Ganges Quagmire

NASA Image and Video Library

2006-09-27

This MOC image shows dark-toned, windblown sands and ripples, surrounding a light-toned hill, interpreted to be sedimentary rock, in Ganges Chasma. Ganges Chasma is part of the giant Valles Marineris trough system on Mars

Streamflow model of the six-country transboundary Ganges-Bhramaputra and Meghna river basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahman, K.; Lehmann, A.; Dennedy-Frank, P. J.; Gorelick, S.

2014-12-01

Extremely large-scale river basin modelling remains a challenge for water resources planning in the developing world. Such planning is particularly difficult in the developing world because of the lack of data on both natural (climatological, hydrological) processes and complex anthropological influences. We simulate three enormous river basins located in south Asia. The Ganges-Bhramaputra and Meghna (GBM) River Basins cover an area of 1.75 million km2 associated with 6 different countries, including the Bengal delta, which is the most densely populated delta in the world with ~600 million people. We target this developing region to better understand the hydrological system and improve water management planning in these transboundary watersheds. This effort uses the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to simulate streamflow in the GBM River Basins and assess the use of global climatological datasets for such large scale river modeling. We evaluate the utility of three global rainfall datasets to reproduce measured river discharge: the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) from NASA, the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) reanalysis, and the World Metrological Organization (WMO) reanalysis. We use global datasets for spatial information as well: 90m DEM from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission, 300m GlobCover land use maps, and 1000 km FAO soil map. We find that SWAT discharge estimates match the observed streamflow well (NSE=0.40-0.66, R2=0.60-0.70) when using meteorological estimates from the NCEP reanalysis. However, SWAT estimates diverge from observed discharge when using meteorological estimates from TRMM and the WMO reanalysis.

Development of seasonal flow outlook model for Ganges-Brahmaputra Basins in Bangladesh

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hossain, Sazzad; Haque Khan, Raihanul; Gautum, Dilip Kumar; Karmaker, Ripon; Hossain, Amirul

2016-10-01

Bangladesh is crisscrossed by the branches and tributaries of three main river systems, the Ganges, Bramaputra and Meghna (GBM). The temporal variation of water availability of those rivers has an impact on the different water usages such as irrigation, urban water supply, hydropower generation, navigation etc. Thus, seasonal flow outlook can play important role in various aspects of water management. The Flood Forecasting and Warning Center (FFWC) in Bangladesh provides short term and medium term flood forecast, and there is a wide demand from end-users about seasonal flow outlook for agricultural purposes. The objective of this study is to develop a seasonal flow outlook model in Bangladesh based on rainfall forecast. It uses European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) seasonal precipitation, temperature forecast to simulate HYDROMAD hydrological model. Present study is limited for Ganges and Brahmaputra River Basins. ARIMA correction is applied to correct the model error. The performance of the model is evaluated using coefficient of determination (R2) and Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE). The model result shows good performance with R2 value of 0.78 and NSE of 0.61 for the Brahmaputra River Basin, and R2 value of 0.72 and NSE of 0.59 for the Ganges River Basin for the period of May to July 2015. The result of the study indicates strong potential to make seasonal outlook to be operationalized.

Drought Characteristics Based on the Retrieved Paleoprecipitation in Indus and Ganges River Basins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davtalabsabet, R.; Wang, D.; Zhu, T.; Ringler, C.

2014-12-01

Indus and Ganges River basins (IGRB), which cover the major parts of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan, are considered as the most important socio-economic regions in South Asia. IGRB support the food security of hundreds of millions people in South Asia. The food production in IGRB strictly relies on the magnitude and spatiotemporal pattern of monsoon precipitation. Due to severe drought during the last decades and food production failure in IGRB, several studies have focused on understanding the main drivers for south Asia monsoon failures and drought characteristics based on the historical data. However, the period of available historical data is not enough to address the full characteristic of drought under a changing climate. In this study, an inverse Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) model is developed to retrieve the paleoprecipitation back to 700 years in the region, taking the inputs of available soil water capacity, temperature, and previous reconstructed PDSI based on tree-ring analysis at 2.5 degree resolution. Based on the retrieved paleoprecipitation, drought frequency and intensity are quantified for two periods of 1300-1899 (the reconstruction period) and 1900-2010 (the instrumental period). Previous studies have shown that in IGRB, a severe drought occurs when the annual precipitation deficit, compared with the long-term average precipitation, is greater than 10%. Climatic drought frequency is calculated as the percentage of years with predefined severe droughts. Drought intensity is defined as the average precipitation deficit during all of the years identified as severe droughts. Results show that the drought frequency, as well as the spatial extent, has significantly increased from the reconstruction period to the instrumental period. The drought frequency in the Indus River basin is higher than that in the Ganges River basin. Several mega-droughts are identified during the reconstruction period.

