Subjectivity,Power, and the IRB

A substantial literature in social sciences, including law and society, examines the intersections of research ethics and institutional review board (IRB) frameworks. Although geographers have engaged this literature, we argue that further involvement in ethical and regulatory discussions will advance opportunities for better understanding and negotiating the complex subjectivities produced in the IRB structure. Drawing on illustrative experiences of researchers, we focus specifically on the institutions convening IRBs, the researchers, and the human “subjects” produced in the IRB process. We conclude with a call for greater open discussion of the power dynamics, subjectivities, and challenges of formal ethical research structures.     

Palaeomagnetism of the Fishnish dykes, Mull, Scotland

summary . In Fishnish, eight dykes of E-W trend are all normally magnetized and all cut dykes of other trends. Normally magnetized dykes form a small minority of the dykes in the British Tertiary igneous province and this is the first reported incidence of a clearly defined group of a single polarity. The balance of the evidence - which is conflicting — favours the E—W dykes being contemporary with the later parts of the centre.     

Seismic quiescence before the M 7, 1988, Spitak earthquake, Armenia

A detailed analysis of the 35  yr of seismicity between 1962 and 1997 using a gridding technique shows that the M 7, Spitak earthquake of 1988 December 7 was preceded by a quiescence anomaly that started at approximately 1984±0.5, and lasted about 5±0.5  yr, up to the main shock. This quiescence anomaly had a radius of about 20±3  km, estimated from circular areas with 75 per cent rate decrease, centred at the point of maximum significance of the anomaly. The quiescence was clearly present in the aftershock volume during the 5  yr before the 1988 main shock, but its statistically strongest expression was located 30  km NW of the epicentre. This anomaly fulfills the association rules between precursory quiescence anomalies and main shocks, even for a tight definition, and is therefore proposed as a case of precursory quiescence. The largest value of the standard deviate Z , found by random selection of samples by gridding, was Z =14 for a time window of T _w=3  yr, using a sample size of N =300 events. This makes this anomaly the strongest observed so far, and it is the first documented in an environment of continental collision. There are no false alarms exceeding in significance the precursor. The Armenian earthquake catalogue used for this study had 4600 earthquakes with M ≥ M _min=2.2 in the area bounded by 39.5° to 42°N/42.5° to 47°E. From the point of view of homogeneous reporting this is the best catalogue we have analysed so far. The limits of the data used and the density of the grid are dictated by the data, and have no influence on the results. The choice of free parameters does not influence the results significantly within the following limits: 100≤ N ≤500, 2≤ T _w≤7, 2.2≤ M _min≤2.8.     

Invisible homelessness: anonymity,exposure, and the right to the city

The city of Denver, Colorado recently outlawed camping in all open space. Part of a broad effort to accelerate the profit potential of prime urban land through real estate speculation and commerce, the camping ban has dislocated homeless people from the city’s marginal spaces. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and archival research in Denver, this article develops a tripartite approach to public space—prime, everyday, and marginal—to analyze challenging ways in which people who are homeless in Denver must now manage their exposure to others in everyday public spaces. In addition to eliminating places of hard-won safety and security, this singular new code disrupts hygiene, mobility, and sociability routines, thus throwing already precarious lives into further disarray by rendering housing status visible. To demonstrate how everyday social justice springs from interaction between different people co-present in public space, we foreground the voices of Denver’s homeless people, those most impacted by quality of life laws. Evicting individuals from marginal spaces and rendering them visibly homeless in everyday and prime spaces, the ban deprives them of a fundamental right to the city: anonymity.     

江苏海安青墩地区新石器时代环境考古

通过对海安青墩遗址剖面进行磁化率、粒度、孢粉、14 C测年等指标分析 ,结果表明 ,剖面第 8层至第 7层是一个海退过程 ,同时微体古生物分析表明这两层均无有孔虫 ,可知当时此区域离海较远。第 8层到第 7层气候向暖湿方向转化 ,良好的气候环境条件为后来该区域人类活动的发展创造了条件。测年资料表明第 6层为距今 3790± 10 5 14 CaB .P .,是大暖期后面的一个气候波动和缓的亚稳定暖湿期 ,当时中国绝大部分地区气候要比现今暖湿。剖面的第 3、 4、 5层 ,即 4 0 0 0 14 CaB .P .以来的一个时期 ,该区出现了一洪水泛滥期 ,正是这一洪水期导致该区域人类文明的衰落。     

