Geographic Study of Mountain Area

Geographic Study of Mountain Area CHAPTER II STUDY AREA PROFILE 2.0 General: The study area (13858.83 ha) is a mountain range between River Pravara and River Mula Basin. The range started from western boarder at Ghatghar village and end eastern border at village Washere in the Akole tahsil, district Ahmendagar of Maharashtra state. The extent of study area is 19 ° 35 06.86 to 19 ° 30 13.08 N latitude and 73 ° 37 00.03 to 74 ° 04 24.65 E longitude. It covers parts of the Survey of India topographic sheet numbers 47 E/ 10, 11, 14, 15 and 47 I/ 2, 3. The depth and water-holding capacity of the soils are varied even if there is slightly change in slopes which is the one of the reason in the variation of forest land. The slope of the area is decreasing from NW to SE respectively and the height varies from 560 m to 1646 meters above mean sea level. Study area is distributed in the Sahyadri mountains (Western ghat) region of the Maharashtra state. Geologically this area formed from basaltic lava. Basalt rock prevent percolation of rainy, reservoir water in to underground zone. Due to rock type the soil cover is very shallow at the top of the mountain and increasing its deepness at foothill zones near water reservoirs. Basic Intrusive (Dykes) mainly found nearby this area. This are the approximate reasons of the shallow soil cover. Very shallow loamy, shallow clayey soil found on the moderate (1 °- 3 °) and stiff (3 °- 6 °) slope. Soil moisture impact on the amount of the vegetation cover with respect to soil type and slope. Therefore, North West and South zone have maximum vegetation cover compare to other land of the study area. It receives annual rainfall about 440.4 mm. The mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures are 39.80 C and 8.70 C respectively. Local tribal people engages with the agricultural activities at reclaimed land from forest area. Forestry is the second occupation after agriculture. 2.1 Geology: Study area is a part of Sahyadri Mountain Range (Western Ghat). Also called as Deccan Trap formed by basaltic rocks; amygdaloidal basalts form the bedrock. This area has shallow soil like loam, clayey; again divided in to sub types based on depth and slope classes. Overlying weathered and fractured rocks, resting on hard massive basalt. The basalts are nearly horizontal, separated by thin layers of ancient soil and volcanic ash (red bole). The basalt flows are nearly flat-lying (the sequence has a regional southerly dip of 0.5-1 °) and mainly belong to the Thakurvadi Formation (Fm) of the Kalsubai Subgroup (Khadri et al. 1988; Subbarao and Hooper 1988). The lithology of the area indicating that around 77.17 % area covered by 12-14 compound pahoehoe flows and some Aa flows (max 206m). Around 4.53 % by 2 compound pahoehoe flows (40-50m) and Megacryst compound pahoehoe basaltic flow M3 (50-60m) up to 3.26 %. Remaing 0.89% covered by 5 Aa and 1 compound pahoehoe basaltic lava flows (Max. 160m); 4-5 compound pahoehoe basaltic lava flows (Max. 150m), Basik Sill/Lava channels respectively. The regional stratigraphy of the Deccan basalts has been described by Beane et al. (1989), Khadri et al (1988), and Subbarao and Hooper (1988). Structural indices indicate the part of basic intrusive (dykes) in the part of noer-west and south-east. One fault line cross at the middle part of the study area. 2.2 Relief: Study situated at the middle of the tehsil Akole. It has horizontal shape and act like a natural water divider. Relief turn and fix the surface geographical landforms. The altitude of this area is varies from less than 640 meter (minimum) to 1646 meter (maximum). The formation of soil, natural vegetation cover and soil moisture conditions are totally controlled by the status of the relief. Contour lines demarcate the height of the study area above mean sea level. The Kalasubai (1646m) highest peak of the Maharashtra state located in the Akole tehsil. In the tehsil second highest peak Harishchandragarh (1422m) located in the south-west part of the study area. Relief decreasing toward to the Washere village of this mountain range. Drainage network flow depends on relief is explained in next point. 2.3 Slope: Slope of the study area calculated in degree (0 ° to 90 °) on the basis of contours. This slope of the area divided in to 7 classes. Gentle slope has up to 1 ° slope where water reserve and collected in dam. Soil depth, cover and types also depends on the nature of slope. Hill top and cliff sides has precipitous to very steep slope (12 ° to 90 °). At foothill slope moderate to steep (1 ° to 12 °) zone has maximum forest cover in north-west and south-west direction. Eroded material on the top hill concentrating on the foothill slopes and favourable for soil formation. That is why the in this area soil moisture, soil depth and vegetation cover found more than other zone. Soil types and different characteristics has been elaborated in the next point. 