Impacts of climate change and socio-economic scenarios on flow and water quality of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna (GBM) river systems: low flow and flood statistics.

PubMed

Whitehead, P G; Barbour, E; Futter, M N; Sarkar, S; Rodda, H; Caesar, J; Butterfield, D; Jin, L; Sinha, R; Nicholls, R; Salehin, M

2015-06-01

The potential impacts of climate change and socio-economic change on flow and water quality in rivers worldwide is a key area of interest. The Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna (GBM) is one of the largest river basins in the world serving a population of over 650 million, and is of vital concern to India and Bangladesh as it provides fresh water for people, agriculture, industry, conservation and for the delta system downstream. This paper seeks to assess future changes in flow and water quality utilising a modelling approach as a means of assessment in a very complex system. The INCA-N model has been applied to the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna river systems to simulate flow and water quality along the rivers under a range of future climate conditions. Three model realisations of the Met Office Hadley Centre global and regional climate models were selected from 17 perturbed model runs to evaluate a range of potential futures in climate. In addition, the models have also been evaluated using socio-economic scenarios, comprising (1) a business as usual future, (2) a more sustainable future, and (3) a less sustainable future. Model results for the 2050s and the 2090s indicate a significant increase in monsoon flows under the future climates, with enhanced flood potential. Low flows are predicted to fall with extended drought periods, which could have impacts on water and sediment supply, irrigated agriculture and saline intrusion. In contrast, the socio-economic changes had relatively little impact on flows, except under the low flow regimes where increased irrigation could further reduce water availability. However, should large scale water transfers upstream of Bangladesh be constructed, these have the potential to reduce flows and divert water away from the delta region depending on the volume and timing of the transfers. This could have significant implications for the delta in terms of saline intrusion, water supply, agriculture and maintaining crucial ecosystems such

Increased Waterborne blaNDM-1 Resistance Gene Abundances Associated with Seasonal Human Pilgrimages to the Upper Ganges River

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Antibiotic resistance (AR) is often rooted in inappropriate antibiotic use, but poor water quality and inadequate sanitation exacerbate the problem, especially in emerging countries. An example is increasing multi-AR due to mobile carbapenemases, such as NDM-1 protein (coded by blaNDM-1 genes), which can produce extreme drug-resistant phenotypes. In 2010, NDM-1 positive isolates and blaNDM-1 genes were detected in surface waters across Delhi and have since been detected across the urban world. However, little is known about blaNDM-1 levels in more pristine locations, such as the headwaters of the Upper Ganges River. This area is of particular interest because it receives massive numbers of visitors during seasonal pilgrimages in May/June, including visitors from urban India. Here we quantified blaNDM-1 abundances, other AR genes (ARG), and coliform bacteria in sediments and water column samples from seven sites in the Rishikesh-Haridwar region of the Upper Ganges and five sites on the Yamuna River in Delhi to contrast blaNDM-1 levels and water quality conditions between season and region. Water quality in the Yamuna was very poor (e.g., anoxia at all sites), and blaNDM-1 abundances were high across sites in water (5.4 ± 0.4 log(blaNDM-1·mL–1); 95% confidence interval) and sediment (6.3 ± 0.7 log(blaNDM-1·mg–1)) samples from both seasons. In contrast, water column blaNDM-1 abundances were very low across all sites in the Upper Ganges in February (2.1 ± 0.6 log(blaNDM-1·mL–1)), and water quality was good (e.g., near saturation oxygen). However, per capita blaNDM-1 levels were 20 times greater in June in the Ganges water column relative to February, and blaNDM-1 levels significantly correlated with fecal coliform levels (r = 0.61; p = 0.007). Given that waste management infrastructure is limited in Rishikesh-Haridwar, data imply blaNDM-1 levels are higher in visitor’s wastes than local residents, which results in seasonally higher blaNDM-1 levels in the

Bullying and gangs.

PubMed

White, Rob; Mason, Ron

2012-01-01

Although bullying is associated with gangs, questions arise as to whether bullying, as such, takes place within gangs. To provide a critical analysis of bullying as this pertains to youth gangs and especially to violence within gangs, and as applied to the behaviour of individual gang members. Young men between 12 and 25 years of age. Review of relevant literature with a view to theorising the nature of the relationship between bullying and violence within a youth gang context. Bullying is associated with the reasons why individuals join gangs and with gang-related behaviour, but the violence within a gang is of a different character than that usually described by the term bullying. Bullying has implications for related and/or subsequent types of street violence, but is less relevant for descriptions of violence within a youth gang context as such.

Youth Gangs: An Overview. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Youth Gang Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howell, James C.

1998-01-01

This bulletin provides an overview of the problems that youth gangs pose. It pinpoints the differences between youth gangs and adult criminal organizations and examines the risk factors that lead to youth gang membership. Some promising strategies being used to curb youth gang involvement are reviewed. The proliferation of youth gangs since 1980…

Gang Involvement among Immigrant and Refugee Youth: A Developmental Ecological Systems Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goodrum, Nada M.; Chan, Wing Yi; Latzman, Robert D.

