Abstract
Surface Temperature (ST) over India has increased by ~0.055 K/decade during 1860–2005 and follows the global warming trend. Here, the natural and external forcings (e.g., natural and ...anthropogenic) responsible for ST variability are studied from Coupled Model Inter-comparison phase 5 (CMIP5) models during the 20
th
century and projections during the 21
st
century along with seasonal variability. Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and Land Use (LU) are the major factors that gave rise to warming during the 20
th
century. Anthropogenic Aerosols (AA) have slowed down the warming rate. The CMIP5 projection over India shows a sharp increase in ST under Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) 8.5 where it reaches a maximum of 5 K by the end of the 21
st
century. Under RCP2.6 emission scenarios, ST increases up to the year 2050 and decreases afterwards. The seasonal variability of ST during the 21
st
century shows significant increase during summer. Analysis of rare heat and cold events for 2080–2099 relative to a base period of 1986–2006 under RCP8.5 scenarios reveals that both are likely to increase substantially. However, by controlling the regional AA and LU change in India, a reduction in further warming over India region might be achieved.
Quantum circuits interact with the environment via several temperature-dependent degrees of freedom. Multiple experiments to-date have shown that most properties of superconducting devices appear to ...plateau out at T ≈ 50 mK - far above the refrigerator base temperature. This is for example reflected in the thermal state population of qubits, in excess numbers of quasiparticles, and polarisation of surface spins - factors contributing to reduced coherence. We demonstrate how to remove this thermal constraint by operating a circuit immersed in liquid
He. This allows to efficiently cool the decohering environment of a superconducting resonator, and we see a continuous change in measured physical quantities down to previously unexplored sub-mK temperatures. The
He acts as a heat sink which increases the energy relaxation rate of the quantum bath coupled to the circuit a thousand times, yet the suppressed bath does not introduce additional circuit losses or noise. Such quantum bath suppression can reduce decoherence in quantum circuits and opens a route for both thermal and coherence management in quantum processors.
We present results on various physical and optical properties of aerosols measured over Ahmedabad, an urban location in western India, from 2002 to 2005 and discuss their seasonal and interannual ...variabilities. Aerosol parameters which have been studied include AOD spectra, aerosol mass concentration, size distribution, BC concentration, wavelength dependency in absorption, scattering coefficient, single scattering albedo and their vertical distribution in the atmosphere. All data have been classified in terms of four major seasons, namely, dry, premonsoon, monsoon and postmonsoon. AODs show an increasing trend over the first half of the year, and this is more consistent at higher wavelengths. Variation of Angstrom parameter α shows dominance of smaller size particles during dry and postmonsoon seasons while increase in coarser particle concentration during premonsoon and monsoon seasons. PM10 mass concentration varied from low values close to 40 μg/m3 to highs of about 106 μg/m3. Size distribution patterns of near surface aerosols exhibited presence of three distinct modes, all of which could be fitted using three lognormal modes. Highest values of BC mass are obtained during postmonsoon (7.3 ± 3.7 μg/m3) while lowest values are measured during monsoon season (1.5 ± 0.8 μg/m3). Wavelength dependency of aerosol absorption shows signatures of presence of significant amount of absorbing aerosols produced from biofuel/biomass burning in the atmosphere. Single scattering albedo at 0.525 μm are found to be 0.73 ± 0.1, 0.84 ± 0.04, 0.81 ± 0.03 and 0.73 ± 0.08 during dry, premonsoon, monsoon and postmonsoon seasons, respectively. Vertical distributions of aerosol for dry and postmonsoon seasons are characterized by high values of extinction coefficients within first few hundred meters from the surface where we find a sharp decrease in the extinction values with increasing altitude. Vertical distribution of aerosols during monsoon season shows presence of a very thick and stable aerosol layer between 0.5 and 2.0 km, contributing significantly to the columnar AODs.
MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) derived aerosol optical depths (AODs) were compared against the ground based observations from Microtops sunphotometer over Ahmedabad (72.5°E, ...23.03°N) in Western India. The region is semi‐arid and poses challenge for the satellite remote sensing of aerosols. Besides comparing the ground truth with the Collection Version 4 of MODIS aerosol product, the paper reports the first ever validation of the updated Collection Version 5 of the MODIS aerosol product over India. The AOD data from Aqua platform is averaged over 0.5° × 0.5° centered at Ahmedabad and compared with the sunphotometer observation taken within half an hour to the satellite overpass time. The Version 4 data comparison showed a large scatter. Further, the comparison for 470 nm and 660 nm behave differently over different years. Overall, the comparison shows considerable improvement in the Collection Version 5 aerosol product. Among seasons, Pre‐Monsoon (April to May) has the best correlation and Dry season (December to March) the least. The updated product has scope for further improvement as the correlations are less than unity, and the extent of underestimation for 470 nm is more during Dry and Post‐Monsoon seasons whereas that for 660 nm is more during Pre‐Monsoon and Monsoon seasons which are dominated by fine and coarse particles respectively. The results show a better surface reflectance parameterization by the MODIS Collection Version 5 algorithm as compared to Version 4 but the aerosol model used in the retrieval algorithm is still not adequate.
