of soil-pile-structure interaction problems. In this research paper, a numerical study is carried out to understand the dynamic soil Foundation structure interaction (SFSI) of a framed structure supported on a pile foundation. For that purpose a 5 storey pile supported framed structure is modeled and the behaviour under strong earthquake excitations associated with nonlinear material behaviour is studied. A peculiar behaviour in the stress state of pile in the SFSI system is observed. This behaviour is because of Soil resistance acting downward along the pile shaft because of an applied transient load. Also, the comparison of linear and nonlinear stress states and the effect/significance of soil plasticity on the stress states are commented.

Abstract

This paper presents a parametric study on behavior of a shallow foundation resting on pond ash deposit with and without reinforcement. The behavior of foundation resting on the reinforced ash deposit is examined and studied by considering the parameters like effective depth of reinforcement; width of reinforcement; number of reinforcing layers. The parametric study has been performed using three dimensional finite element software, PLAXIS 3D. With the provision of reinforcement, the displacement is reduced as compared to unreinforced case. Also, with the increase in number of reinforcement layers, the bearing capacity of reinforced pond ash foundation is increased. Based on the results obtained, it is concluded that effective placement of reinforcement is observed at a depth of 2.67 B below the foundation for a width of 2B. Also, with the increase in number of layers, the bearing capacity is increased and the optimum provision of number of reinforcing layers is found to be two. Hence, it can be concluded that the performance of shallow foundation is better when pond ash underlying the shallow foundation is reinforced with geosynthetics material.

Abstract

The Western Ghats forms an important watershed for the entire peninsular India, being the source of 37 west flowing rivers and three major east flowing rivers and their numerous tributaries. However, deforestation due to large scale land cover changes has affected the water sustenance in the region evident from the quantity and duration of water availability during post monsoon period. Land use Land cover changes accelerated by unplanned anthropogenic activities have been the prime mover of global warming and consequent changes in the climate. This necessitates appropriate resource management with an understanding of drivers. Geo-visualization of landscape transitions considering the influential agents will aid in formulating strategies to mitigate global warming. Uttara Kannada district in the Central Western Ghats has the distinction of having highest forest cover in the country and this region is now experiencing rapid forest cover changes. Factors inducing changes in the land cover are normalized through fuzzyfication, considered for Multi criteria Evaluation using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) under high protection and low protection scenarios. Likely land use transitions by 2022 across zones based on transitions during 2004–2007, 2007–2010, 2010–2013 was done through cellular automata and Markov chain process (MC). The analyses highlight the loss of forest cover by 66.55–56.76% by 2022 in the coastal zone with escalating population density. Similar situation of 65.98–55.62% decline in Sahyadri region is noticed with execution of dams, hydroelectric projects and monoculture plantations. Lower transitions as compared with the second scenario highlights regulatory framework’s role in protection. However, forests in plain region show loss of 27.38–11.09% in both scenarios due to population pressure and market induced land cover changes. This necessitates policy interventions by the federal government to mitigateforest loss towards sustainable development.

Abstract

ndia and nearby countries in Asia witness major earthquake in recent days and in past. Although after witnessing many earthquakes in past, for aesthetic purpose big window openings in wall and even whole brick wall replaced by glass can be seen in metro cities and suburban areas in cities of India. Opening and aspect ratio in wall plays great role in strength and stiffness of wall and overall behavior of building. Without understanding effect of openings and aspect ratio on strength, stiffness and behavior of wall it can be dangerous to use such practices in construction of building. In this research study, effect of opening and aspect ratio on overall behavior of building has been studied. This numerical study has been done by considering a RC framed brick infill wall using Applied Element method. Applied element method is capable of showing crack initiation, crack propagation till total collapse of building. This research study will focus on importance of placement of opening and consideration of aspect ratio for RC infilled brick masonry building.

Abstract

Methods capable of assessing the vulnerability of houses for future earthquakes are of fundamental importance for the safety and development of an area. As the detailed assessment is limited to number of houses and cost, one of the appraising methods currently used for seismic vulnerability assessment is rapid visual screening (RVS). This methodology has led to determination of risk of an area subjected to an earthquake event. Many codes have limited rapid visual screening to housing typologies like reinforced concrete and Brick masonry structures. This paper delivers an approach on how to perform RVS for five varieties of buildings in Himachal Pradesh state. The RVS scores have been calculated for 9099 buildings and normal distribution curves are plotted for each typology of building to understand the distribution of buildings in Himachal Pradesh. Finally, a new modified format for performing rapid …

Abstract

Post transcriptionally modified nucleotides play an important structural role in RNA by providing additional chemical diversity to the architecture of the constituent nucleotides. To understand the contribution of these modified nucleotides in tertiary interactions that help in RNA folding, we present a systematic investigation of higher order hydrogen bonded structures involving modified nucleotides using bioinformatics based crystal structural database analysis and quantum chemical calculations. Our analysis reveals that 29% of the modified bases that participate in hydrogen-bonding interactions form higher order motifs, which points towards their importance as RNA building blocks. Although greater geometric variations in such motifs are observed in tRNA, they occur most commonly in rRNA, where they may play a role in RNA folding. Characterization of the optimum geometries and binding strengths of the modified …