2015-01-01

Immigrant and refugee youth are at elevated risk for joining gangs, which, in turn, is associated with a host of maladaptive outcomes. Previous literature on risk and protective factors for immigrant and refugee youth gang involvement has been inconclusive. Applying a developmental ecological systems approach, this study investigated contextual…

Gang homicides - five U.S. cities, 2003-2008.

PubMed

2012-01-27

Gang homicides account for a substantial proportion of homicides among youths in some U.S. cities; however, few surveillance systems collect data with the level of detail necessary to gang homicide prevention strategies. To compare characteristics of gang homicides with nongang homicides, CDC analyzed 2003-2008 data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) for five cities with high levels of gang homicide. This report describes the results of that analysis, which indicated that, consistent with similar previous research, a higher proportion of gang homicides than other homicides involved young adults and adolescents, racial and ethnic minorities, and males. Additionally, the proportion of gang homicides resulting from drug trade/use or with other crimes in progress was consistently low in the five cities, ranging from zero to 25%. Furthermore, this report found that gang homicides were more likely to occur with firearms and in public places, which suggests that gang homicides are quick, retaliatory reactions to ongoing gang-related conflict. These findings provide evidence for the need to prevent gang involvement early in adolescence and to increase youths' capacity to resolve conflict nonviolently.

Becoming a Gang Member: Youth Life and Gang Youth

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Morch, Sven; Andersen, Helle

2012-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to develop a framework for understanding the growth in youth gangs and gang behaviour. The paper builds on a youth theory perspective and describes how the social conditions work with or are against the young individual in such a way that gangs seem to be an option or an answer for some young people when faced with…

Automatic gang graffiti recognition and interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parra, Albert; Boutin, Mireille; Delp, Edward J.

2017-09-01

One of the roles of emergency first responders (e.g., police and fire departments) is to prevent and protect against events that can jeopardize the safety and well-being of a community. In the case of criminal gang activity, tools are needed for finding, documenting, and taking the necessary actions to mitigate the problem or issue. We describe an integrated mobile-based system capable of using location-based services, combined with image analysis, to track and analyze gang activity through the acquisition, indexing, and recognition of gang graffiti images. This approach uses image analysis methods for color recognition, image segmentation, and image retrieval and classification. A database of gang graffiti images is described that includes not only the images but also metadata related to the images, such as date and time, geoposition, gang, gang member, colors, and symbols. The user can then query the data in a useful manner. We have implemented these features both as applications for Android and iOS hand-held devices and as a web-based interface.

Post-glacial climate forcing of surface processes in the Ganges-Brahmaputra river basin and implications for carbon sequestration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hein, Christopher J.; Galy, Valier; Galy, Albert; France-Lanord, Christian; Kudrass, Hermann; Schwenk, Tilmann

2017-11-01

Climate has been proposed to control both the rate of terrestrial silicate weathering and the export rate of associated sediments and terrestrial organic carbon to river-dominated margins - and thus the rate of sequestration of atmospheric CO2 in the coastal ocean - over glacial-interglacial timescales. Focused on the Ganges-Brahmaputra rivers, this study presents records of post-glacial changes in basin-scale Indian summer monsoon intensity and vegetation composition based on stable hydrogen (δD) and carbon (δ13C) isotopic compositions of terrestrial plant wax compounds preserved in the channel-levee system of the Bengal Fan. It then explores the role of these changes in controlling the provenance and degree of chemical weathering of sediments exported by these rivers, and the potential climate feedbacks through organic-carbon burial in the Bengal Fan. An observed 40‰ shift in δD and a 3-4‰ shift in both bulk organic-carbon and plant-wax δ13C values between the late glacial and mid-Holocene, followed by a return to more intermediate values during the late Holocene, correlates well with regional post-glacial paleoclimate records. Sediment provenance proxies (Sr, Nd isotopic compositions) reveal that these changes likely coincided with a subtle focusing of erosion on the southern flank of the Himalayan range during periods of greater monsoon strength and enhanced sediment discharge. However, grain-size-normalized organic-carbon concentrations in the Bengal Fan remained constant through time, despite order-of-magnitude level changes in catchment-scale monsoon precipitation and enhanced chemical weathering (recorded as a gradual increase in K/Si* and detrital carbonate content, and decrease in H2O+/Si*, proxies) throughout the study period. These findings demonstrate a partial decoupling of climate change and silicate weathering during the Holocene and that marine organic-carbon sequestration rates primary reflect rates of physical erosion and sediment export

Differentiating Gang Members, Gang Affiliates, and Violent Men on Their Psychiatric Morbidity and Traumatic Experiences.