Diatom,pollen, and geochemical evidence for the palaeosalinity of Medicine Lake,S. Dakota,during the late-Wisconsin and early Holocene

Medicine Lake is a highly saline meromictic lake in eastern South Dakota. A lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic study of the late-glacial and early post-glacial sediments shows that it was a relatively deep dilute freshwater lake during the period of the Picea pollen zone. When spruce forest changed to a Betula and then to a Quercus/Ulmus woodland in the early post-glacial period, the lake water became more concentrated but remained fresh. However, during the subsequent rapid transition to prairie in the early Holocene, when Gramineae, Ambrosia, and Artemisia dominated dry-land vegetation, the freshwater diatom flora was progressively replaced by a saline assemblage characterized by Cyclotella quillensis, Chaetoceros, and eventually Cyclotella caspia. The lake became permanently saline at about 9000 yr BP. A comparison of the fossil diatom assemblages with surface-sediment samples from a range of lakes in the Dakotas indicates that the change involved an increase in conductivity from about 500 S cm^–1 in the late-glacial period to > 10 000 S cm^–1 in the early Holocene. This rapid change is also marked by an abrupt increase in sulphate concentration in the sediment, the first appearance of bands of gypsum crystals, and the beginning of a well-laminated core sequence that continues through the remaining sediment record. Conditions of high salinity have prevailed to the present day.Contribution 299, Limnological Research Center.     

The city,the (Member) state,and the European Union

This contribution to a Debate on “The Nation-State and the city” foregrounds the recently adopted Urban Agenda for the European Union. It discusses the new role of cities in the European policy making process and its relevance for relations between State and City in the light of EU membership.     

Soy,Cotton, and the Final Atlantic Forest Frontier

From 1945 to 2000, the extent of Paraguay's Atlantic Forest was reduced from 73,000 to 12,000 square kilometers. Deforestation rates were exceptionally high from the late 1960s through to the end of the century. During this period, dual agricultural frontiers pushed into the region from both east and west, resulting in a production landscape defined by two principal commodities: soybeans and cotton. This article considers the expansion and contraction of these industries and addresses their impacts on the region's forest cover. Findings suggest that the role of cotton and smallholder agriculture has been greatly diminished as a driver of land cover change in the region since 1990. High rates of forest loss were sustained, however, partly as a result of continued pressure for agricultural expansion for soy production.     

新疆孔雀河流域人工绿洲近40年土地利用/覆被变化

区域尺度土地利用/覆被变化（LUCC）时空特征及驱动力是研究大尺度变化乃至全球变化演变过程的基础,而干旱区LUCC对区域水文、生态影响尤为显著,是全球变化研究的重点之一。以新疆孔雀河流域上游作为研究区,基于1977-2015年6期Landsat数据,采用多规则人机交互目视解译的方法完成LUCC制图,并利用LUCC模型从数量变化、空间变化、土地利用集约程度变化等多方面分析了近40年来该区域LUCC特点及演变机制。结果表明：（1）研究区仅有耕地和建设用地面积增加,且增幅均在200%以上,其他土地类型面积则均有不同程度的减少;（2）耕地变化呈现出空间集聚现象,而建设用地的扩张则呈现空间连续性;（3）2000年前后自然植被经历小幅退化—恢复过程;（4）受西部大开发、塔里木河生态综合治理工程等多种因素影响,2000-2005年间,空间变化的综合动态度最高（2.76%）;（5）自然因素影响较小,人口增长和政策因素是主要驱动因子。     

Monitoring the grazing resources of the Badia region, Jordan, using remote sensing

In this paper we discuss how low spatial resolution (1 km) ERS ATSR-2 and NOAA AVHRR satellite data were used to map and monitor changes in the grazing vegetation of the Badia region of Jordan. This area is typical of many arid zone grazing areas, comprising sparse vegetation and highly reflective soils. These two factors were found to severely limit the usefulness of satellite-derived vegetation indices that are frequently used to map and monitor vegetation in more temperate areas. Furthermore, the relationship between vegetation indices and percentage vegetation cover was found to be site-specific, thus reducing their application for large-scale vegetation monitoring. As an alternative, a hybrid geometric optical/empirically based model was developed for the area. This was based on the illumination geometry and reflectance values from the red and near-infrared scattergram of the satellite images. The output of the model was a series of maps indicating percentage vegetation cover for different dates and these were used to construct maps showing areas of vegetation change. Strong correlations (r²=0.837) were found between estimates of percentage vegetation cover derived from the model, and measurements made at a series of 16 field sites in the area. The use of geometric optical models based on satellite imagery improves the ability to map areas of grazing vegetation in arid areas such as the Badia and provides a good alternative to the use of vegetation indices.     