2.4 Drainage: Network of drainage is developing continually and it’s responsible for the different landform creation. Relief controlled the drainage flow and streams erode land surface in to different geographical landform features. Relief and streams has strong correlation. Study area has an origin point of the main river Pravara. River flows from north-west to north-east direction. This river has main and minor dam. Bhandardara is main dam situated on river Pravara, which is an important land-cover feature in study area. At the time of robust forest change analysis this water body play an important role. Soil moisture depend on drainage network and water reservoirs after rainy season. It made difference in the type of vegetation cover from dense forest to open scrub land. Drainage pattern related to slope and slope related to forest growth has been explained in detailed in the next point. 2.5 Soil: The growth and reproduction of forest cannot be understood without the knowledge of soil. The soil and vegetation have a complex interrelation because they develop together over a long period of time. The vegetation influences the chemical properties of soil to a great extent. The selective absorption of nutrient elements by different tree species and their capacity to return them to the soil brings about changes in soil properties (Singh et al. 1986). Soil element is one of the most important biophysical matter. Concentration of elements in the soils is a good indicator of their availability to plants. Their presence in soil would give good information towards the knowledge of nutrient cycling and bio-chemical cycle in the soil–plant ecosystem (Pandit and Thampan 1988). Generation of soil is depend on geology, topography, time span, climatic conditions, organic and inorganic factors, etc. Forests in general have a greater influence on soil conditions than most other plant eco system types, due to a well-developed ‘‘O’’ horizon, moderating temperature, and humidity at the soil surface, input of litter with high lignin content, high total net primary production, and high water and nutrient demand (Binkley and Giardina 1998). Study area is a hilly zone, soil is very shallow at the top-hills while excessively drained loamy soil (a rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay and decaying organic materials) found at steep slopes north-west direction. Shallow well drained clayey soil and slightly deep excessively drained loamy soil found over moderate to gentle slope respectively. Clay soils, are made up of very fine, microscopic particles. These tiny particles fit together tightly, resulting in tiny pore spaces between them. The tiny pore spaces allow water to move through them, but at a much slower pace than in sandy soils. Clay soils drain quite slowly and hold more water than sandy soils. Loams soil capacity of maximum water holding (MWHC) approximately 0.18 inches of water per inch of soil depth, and clays hold up to 0.17 inches of water per inch of soil depth. However, soil types, soil elements, soil depth depends on the geology of the study area, explained in next point. 2.6Population and economic activities: Humans being living surrounding this area most are the tribal population. Primary economical activities including shifting cultivation, fishery, 2.7Spectral properties of plants in the forest: (1st ch) Interaction of radiation with plant leaves is extremely complex. General features of this interaction have been studied but many spectral features are yet unexplained. Gates et al., (1965) are considered pioneers, who have studied spectral characteristics of leaf reflection, transmission and absorption. Optical properties of plants have been further studied to understand the mechanisms involved by Gausman and Allen (1973), Wooley (1971) and Allen et al., (1970). It is the synthesis of the parameters like reflection of plant parts, reflection of plant canopies, nature and state of plant canopies and Structure and texture of plant canopies, which will be required to fully understand the remote sensing data collected from space borne and aerial platforms. They have been attempted for crop canopies through the development of models but not yet fully achieved. It will be initially required to discuss the electromagnetic spectrum and its interaction with vegetation canopies. Subsequent factors affecting the spectral reflectance of plant canopies with its possible applications in remote sensing technology would be discussed. The vegetation reflectance is influenced by the reflectance characteristics of individual plant organs, canopy organization and type, growth stage of plants, structure and texture of the canopies. The synthesis of the above four aspects provides true reflectance characteristic. However, various authors without fully achieving models to determine vegetation reflectance characteristics have studied effect of individual parameters. 