PubMed

Wood, Jane L; Kallis, Constantinos; Coid, Jeremy W

2017-01-01

Little is known about the differences between gang members and gang affiliates-or those individuals who associate with gangs but are not gang members. Even less is known about how these groups compare with other violent populations. This study examined how gang members, gang affiliates, and violent men compare on mental health symptoms and traumatic experiences. Data included a sample of 1,539 adult males, aged 19 to 34 years, taken from an earlier survey conducted in the United Kingdom. Participants provided informed consent before completing questionnaires and were paid £5 for participation. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to compare participants' symptoms of psychiatric morbidity and traumatic event exposure. Findings showed that, compared to violent men and gang affiliates, gang members had experienced more severe violence, sexual assaults, and suffered more serious/life-threatening injuries. Compared to violent men, gang members and gang affiliates had made more suicide attempts; had self-harmed more frequently; and had experienced more domestic violence, violence at work, homelessness, stalking, and bankruptcy. Findings further showed a decreasing gradient from gang members to gang affiliates to violent men in symptom levels of anxiety, antisocial personality disorder, pathological gambling, stalking others, and drug and/or alcohol dependence. Depression symptoms were similar across groups. The identified relationship between gang membership, affiliation, and adverse mental health indicates that mental health in gang membership deserves more research attention. Findings also indicate that criminal justice strategies need to consider gang members' mental health more fully, if gang membership is to be appropriately addressed and reduced.

Gangs in America.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Huff, C. Ronald, Ed.

This book comprised of theories and findings from researchers concerning youth gangs in the United States, is organized into the following five parts: (1) Sociological and Anthropological Perspectives on the Gang and the Community; (2) Defining and Measuring Gang Violence; (3) Diffusion, Diversity, and Drugs; (4) Assessing the Changing Knowledge…

DIFFERENT STROKES FOR DIFFERENT GANGS? AN ANALYSIS OF CAPITAL AMONG LATINO AND ASIAN GANG MEMBERS

PubMed Central

PIH, KAY KEI-HO; DE LA ROSA, MARIO; RUGH, DOUGLAS; MAO, KUORAY

2009-01-01

Gang activity and membership were noted to be significantly related to financial rewards. As such, gang membership and gang activity should also be understood from an economic perspective. In this article, Pierre Bourdieu's framework of capital is used to analyze two separate samples of Latino and Asian gang members. Stark contrasts in socioeconomic backgrounds are recorded among the two samples of gang members, and gang membership and activities are also noticeably dissimilar. Accessibility to economic, cultural, and social capital is argued to affect gang membership and activities. The results suggest that the availability of legitimate and illegitimate capital greatly affects the trajectory and the length of gang involvement. Also, gangs provide significant material and social capital for the respondents of the study. PMID:19578563

Reviving the Ganges Water Machine: potential

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Amarasinghe, Upali Ananda; Muthuwatta, Lal; Surinaidu, Lagudu; Anand, Sumit; Jain, Sharad Kumar

2016-03-01

The Ganges River basin faces severe water challenges related to a mismatch between supply and demand. Although the basin has abundant surface water and groundwater resources, the seasonal monsoon causes a mismatch between supply and demand as well as flooding. Water availability and flood potential is high during the 3-4 months (June-September) of the monsoon season. Yet, the highest demands occur during the 8-9 months (October-May) of the non-monsoon period. Addressing this mismatch, which is likely to increase with increasing demand, requires substantial additional storage for both flood reduction and improvements in water supply. Due to hydrogeological, environmental, and social constraints, expansion of surface storage in the Ganges River basin is problematic. A range of interventions that focus more on the use of subsurface storage (SSS), and on the acceleration of surface-subsurface water exchange, has long been known as the Ganges Water Machine (GWM). The approach of the GWM for providing such SSS is through additional pumping and depleting of the groundwater resources prior to the onset of the monsoon season and recharging the SSS through monsoon surface runoff. An important condition for creating such SSS is the degree of unmet water demand. The paper shows that the potential unmet water demand ranging from 59 to 124 Bm3 year-1 exists under two different irrigation water use scenarios: (i) to increase irrigation in the Rabi (November-March) and hot weather (April-May) seasons in India, and the Aman (July-November) and Boro (December-May) seasons in Bangladesh, to the entire irrigable area, and (ii) to provide irrigation to Rabi and the hot weather season in India and the Aman and Boro seasons in Bangladesh to the entire cropped area. However, the potential for realizing the unmet irrigation demand is high only in 7 sub-basins in the northern and eastern parts, is moderate to low in 11 sub-basins in the middle, and has little or no potential in 4 sub

Gangs and Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Arthur, Richard; Erickson, Edsel

This book explores the U.S. gang problem, based on the author's 35 years of experience as a high school and junior high school teacher, principal, and community organizer in Oakland and Los Angeles (California). Chapters discuss the subculture of gang worlds, reasons why youth are attracted to gangs, how educators can reach out to students, the…