Tundra degradation in the vicinity of the Polish Polar Station, Hornsund, Svalbard

Studies performed in the summers of 1979 and 1980 in the surroundings of the Polish Polar Station at Hornsund, Svalbard, aimed at determining the impact of the presence of a research station on its immediate tundra surroundings. The sources of environmental degradation were singled out; the ways of expansion of various contaminants and the degree of their harmfulness to the environment were evaluated. This gave insight into the extent of tundra degradation in the vicinity of a polar research station. It was found that the heaviest impacts were caused by changes in the chemical composition of the soil, resulting from spills of petroleum-derived fuels, and by transport which damaged the surface of the tundra.     

Looting, collecting, and the destruction of archaeological resources

Archaeological sites, the material remnants of our human past, are finite and nonrenewable cultural resources that are under constant threat from environmental forces, development activities, warfare, vandalism, and looting. Site looting is the destructive removal of archaeological objects to supply the art market. Looting is part of an economic system, the antiquities market, that works to supply the demand of collectors for archaeological objects. The destruction of archaeological resources by looters is an international crisis and threatens to obliterate the world’s cultural heritage and our ability to understand past cultures. The scale and intensity of the looting problem can be estimated by studying the extent of site destruction in countries of origin and by investigating the sources of antiquities held by collectors. Finding a solution to the problem of looting will require a focus on the demand side of the market (i.e., collectors) instead of the traditional focus on the supply side (looters, dealers)     

Tessellons,topography, and glaciations on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has developed into a vast fortress-like structure that has recently presented a barrier limiting the egress of moisture-bearing air masses. Lower sea levels also affected the climate. This paper examines their effects on the current evidence for the timing of past glaciations, and the development and evolution of permafrost. There are two theories regarding glaciation on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau(QTP). Kuhle suggested that there was a major, unified ice-cap during the Last Glacial Maximum(LGM), whereas major Chinese glaciologists and others have not found or verified reliable evidence for this per se. There have been limited glaciations during the last 1.1 Ma B.P. but with increasing dominance of permafrost including both primary and secondary tessellons infilled with rock, sand or loess. The East Asia Monsoon was absent in this area during the main LGM, starting at 30 ka B.P. on the plateau, with sufficient precipitation reappearing about 19 ka B.P. to produce ice-wedges. A weak Megathermal event took place between 8.5 and 6.0 ka B.P., followed by Neoglacial events exhibiting peak cold at 5.3–4.7 ka, 3.1–1.5 ka, and the Little Ice Age(LIA) after 0.7 ka. Subsequently,mean annual air temperature has increased by 4 °C.     

Safety Measures after the 2011 Joplin,Missouri, Tornado

Immediately following the May 2011 tornado, the city of Joplin, Missouri, initiated recovery efforts to rebuild the part of the community devastated by this event. In doing so, city officials introduced two new safety measures and recommended several others. The main objective of this paper is to explore the tornado survivors' compliance with the safety features recommended by the Joplin city authorities. Face‐to‐face interviews, as well as other methods, were used to survey respondents who were living within the tornado path (damage zones) at the time of the tornado. Results showed that 43 percent of all respondents implemented at least one recommended tornado measure in rebuild or repair their destroyed/damaged homes. Further, it was found that three variables considered here— rebuild or repair, damage zone category, and perceived tornado risk—were all significant contributors to a homeowner's decision to implement recommended tornado safety measures. The paper concludes with a recommendation for expanding tornado safety education among the respondents.     

Policy Boosterism,Policy Mobilities,and the Extrospective City

Abstract

This study develops the notion of “policy boosterism,” a subset of traditional branding and marketing activities that involves the active promotion of locally developed and/or locally successful policies, programs, or practices across wider geographical fields as well as to broader communities of interested peers. It is argued that policy boosterism is (1) an important element of how urban policy actors engage with global communities of professional peers and with local residents, and (2) a useful concept with which to interrogate and understand how policies and policy knowledge are mobilized among cities. A conceptualization of policy boosterism and its role in global-urban policymaking is developed by combining insights from the burgeoning “policy mobilities” literature with those of the longstanding literature on entrepreneurial city marketing. It is supported by illustrative examples of policy boosterism in Vancouver: the city's Greenest City and Green Capital initiatives, the use of the term “Vancouverism” among the city's urban design community, and demonstrations of new urban technologies during the 2010 Winter Olympics that were used to market a particular vision of the city's governance to people from elsewhere, but also—crucially—to local audiences. The article concludes by highlighting four foci that might frame future work at the intersections of policy boosterism and policy mobilities.     