2.6.1 Nature of the Plant: Numerous measurements have been performed to evaluate the spectral response of various categories of plants with a spectrophotometer (Fig. ***). For a plant in its normal state i.e., typical and healthy the spectral reflectance is specific of the group, the species and even of the variety at a given stage in its phenological evolution. The general aspects of spectral reflectance of healthy plant in the range from 0.4 to 2.6  µm is shown in figure ****. The very abrupt increase in reflectance near 0.7  µm and the fairly abrupt decrease near 1.5  µm are present for all mature, healthy green leaves. Very high; further in the far infrared >3.0  µm. Thus, the typical spectral curve of plant is divided into three prominent zones correlated with morphological characteristics of the leaves (Gates, 1971). 2.6.2 à ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Pigment Absorption Zone: The important pigments, viz. chlorophyll, xanthophylls and carotenoids absorb energy strongly in ultraviolet blue and red regions of the EMR. The reflectance and transmittance are weak. The absorbed energy of this part of this spectrum is utilized for the photosynthetic activity (Allen et al. 1970). 2.6.3 Multidioptric Reflectance Zone: In this zone, the reflectance is high, while the absorbptance remains weak. All the unabsorbed energy (30 to 70% according to the type of plant) is transmitted. They reflectance is essentially due to the internal structure of the leaf and the radiation is able to penetrate. The reflectance from internal structure is of physical more than chemical nature. Apart front the contribution of the waxy cuticle, the magnitude of the reflectance depends primarily upon the amount of spongy mesophyll. 2.6.4 à ¯Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚  Hydric Zone: Amount of water inside the leaf affect the pattern of spectral reflectance with water specific absorption bands at 1.45  µm, 1.95  µm and 2.6  µm. Liquid water in a leaf causes strong absorption throughout middle infrared region. Beyond 2.5  µm the reflectance becomes less than 5% due to atmospheric absorption and beyond 3  µm the vegetation starts acting as quasi blackbody (Gates et al., 1965). There are numerous factors either internal of the plant or external coming from the environmental conditions have an influence on the specific spectral reflectance. The above descriptions are true only for a normal, mature and healthy vegetation. The factors which affect the spectral reflectance of leaves are leaf structure, maturity, pigmentation, sun exposition, phyllotaxis, pubescene, turgidity (water content) nutritional status and, disease etc. Important factors are pigmentation, nutritional status, anatomy of leaves and water content. While, sun exposition and phyllotaxy affects the canopy reflectance, phenological state and disease are linked to the primary factors affecting the spectral reflectance (Wooley, 1971). 2.7Spectral vegetation indices: Radiant energy intercepted by a vegetative canopy is primarily scattered by leaves either away from the leaf surface or to the leaf interior. The scattered radiation is reflected, transmitted or absorbed by leaves. The partitioning of radiation a reflected, transmitted or absorbed energy depends on a number of factor including leaf cellular structures (Gates et al. 1965; Kfipling, 1970; Woolley, 1971), leaf pubescence and roughness (Gausman, 1977), leaf morphology and physiology (Gausman et al., 1969 a, b; Gausman and Allen, 1973; Gausman et al., 1971) and leaf surface characteristics (Breece and Hommes, 1971; Grant, 1985). Leaves are not perfectly diffuse reflectors but have diffuse and specular characteristics. Leaf transmittance tends to have a non Lambertian distribution, while leaf reflectance is dependent on illumination and view angles. Knowledge of soils radiation interaction with individual leaves is necessary for several reasons like special to interpret and process remotely sensed data. Typical reflectance and transmittance spectrum of a individual plant leaf indicate three distinct wavelength regions in interaction: visible (0.4-0.7  µm), near infrared (NIR) (0.7-1.35  µm) and mid infrared (mid IR) (1.35-2.7  µm). Thus the typical spectral curve of plant is divided into three prominent zones correlated with morphological/anatomical/physiological characteristics of the leaves and these are Pigment Absorption Zone, Multi-Dioptric Reflectance Zone and Hydric Zone, etc. The analysis of all remotely sensed data involves models of many processes wherein the EM radiation is transformed (the scene, atmosphere and sensor) and whereby inference is made about the scene from the image data. The most common strategy for relating remote sensing data to vegetation canopies has been via the correlation of vegetation indices with vegetation structure and functional variables. This simple empirical approach has yielded substantial understanding of the structure and dynamics of vegetation at all scales. These indices are capable of handling variation introduced in a scene due to atmosphere or sensor and vegetation background influence in low vegetation cover areas. The capacity to assess and monitor the structure of terrestrial vegetation using spectral properties recorded by remote sensing is important because structure can be related to functioning, that is to ecosystem processes that are ultimately aggregated up to the functioning of the local-regional-global level of ecosystem. The categorization of the various