Gangs in Central America

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-08-02

Societal stigmas against gangs and gang- deportees from the United States have made the process of leaving a gang extremely difficult. A recent...often unwilling to hire them. Tattooed former gang members, especially returning deportees from the United States who are often native English...recipients of deportees on a per capita basis. For all Central American countries, with the exception of Panama, those deported on criminal grounds

Gangs in Central America

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-10-17

livelihood, and protection. Societal Stigmas. Societal stigmas against gangs and gang- deportees from the United States have made the process of leaving...Ex-gang members report that employers are often unwilling to hire them. Tattooed former gang members, especially returning deportees from the United...American countries, with the exception of Panama, have a lower percentage of criminal deportees than the regional average. For example, criminal

Ganges Chasma

NASA Image and Video Library

2003-03-13

This false-color infrared image was taken by the camera system on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft over part of Ganges Chasma in Valles Marineris (approximately 13 degrees S, 318 degrees E). The infrared image has been draped over topography data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor. The color differences in this image show compositional variations in the rocks exposed in the wall and floor of Ganges (blue and purple) and in the dust and sand on the rim of the canyon (red and orange). The floor of Ganges is covered by rocks and sand composed of basaltic lava that are shown in blue. A layer that is rich in the mineral olivine can be seen as a band of purple in the walls on both sides of the canyon, and is exposed as an eroded layer surrounding a knob on the floor. Olivine is easily destroyed by liquid water, so its presence in these ancient rocks suggests that this region of Mars has been very dry for a very long time. The mosaic was constructed using infrared bands 5, 7, and 8, and covers an area approximately 150 kilometers (90 miles) on each side. This simulated view is toward the north. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA04262

The Gang Intervention Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Goldstein, Arnold P., Ed.; Huff, C. Ronald, Ed.

This book provides overviews and evaluations of current juvenile-gang-intervention programs and recommends approaches that have been effective in both prevention and rehabilitation. Its three parts, composed of individual essays, examine patterns of ganging and gang intervention, explore the value of psychology-based interventions, and discuss the…

Urban Street Gang Enforcement.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Institute for Law and Justice, Inc., Alexandria, VA.

Strategies to enhance prosecution of gang-related crimes are presented, with a focus on enforcement and prosecution targeting urban street gangs. The model programs introduced offer strategies largely based on the practical experiences of agencies that participated in a demonstration program, the Urban Street Gang Drug Trafficking Enforcement…

Gangs: The Origins and Impact of Contemporary Youth Gangs in the United States.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cummings, Scott, Ed.; Monti, Daniel J., Ed.

This book presents papers from some leading social scientists and scholars who examine the contemporary contours of America's gang problem. New material is provided on wilding (i.e., running amok for no specific reason) gangs, migration and drug trafficking, and public education disruption. Other topics involve organization of gangs, their social…

Modern-Day Youth Gangs. OJJDP, Juvenile Justice Bulletin.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Howell, James C.; Egley, Arlen, Jr.; Gleason, Debra K.

This report draws on data from the 1996 and 1998 National Youth Gang Surveys to compare the characteristics of gangs and gang members in jurisdictions with later onset of gang problems with those of gangs and gang members with earlier onset of gang problems. The survey asked respondents from law enforcement agencies to describe when gangs began to…

Gangs in Central America

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-27

deportees from the United States have made the process of leaving a gang extremely difficult. A recent State Department report on youth gangs in El...gang members, especially returning deportees from the United States who are often native English speakers, have had the most difficulty finding...with the exception of Panama, have a much lower percentage of criminal deportees than the regional average of 39%. For example, criminal deportees

Gangs a Suburban Problem Too! "Taking the Gang Threat Seriously."

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stabile, Michael J.

Gangs are no longer the exclusive problem of large metropolitan areas. Suburban schools and communities are now vulnerable, and the problem is spreading. To combat the problem, it is essential to overcome denial in the school and community. The case study of Chris, a junior high school student, exemplifies suburban youth gang members.…

Responding to Gangs: Evaluation and Research.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reed, Winifred L., Ed.; Decker, Scott H., Ed.

This collection of papers presents a representative selection of the National Institute of Justice's portfolio of gang-related research. The 10 papers are: (1) "A Decade of Gang Research: Findings of the National Institute of Justice Gang Portfolio" (Scott H. Decker); (2) "The Evolution of Street Gangs: An Examination of Form and…

Man-made climatic changes in the Ganges basin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adel, Miah M.