Children in slums are at high risk of acute malnutrition and death. Cost-effectiveness of community-based management of severe acute malnutrition programmes has been demonstrated previously, but ...there is limited evidence in the context of urban slums where programme cost structure is likely to vary tremendously. This study assessed the cost-utility of adding a community based prevention and treatment for acute malnutrition intervention to Government of India Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) standard care for children in Mumbai slums. The intervention is delivered by community health workers in collaboration with ICDS Anganwadi community health workers. The analysis used a decision tree model to compare the costs and effects of the two options: standard ICDS services with the intervention and prevention versus standard ICDS services alone. The model used outcome and cost data from the Society for Nutrition, Education & Health Action's Child Health and Nutrition programme in Mumbai slums, which delivered services to 12,362 children over one year from 2013 to 2014. An activity-based cost model was used, with calculated costs based on programme financial records and key informant interviews. Cost data were coupled with programme effectiveness data to estimate disability adjusted life years (DALYs) averted. The community based prevention and treatment programme averted 15,016 DALYs (95% Uncertainty Interval UI: 12,246-17,843) at an estimated cost of $23 per DALY averted (95%UI:19-28) and was thus highly cost-effective. This study shows that ICDS Anganwadi community health workers can work efficiently with community health workers to increase the prevention and treatment coverage in slums in India and can lead to policy recommendations at the state, and potentially the national level, to promote such programmes in Indian slums as a cost-effective approach to tackling moderate and severe acute malnutrition.
We present results from complimentary measurements of physical and optical properties of aerosols carried out at Delhi, as part of the Indian Space Research Organization Geosphere Biosphere ...Programme's Land Campaign II in December 2004. For the first time we unravel ground truth values of several radiatively important aerosol parameters such as their wavelength dependency in absorption, scattering behavior, single‐scattering albedo, number size distribution, and vertical distribution in the atmosphere from this polluted megacity in south Asia. Interesting features are observed in the behavior of aerosol parameters under intermittent foggy, hazy, and clear‐sky conditions prevalent during the campaign. All aerosol parameters exhibited a large distribution in their values, with variabilities being particularly higher on hazy and foggy days. The average clear‐sky aerosol optical depth (AOD) value is 0.91 ± 0.48, which is higher than the AOD value reported for most other cities in India during this season of the year. Increases in AOD on hazy and foggy days are found to be spectrally nonuniform. The percentage increase in AOD at shorter wavelengths was higher on hazy days compared to clear days. Diurnally averaged BC mass concentration varied from a low of 15 μg/m3 during clear days to a high of about 65 μg/m3 on hazy days. The wavelength dependency of aerosol absorption shows signatures of the presence of a significant amount of absorbing aerosols produced from biofuel/biomass burning. Single‐scattering albedo at 525 nm is found to vary between 0.6 and 0.8 with an average value of 0.68 for the entire period. Lidar observations reveal that during a fog event there is a subsidence of aerosols to an extremely dense and shallow atmospheric layer of less than 200 m height from the surface. The presence of an aerosol layer at elevated altitudes is also detected. All the results are combined and used for estimating aerosol radiative forcing using a discrete ordinate radiative transfer model. We find a large negative forcing at the surface level in the range of −40 to −86 W/m2, while forcing at the top of the atmosphere varied between −2 and +3 W/m2.
In recent years, Indian banks witnessed a huge increase in gross non-performing assets and loan write-offs. In this paper, impact of these two undesirable outputs has been examined on the profit ...efficiency of the banks using Nerlovian approach, which perhaps is a novel attempt in Indian context. It is found that inclusion of these two undesirable outputs has a significant impact on the profit efficiency of the Indian banks vis-à-vis their non-inclusion, and it is more evident from sharp decline in the profit efficiency of these banks. Also, it is observed that the allocative inefficiency of the banks was the main cause for their profit inefficiency. Further, loan write-offs should not be merely viewed as cleaning of the balance sheet of the banks as it has a noticeable impact on their profit efficiency.
PDF