spectral indices in to approximately five types. Such as Ratio Indices, Vegetation Indices, Orthogonal based Indices, Perpendicular Vegetation Indices and Tasseled Cap Transformation, etc. Remote sensing of cropland, forest and grassland involves the measurement of reflected energy of component in the presence of each other. The development and usefulness of vegetation indices are dependent upon the degree to which the spectral contribution of non-vegetation component can be isolated from the measured canopy response. Although vegetation indices have been widely recognized a valuable tools in the measurement and interpretation of ‘vegetation condition’ several limitation have also been identified. They are related to soil brightness effect and secondary soil spectral deviations. The use of site specific soil lines reduces soil background influence. In this context SAVI, GRABS and PVI holds greater promise in low vegetated areas. The vegetation indices are simplified method to extract information about vegetation parameter from multispectral data however, their use in spectral modeling needs to be studied in context of spectral dynamics of earth surface components. 2.8Resume`: Forest cover is an important natural resource for the environment and socio-eco on the surface of the earth. It can bridge the gap between nature and human beings conflicts. Changes in the forest land increase the imbalance in the ecosystem, climatic conditions, temperature, land degradation, drought prone zones, soil erosion, depending manmade activities, etc. The living tribes in the mountain hill as well as foot hill area utilized forest material for their domestic usages. Therefore, the objectives of detection and delineation of the forest land by using ordinary classification methods have been outlined in the present study. The methodology has been outlined in this chapter. The Landsat-5 TM and Landsat-7 ETM+ dataset has been suggested as a source of information to achieve the objectives of the study. The basic knowledge regarding spectral properties of the forest and physiographic elements as well as spectral vegetation indices area has been proposed for the second chapter to m ake information base study for image analysis, classification and interpretation in the next chapters. *********

Will lowering the drinking age solve the problem

Drinking on College Campuses Beer bongs, keg stands, and a million new drinks to discover, these are what college is all about. First-year students are introduced to a whole new world of parties that last until 3 a. m. and drinking beer for the usual breakfast. The week consists of concentrating on school for about 4 days of the week and partying 3 days. The money that was supposed to go towards books and gas to get home has been hoarded for the latest beer run or was used to get into the bar. This trend is getting into the habit of drinking as you enter college; it seems the two go hand in hand.It has become a rite of passage that weaved its way into the introduction of university life (National Institute, October 2002). Those students who never drank in high school seem to think drinking is suddenly okay when they start studying for their bachelor's degree. This addition of responsibility is then balanced by the act of partying. It seems completely absurd that students choose to dr ink while investing around $20,000 a year in school. It all starts at high school graduation. Drinking is suddenly endorsed, or protested less, by parents, coaches, adults, organizations, and businesses.When seniors in high school finally graduate, it is common for a party to be thrown in their honor. Some of these parties include alcohol, and we can be pretty sure it wasn't bought by the graduate unless they flunked a few times and are of legal age. Parents, other adults, and older friends supply the liquor and beer for the underage partiers. When the graduates make the next major step in their life and head for college, they are confronted with many opportunities to get hammered, sloshed, annihilated, drunk, inebriated, intoxicated, wasted, and totally smashed.Other college students re eager to help their young, new friends out by taking them for a trip to the liquor store. Since some bars are legal to those over the age of eighteen, it's not a problem getting served there either. The 21 year-olds are conveniently stamped for minors looking to spot a potential buyer. Since a minor isn't worried about getting served, the most apparent problem is getting to the bar. One setting of this national trend can be studied locally. At Buena Vista University, these same events occur, plus additional more specific examples.At BVU, thanks to student organizations and funding from the college, there is a free ide for all. The â€Å"drunk bus† is a means of transportation supplied by the university and Student Senate, an important organization on campus. This form of transportation is common on a variety ot campuses. Visitors ot The University ot Iowa can see they have buses run all day for classes, and they continue into the night to bring students to and from the bar. The driver at Iowa even