2002-06-01

Climate data pertaining to the Ganges basin in Bangladesh were analysed to find any climatic changes in the wake of the upstream water diversion by the Farakka Barrage. Whereas the diversions have been continuing from at least 30 international rivers upstream of Bangladesh, the diversion from the Ganges is the best known and has a wider coverage than all other diversions. The diversion reduced the Ganges' discharge through the delta by about 60% from a pre-diversion average value of 1932 m3 s-1, decreased water availability in flood plains, ponds, canals, and ditches by about 50%, dropped the groundwater table, and caused changes in surface features. It took about 5 years of diversions beyond the test run year of 1975 for the environment to react to set 1981 as the baseline year. During the post-baseline era: (1) heating degree days and cooling degree days were respectively 1.33 and 1.44 times more than their counterparts during the pre-baseline era; (2) the summertime and wintertime average temperatures were respectively 1 °C more and 0.5 °C less than the corresponding values during the pre-baseline era; (3) the mode 32 °C of summertime maximum temperatures was 1 °C higher and occurred 414 times more, and the mode 25 °C of wintertime temperature was 1 °C less and occurred 17 times less than the corresponding quantities during the pre-baseline era; (4) the average value of maximum relative humidity has increased by more than 2% and that of minimum relative humidity has dropped by the same amount; (5) the mode 95% and 70% of maximum and minimum relative humidity values have occurred 1322 times and 84 times more respectively than their pre-baseline counterparts; and (6) the frequency for 100 mm or more rainfall and the monthly average rainfalls have dropped by about 50% and 30% respectively. The solution to the climatic changes lies in the restoration of the virgin Ganges flow, dredging of the Ganges and its distributaries to remove shoals and siltation, and re

Cults as Gangs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cantrell, Mary Lynn

1992-01-01

Considers cults as gangs, but also distinguishes cults from gangs by the cult's reference to and insistence on allegiance to single higher authority, usually spirit figure or spiritual leader. Examines Satanism, identifies Satanic holidays and symbols, and describes characteristics of cult-influenced youth. Includes list of organizations and books…

Confronting youth gangs in the intensive care unit.

PubMed

Akiyama, Cliff

2015-01-01

Youth gang violence has continued its upward trend nationwide. It was once thought that gangs convened only in selected areas, which left churches, schools, and hospitals as "neutral" territory. Unfortunately, this is a fallacy. The results of gang violence pour into hospitals and into intensive care units regularly. The media portrays California as having a gang violence problem; however, throughout the United States, gang violence has risen more than 35% in the past year. Youth gang violence continues to rise dramatically with more and more of our youth deciding to join gangs each day. Sadly, every state has gangs, and the problem is getting much worse in areas that would never have thought about gangs a year ago. These "new generation" of gang members is younger, much more violent, and staying in the gang longer. Gangs are not just an urban problem. Gang activity is a suburban and rural problem too. There are more than 25 500 gangs in the United States, with a total gang membership of 850 000. Ninety-four percent of gang members are male and 6% are female. The ethnic composition nationwide includes 47% Latino, 31% African American, 13% White, 7% Asian, and 2% "mixed," according to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the U.S. Department of Justice. As a result of the ongoing proliferation of youth street gangs in our communities, it is imperative that critical care nurses and others involved with the direct care become educated about how to identify gang members, their activities, and understand their motivations. Such education and knowledge will help provide solutions to families and the youth themselves, help eradicate the problem of gang violence, and keep health care professionals safe.

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in river and ground/drinking water of the Ganges River basin: Emissions and implications for human exposure.

PubMed

Sharma, Brij Mohan; Bharat, Girija K; Tayal, Shresth; Larssen, Thorjørn; Bečanová, Jitka; Karásková, Pavlína; Whitehead, Paul G; Futter, Martyn N; Butterfield, Dan; Nizzetto, Luca

2016-01-01

Many perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous environmental contaminants. They have been widely used in production processes and daily-use products or may result from degradation of precursor compounds in products or the environment. India, with its developing industrialization and population moving from traditional to contemporary lifestyles, represents an interesting case study to investigate PFAS emission and exposure along steep environmental and socioeconomic gradients. This study assesses PFAS concentrations in river and groundwater (used in this region as drinking water) from several locations along the Ganges River and estimates direct emissions, specifically for PFOS and PFOA. 15 PFAS were frequently detected in the river with the highest concentrations observed for PFHxA (0.4-4.7 ng L(-1)) and PFBS (river varied dramatically along the transect (0.20-190 and 0.03-150 g d(-1), respectively). PFOS emission pattern could be explained by the number of urban residents in the subcatchment (rather than total population). Per-capita emissions were lower than in many developed countries. In groundwater, PFBA (river water. Daily PFAS exposure intakes through drinking water were below safety thresholds for oral non-cancer risk in all age

