Evaluation of Nutrient Index Using Organic Carbon, Available P and Available K Concentrations as a Measure of Soil Fertility in Varahi River Basin, India

Varahi River basin is in the midst of Udupi district in the western part of Karnataka state, covering parts of Kundapura and Udupi taluks in Udupi District, Karnataka, India. Spatial distributions for twenty physical and chemical properties were examined in the soil samples of selected agricultural fields in 28 different locations in Varahi River basin. The present study revealed that there is not much variation in soil fertility status of soils developed on various landforms in the area as the soils were having low to medium in organic carbon (0.06 to 1.20 %) and available nitrogen (6.27 to 25.09 Kg/ha) content; low to medium in available P (2.24 to 94.08 Kg/ha) and deficient to doubtful in available K (20.10 - 412.3 Kg/ha) contents. The soils of Varahi River basin were characterized as low-medium-low (LML) category based on the nutrient index calculated w.r.t. available organic carbon, available P and available K. Further, Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) and Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) indicated that the soils were excellent for irrigation

Multivariate analysis to evaluate geochemistry of groundwater in Varahi river basin of Udupi in Karnataka (India)

The Varahi Irrigation project dam site is located at approx. 6 km from Siddapura, Kundapura taluk, Udupi district with latitude of 13°39' 15" N and a longitude of 74°57'E. Groundwater quality in the study area was evaluated for its suitability for drinking and irrigation purposes by collecting 36 samples during pre-​monsoon period of the year 2005. The quality assessment was made by estg. physico-​chem. parameters, major cations and anions, besides irrigation quality parameters like SAR,​% Na and RSC. It was also noticed that alk. earth elements exceeded alkalies concn. and weak acids exceeded the strong acid element and HCO3-​was the predominant among anions, while Ca-​Mg dominates cations. Classification of water samples based on SAR and Salinity Hazard revealed that majority of the samples were under excellent (S1, 88.88​%) and excellent (C1, 80.56​%) to good (C2, 8.33​%) categories resp. Gibbs' ratio illustrates that majority of water samples fall in the pptn. dominance field, giving an indication that the aquifer recharging is by means of rain​/river water

Estimates of the dose of radon and its progeny inhaled inside buildings

The concentration of radon in the air in buildings ranged from 1.87 ± 3.24 Bq/m3 to 14.27 ± 1.50 Bq/m3 with a mean of 6.31 ± 3.47 Bq/m3 while that of the progeny of radon varied from 0.007 to 0.057 WL (average: 0.025). The mean indoor concentration of radon was considerably less than the lower levels prescribed by EPA (148 Bq/m3), WHO (100 Bq/m3), EEC (400 Bq/m3), ICRP (200–600 Bq/m3) and NRPB (200 Bq/m3). The annual effective equivalent dose of indoor radon (< 0.8 mSv/y) that the bronchial and pulmonary regions of human lungs are exposed to (<0.8 mSv/y) is less than the UNSCEAR and WHO recommended global lower average dose value of 1 mSv/y. The lifetime fatality risk of exposure to the progeny of radon (PAEC) varied from 0.03 × 10−4 to 0.19 × 10−4, with an average value of 0.08 ± 0.04 × 10−4

Spatial distribution of macronutrients in soils of Markandeya river basin, Belgaum(d)​, Karnataka(s)​, India

Markandeya River basin stretches geog. from 15° 56' to 16° 08' N latitude and 74° 37' to 74° 58' E longitude, positioned in the midst of Belgaum district in the northern part of Karnataka state. Spatial distributions for twenty different soil quality characteristics were analyzed in the soil samples collected from 30 selected agricultural fields in the study area. Nutrient index reflected the nutrient status of soil and hence it was calcd. by using already detd. chem. parameters like org. C, available N, available phosphorus, and available potash. The present study revealed that there is not much variation in soil fertility status of soils developed on various landforms in the area. The soils had variable org. matter content and decompn. rates accounting to 0.06 to 1.5 % of org. carbon. Further, it is evident that all the soil samples were having low available nitrogen (29.1-​189.5 Kg​/ha) content, 50​% of the samples has low to medium available P (0.96 to 15.1 Kg​/ha) and 90​% of the samples showed adequate supply of available potash (313.3-​1500.8 Kg​/ha)​. Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) and Exchangeable Sodium Percentage (ESP) indicated that the soils were excellent for irrigation

Coreference detection of low quality objects

The problem of record linkage is a widely studied problem that aims to identify coreferent (i.e. duplicate) data in a structured data source. As indicated by Winkler, a solution to the record linkage problem is only possible if the error rate is sufficiently low. In other words, in order to succesfully deduplicate a database, the objects in the database must be of sufficient quality. However, this assumption is not always feasible. In this paper, it is investigated how merging of low quality objects into one high quality object can improve the process of record linkage. This general idea is illustrated in the context of strings comparison, where strings of low quality (i.e. with a high typographical error rate) are merged into a string of high quality by using an n-dimensional Levenshtein distance matrix and compute the optimal alignment between the dirty strings. Results are presented and possible refinements are proposed

Air Quality Indices to Understand the Ambient Air Quality in Vicinity of Dam Sites of Different Irrigation Projects in Karnataka State, India

Ambient air quality monitoring was carried out in the vicinity of dam and nearby residential sites in four river basins in Karnataka with reference to SPM, RSPM, SO2 and NOx, employing Envirotech APM-460 Respirable Dust Sampler with provision to keep impingers having absorbing reagent. Further, three different methods of Air quality index (AQI) calculation on based on SPM and RSPM values were used to evaluate the prevailed ambient air quality in the near and surroundings areas at the time of dam constructional activities. The concentrations of SPM, RSPM, SO2 and NOx near the dam sites were respectively 540, 170, 5.8 and 17.9 .g/m3 in Varahi river basin; 440, 158, 3.8 and 11.4 .g/m3 in SLIS river basin and, 255.55, 83.3, 2.0 and 1.7.g/m3 in SRLIS river basin. The SPM, RSPM and SO2 concentrations was 340, 70 and 0.3 .g/m3 in the vicinity of dam site of Bellary nala river basin while NOx concentration was below the detectable limit. AQI calculations revealed that the dam sites in all four river basins were high to severely pollute compared to other monitored stations, owing to its construction activitie

A comparative study on usage of Durov and Piper diagrams to interpret hydrochemical processes in groundwater from SRLIS river basin, Karnataka, India

In the present study, an attempt was made to evaluate and identify hydrogeochem. of water and the involved chem. processes using Durov and Piper diagrams. The prominent hydrochem. facies was Ca2+-​Mg2+-​Cl-​-​SO42-​ in both methods although slight variation in terms of Ca2+-​Mg2+-​HCO3-​ was also obsd. in few water samples. Piper diagrams indicated the dominance of mixed water type (70.84​%) having no one cation-​anion pair exceeds 50​%, while Durov specified the dominance of simple dissoln. or mixing (83.34 %) with no dominant major anion or cation. Thus, both the diagrams signify nonidentification of the water types with neither anions dominant nor cations dominant. Piper diagram, Durov plot and chloroalkaline indexes indicated the dominance of alk. earth elements were over alkalies in majority of samples due to direct exchange of Ca2+ and Mg2+ from the Aquifer matrix with Na+ and K+ from the groundwater. Further, SAR (0.41>SAR %Na WQI < 112.99) values recommended the suitability of 100, 91.67 and 62.5​% of samples for domestic and irrigation purposes