sets up a disco ball and funky lights to make the ride more enjoyable for his late-night friends.The free ride is also a form of support for those consuming alcohol. Advertise ments for drinking are all over residence halls. The choice of wallpaper in many dorm rooms consists of beer boxes and fluorescent Budweiser lights. Beer and liquor bottles are a usual decoration in most dorms; theyre used as vases, piggy banks, candle holders, and candy dishes. Each time you walk by a dorm room, you see these things like a giant billboard in Times Square. For a student athlete, a game-winning shot could get him/her a free spirit at the local bar.Fans, bar owners, coaches, athletic directors, teammates, and parents have all been seen rewarding the athletes with toasts and celebration shots. These same oasts are given to college students on their birthdays, no matter how old they are. Fraternities and sororities also bring a drinking factor to colleges. They are known more commonly for their parties and ability to drink, than their community service and GPAs. Even though we don't have them on our campus, they are apparent at the majority of colleges and universities across America.The frats are known for their very popular gatherings where binge drinking is rewarded, and hardly anyone is sober. Sororities are known to attend these parties and Join in the festivities. Another factor that proves that college and drinking go hand in hand is the abrupt end of this behavior for most after college graduation. Most students buckle down for graduate school or the beginning of their career. This excessive drinking pattern does not continue. The tragedies occur when the drinking becomes out of hand.Some drinkers get into a habit of binge drinking. This has been defined as â€Å"drinking to get drunk† (Center for Science, March 2000). Binge drinking leads to passing out, blacking out, memory loss, and injury due to loss of mobility. Unusual and outrageous behavior can get you removed from your university. Even if a student doesn't normally act in mischievous ways, this behavior cannot be excused because of the influence of alcohol. Getting in troub le with the law goes on your public record.Around 11 percent of college student drinkers say they have damaged someone's property while drinking, and 5 percent of a college campus will be involved with the police or campus security due to drinking (A Snapshot of Annual High-Risk College Drinking Consequences, 2002). Other alcohol related charges include public intoxication, minor in possession, driving under the influence, operating while intoxicated, indecent exposure, resisting rrest, interference with official duties, assaulting an officer, and disorderly conduct.

Family Narratives About Child Obesity Essay

A growing interest in psychological approaches to the treatment of childhood obesity has led to an â€Å"increased demand for insights into the psychological drives related to the development of obesity† and to the motivation in families with obese children (pg 183). Reports suggest that childhood obesity affects both the physical and the psychological health of the child, and the family is the main cause. There is very little research done on how to prevent childhood obesity. Children undergoing treatment for obesity are dependent on both the family’s practical (socio-economical and lifestyle) and psychological (emotions and attitude) support. Thus, the purpose of this research was to â€Å"elucidate aspects of the family’s interactions and its understanding of who has a weight problem, of whom the family feels ought to change their health-related behavior (diet and exercise)† (pg. 188) METHOD Participants From November 2001 to November 2005, 100 families with obese children participated in the treatment project. The families were to include a 10 to 12-year old child whose weight was more than 40% above the weight-to-height ratio for children, and the family was willing to participate for one and a half years in treatment. Children were referred from school nurses, teachers or practitioners. Each family participated in a one-hour introductory interview, with only 53 of the interviews actually being completed. Procedure There were three analyses that were comprised for the research: qualitative (family narratives), one for the families’ socio-demographic condition, and the third was the â€Å"ways in which the various narratives are represented in families from different socio-demographic backgrounds† (pg. 192). During the interview, participants responded to questions: â€Å"What does your family think are the causes to the child being overweight? Why do you (the child) want to lose weight (What is the motivation)? Who is going to change anything concerning the eating habits in the family? What is the education of the mother/father?