Drug use and treatment success among gang and non-gang members in El Salvador: a prospective cohort study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background This article focuses on examining drug abuse treatment (DAT) in El Salvador highlighting gang vs. non-gang membership differences in drug use and treatment outcomes. Methods Cross-sectional and prospective cohort designs were employed to examine the study aims. The 19 centers that met the study’s inclusion criteria of one year or less in planned treatment offered varying treatment services: individual, group, family, and vocational therapy, dual diagnosis treatment, psychological testing, 12-step program, and outreach and re-entry aftercare. Most directors describe their treatment approach as “spiritual.” Data were collected from 625 patients, directors, and staff from the 19 centers at baseline, of which 34 patients were former gang members. Seventy-two percent (72%) of the former patients (448) were re-interviewed six-months after leaving treatment and 48% were randomly tested for drug use. Results Eighty-nine percent (89%) of the DAT patients at baseline were classified as heavy alcohol users and 40% were using illegal drugs, i.e., crack, marijuana, cocaine, tranquilizers, opiates, and amphetamines. There were large decreases after treatment in heavy alcohol and illegal drug use, crime, and gang related risk activities. Gang members reported illegal drug use, crime, and gang related risk activity more than non-gang members, yet only 5% of the study participants were gang members; further, positive change in treatment outcomes among gang members were the same or larger as compared to non-gang members. Conclusions Alcohol use is the drug of choice among DAT patients in El Salvador with gang member patients having used illegal drugs more than non-gang members. The study shows that DAT centers successfully reduced the use of illegal drugs and alcohol among gang and non-gang members. Although our study could not include a control group, we believe that the DAT treatment centers in El Salvador contributed to producing this treatment success among

Gang Membership and Pathways to Maladaptive Parenting

PubMed Central

Augustyn, Megan Bears; Thornberry, Terence P.; Krohn, Marvin D.

2014-01-01

A limited amount of research examines the short-term consequences of gang membership. Rarer, though, is the examination of more distal consequences of gang membership. This is unfortunate because it understates the true detrimental effect of gang membership across the life course, as well as the effects it may have on children of former gang members. Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, this work investigates the impact of gang membership in adolescence (ages 12-18) on a particularly problematic style of parenting, child maltreatment. Using discrete time survival analysis, this study finds that gang membership increases the likelihood of child maltreatment and this relationship is mediated by the more proximal outcomes of gang membership during adolescence, precocious transitions to adulthood. PMID:24883000

To See or Not to See: Investigating Detectability of Ganges River Dolphins Using a Combined Visual-Acoustic Survey

PubMed Central

Richman, Nadia I.; Gibbons, James M.; Turvey, Samuel T.; Akamatsu, Tomonari; Ahmed, Benazir; Mahabub, Emile; Smith, Brian D.; Jones, Julia P. G.

2014-01-01

Detection of animals during visual surveys is rarely perfect or constant, and failure to account for imperfect detectability affects the accuracy of abundance estimates. Freshwater cetaceans are among the most threatened group of mammals, and visual surveys are a commonly employed method for estimating population size despite concerns over imperfect and unquantified detectability. We used a combined visual-acoustic survey to estimate detectability of Ganges River dolphins (Platanista gangetica gangetica) in four waterways of southern Bangladesh. The combined visual-acoustic survey resulted in consistently higher detectability than a single observer-team visual survey, thereby improving power to detect trends. Visual detectability was particularly low for dolphins close to meanders where these habitat features temporarily block the view of the preceding river surface. This systematic bias in detectability during visual-only surveys may lead researchers to underestimate the importance of heavily meandering river reaches. Although the benefits of acoustic surveys are increasingly recognised for marine cetaceans, they have not been widely used for monitoring abundance of freshwater cetaceans due to perceived costs and technical skill requirements. We show that acoustic surveys are in fact a relatively cost-effective approach for surveying freshwater cetaceans, once it is acknowledged that methods that do not account for imperfect detectability are of limited value for monitoring. PMID:24805782

To see or not to see: investigating detectability of Ganges River dolphins using a combined visual-acoustic survey.

PubMed

Richman, Nadia I; Gibbons, James M; Turvey, Samuel T; Akamatsu, Tomonari; Ahmed, Benazir; Mahabub, Emile; Smith, Brian D; Jones, Julia P G

2014-01-01

Detection of animals during visual surveys is rarely perfect or constant, and failure to account for imperfect detectability affects the accuracy of abundance estimates. Freshwater cetaceans are among the most threatened group of mammals, and visual surveys are a commonly employed method for estimating population size despite concerns over imperfect and unquantified detectability. We used a combined visual-acoustic survey to estimate detectability of Ganges River dolphins (Platanista gangetica gangetica) in four waterways of southern Bangladesh. The combined visual-acoustic survey resulted in consistently higher detectability than a single observer-team visual survey, thereby improving power to detect trends. Visual detectability was particularly low for dolphins close to meanders where these habitat features temporarily block the view of the preceding river surface. This systematic bias in detectability during visual-only surveys may lead researchers to underestimate the importance of heavily meandering river reaches. Although the benefits of acoustic surveys are increasingly recognised for marine cetaceans, they have not been widely used for monitoring abundance of freshwater cetaceans due to perceived costs and technical skill requirements. We show that acoustic surveys are in fact a relatively cost-effective approach for surveying freshwater cetaceans, once it is acknowledged that methods that do not account for imperfect detectability are of limited value for monitoring.

Remote Sensing and River Discharge Forecasting for Major Rivers in South Asia (Invited)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webster, P. J.; Hopson, T. M.; Hirpa, F. A.; Brakenridge, G. R.; De-Groeve, T.; Shrestha, K.; Gebremichael, M.; Restrepo, P. J.

2013-12-01

The South Asia is a flashpoint for natural disasters particularly flooding of the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra has profound societal impacts for the region and globally. The 2007 Brahmaputra floods affecting India and Bangladesh, the 2008 avulsion of the Kosi River in India, the 2010 flooding of the Indus River in Pakistan and the 2013 Uttarakhand exemplify disasters on scales almost inconceivable elsewhere. Their frequent occurrence of floods combined with large and rapidly growing populations, high levels of poverty and low resilience, exacerbate the impact of the hazards. Mitigation of these devastating hazards are compounded by limited flood forecast capability, lack of rain/gauge measuring stations and forecast use within and outside the country, and transboundary data sharing on natural hazards. Here, we demonstrate the utility of remotely-derived hydrologic and weather products in producing skillful flood forecasting information without reliance on vulnerable in situ data sources. Over the last decade a forecast system has been providing operational probabilistic forecasts of severe flooding of the Brahmaputra and Ganges Rivers in Bangldesh was developed (Hopson and Webster 2010). The system utilizes ECMWF weather forecast uncertainty information and ensemble weather forecasts, rain gauge and satellite-derived precipitation estimates, together with the limited near-real-time river stage observations from Bangladesh. This system has been expanded to Pakistan and has successfully forecast the 2010-2012 flooding (Shrestha and Webster 2013). To overcome the in situ hydrological data problem, recent efforts in parallel with the numerical modeling have utilized microwave satellite remote sensing of river widths to generate operational discharge advective-based forecasts for the Ganges and Brahmaputra. More than twenty remotely locations upstream of Bangldesh were used to produce stand-alone river flow nowcasts and forecasts at 1-15 days lead time. showing that

Finding Street Gang Members on Twitter.

PubMed

Balasuriya, Lakshika; Wijeratne, Sanjaya; Doran, Derek; Sheth, Amit

2016-08-01

Most street gang members use Twitter to intimidate others, to present outrageous images and statements to the world, and to share recent illegal activities. Their tweets may thus be useful to law enforcement agencies to discover clues about recent crimes or to anticipate ones that may occur. Finding these posts, however, requires a method to discover gang member Twitter profiles. This is a challenging task since gang members represent a very small population of the 320 million Twitter users. This paper studies the problem of automatically finding gang members on Twitter. It outlines a process to curate one of the largest sets of verifiable gang member profiles that have ever been studied. A review of these profiles establishes differences in the language, images, YouTube links, and emojis gang members use compared to the rest of the Twitter population. Features from this review are used to train a series of supervised classifiers. Our classifier achieves a promising F 1 score with a low false positive rate.

Modulation of the Ganges-Brahmaputra River Plume by the Indian Ocean Dipole and Eddies Inferred From Satellite Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fournier, S.; Vialard, J.; Lengaigne, M.; Lee, T.; Gierach, M. M.; Chaitanya, A. V. S.

2017-12-01

The Bay of Bengal receives large amounts of freshwater from the Ganga-Brahmaputra (GB) river during the summer monsoon. The resulting upper-ocean freshening influences seasonal rainfall, cyclones, and biological productivity. Sparse in situ observations and previous modeling studies suggest that the East India Coastal Current (EICC) transports these freshwaters southward after the monsoon as an approximately 200 km wide, 2,000 km long "river in the sea" along the East Indian coast. Sea surface salinity (SSS) from the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite provides unprecedented views of this peculiar feature from intraseasonal to interannual timescales. SMAP SSS has a 0.83 correlation and 0.49 rms-difference to 0-5 m in situ measurements. SMAP and in stu data both indicate a SSS standard deviation of ˜0.7 to 1 away from the coast, that rises to 2 pss within 100 km of the coast, providing a very favorable signal-to-noise ratio in coastal areas. SMAP also captures the strong northern BoB, postmonsoon cross-shore SSS contrasts (˜10 pss) measured along ship transects. SMAP data are also consistent with previous modeling results that suggested a modulation of the EICC/GB plume southward extent by the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). Remote forcing associated with the negative Indian Ocean Dipole in the fall of 2016 indeed caused a stronger EICC and "river in the sea" that extended by approximately 800 km further south than that in 2015 (positive IOD year). The combination of SMAP and altimeter data shows eddies stirring the freshwater plume away from the coast.