† (pg. 199) Finally an analysis of the relationship between the described narratives and the three educational categories was carried out, based on their percentile distribution in the sample. RESULTS In the first part of the analysis attention was directed to whether or not a family mentioned causal factors that may have influenced the child’s weight development (internally). Factors claimed by a family as influencing the development of excess weight that are clearly causal explanations were diet, exercise, and psychology (comfort eating, boredom, etc.). â€Å"Almost all families (91%) stated that they had played a part in the development of their children’s obesity. Many of the parents (59% of the mothers and 22% of the fathers) had experience in trying to lose weight by dieting† (pg 201). The dietary factors specified by families as having played a part in the development of the child’s obesity was overeating unhealthy food. The second part was the external influences: The family claimed to have had no influence on the development of their child’s obesity. Narratives belonging to this area of research fall into three categories: genetics, previous illness, and incomprehensible (the family had no clue as to why their child was obese.). All families had a short-term perspective on motivation for wanting to change their child’s weight development. Most of the families who also had a long-term perspective on motivation belonged to the two groups with the highest educational level. ‘More than three-quarters of the families (78%) believed their child’s overweight to be a family problem and that the whole family must participate in lifestyle modification† (pg 204). Half of the families (54%) felt that the child must assume responsibility of exercising. DISCUSSION It is suggest that more studies be conducted, mainly due to the fact that most of the families that were studied had relatively short educations. Contrary to expectations, there was no association between the parents believing that they had no influence on their child’s weight development and their feeling that it was the child alone who must act and change its behavior.

The Spread and Localization of Buddhism and Islam into...

The spread of religion first began through contact with neighbouring countries which gradually expand throughout the years. Buddhism and Islam are one of the most widespread religions across Southeast Asian countries like Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Trade merchants and imperial support of the religion were major factors in the facilitation and localization of the spread of Buddhism and Islam within Southeast Asia. However, there were also limitations presented which hindered the development of each religion in within their countries as introduction of newer religions and changes to political and imperial power would have affected the progression to become fully localised pre-1800s. After the death†¦show more content†¦This facilitated the increasing practice of Buddhism in Southeast Asia attributable to influences from foreign Buddhist merchants to the nations thus integrating itself into civilization and daily life (Adler and Pouwels 2008, 64). Imperial support played a major part in facilitation and localisation of the spread of Buddhism into Southeast Asia. Asoka, as mentioned, was a big supporter of Theravada Buddhism and was deemed an exemplar for future Buddhist emperor to establish Buddhism as a part of the country’s traditions and lifestyle (Swearer 2010, 71). He believed that true conquest of a country was â€Å"by the force of the teachings of religion† (Swearer 1997, 89). Through his persistent method of conquest, he influenced several Theravada Buddhist rulers like King Kyanzittha of Pagan, Burma and King Tilokaraja of Chiang Mai, Thailand during 11th and 15th century respectively to position Buddhism as a part of their reign, conquest and authority (Swearer 2010, 71). This significantly enabled the localization of Buddhism into Southeast Asia especially in countries like Thailand who remains supportive of Buddhism as declared by the Chakri dynasty from the end of 18th century onwards (Bowker 2007, 150). It was through the support of imperial power that led the countries’ citizens to gain interest in andShow MoreRelatedAn Introduction to Intercultural Communication29172 Words   |  117 Pagessymbols and images do not all translate well across cultures. In some cultures there are lucky colours, such as red in China and unlucky colours, such as black in Japan. Some colours have certain significance; green is considered a special colour in Islam and some colours have tribal associations in parts of Africa. Many hotels in the USA or UK do not have a room 13 or a 13th floor. Similarly, Nippon Airways in Japan do not have the seat numbers 4 or 9. If there are numbers with negative connotationsRead MoreGlobalization Is The Process Of International Integration6873 Words   |  28 Pagesresources, and the natural environment. Overview Humans have interacted over long distances for thousands of years. The overland Silk Road that connected Asia, Africa, and Europe is a good example of the transformative power of translocal exchange that existed in the Old World. Philosophy, religion, language, the arts, and other aspects of culture spread and mixed as nations exchanged products and ideas. In both the 15th and 16th centuries, Europeans made important discoveries in their exploration of