Re-Envisioning the City: Lefebvre,HOPE VI,and the Neoliberalization of Urban Space

This study draws upon the urban theory of Henri Lefebvre to examine HOPE VI, a public housing demolition and redevelopment program administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Hailed as a new approach to urban policy, the HOPE VI program embodies many of the key tenets of neoliberal urbanization, including an emphasis on entrepreneurial forms of urban regeneration and a focus on individual responsibility. To provide a lens for understanding this neoliberalization of space, we first detail Lefebvre's theorization of abstract space and transparency, highlighting in particular its nondialectical and depoliticized character. We then turn to examine the HOPE VI model and its implementation in Charlotte, North Carolina. Lefebvre's analysis, we argue, provides a useful entry point for interpreting the re-envisioning of urban space that underlies HOPE VI-style redevelopment, and therefore can potentially inform contemporary struggles against neoliberal urban policy.     

The origin of the Sierra de Aracena Hollows in the Sierra Morena, Huelva, Andalucia, Spain

Hollows in the Sierra de Aracena, part of western sector of Sierra Morena region (Huelva, Spain), are geoecologically unusual macroforms. They are underlain by deeply weathered bedrock but have eutrophic soils with distinctive vegetation. Paleosols with very dark colours, a predominance of smectites and large amounts of total and free iron occur on the floors on the hollows. An evolutionary model is proposed for the hollows, involving differential weathering during the Mesozoic on plutonic and amphibolitic rocks, alpine tectonic activity followed by Quaternary erosion and exhumation leading to formation of erosional terraces.     

印度河流域气温、降水、蒸发及干旱变化特征

基于印度河流域及周围54个地面气象站气温、降水资料，结合CRU气温和GPCC降水全球格点化陆面再分析资料，通过插值构建了一套0.5°×0.5°分辨率1980—2016年逐月格点数据集。采用Thornthwaite方法计算了潜在蒸散发，基于标准化降水蒸散指数（SPEI），探讨了印度河流域气候变化及干旱演变特征。结果表明：（1）1980—2016年，印度河流域年平均气温以0.30℃·（10 a）^-1的速率呈显著上升趋势，21世纪初增温幅度最大；干季（11月~次年4月）升温速率较快，达0.36℃·（10 a）^-1，湿季（5~10月）增速0.25℃·（10 a）^-1。年降水量呈现少雨—多雨—少雨—多雨年代际振荡。伴随着持续升温，年和各季的潜在蒸发量增加显著。干季干旱频率较多，但湿季干旱强度高，各季干旱频率与降水呈现较一致的年代际波动；干旱的影响面积在干季呈现微弱地增加趋势，湿季却略有减少趋势。（2）空间上，除西北局部，流域其他区域的年和季平均气温、潜在蒸发量增加趋势显著，均达到95%置信水平。其中南部平原和东北山区升温幅度较高，南部平原区潜在蒸发量增加也较大。新德里到喀布尔的东南至西北带状区域的年和湿季降水量，以及喀布尔周围地区的干季降水量呈显著增加趋势。东南平原区和东北局部山区的干季，以及东北和西南局部山区的湿季呈现显著的干旱化态势，需要加强防灾减灾的意识并采取相应措施，以规避干旱增多带来的不利影响。     

Snow accumulation, melt, mass loss, and the near-surface ice temperature structure of Irenebreen, Svalbard

This study examines the mass balance, accumulation, melt, and near-surface ice thermal structure of Irenebreen, a 4.1 km² glacier located in northwest Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Traditional glaciological mass balance measurements by stake readings and snow surveying have been conducted annually at the glacier since 2002, yielding a mean annual net mass balance of −65 cm w.e. for the period 2002–2009. In 2009, the annual mass balance of Irenebreen was −63 cm w.e. despite above-average snow accumulation in winter. The near-surface ice temperature in the accumulation area was investigated with automatic borehole thermistors. The mean annual surface ice temperatures (September–August) of the accumulation area were −3.7 °C at 1 m depth and −3.3 °C at 10 m depth. Irenebreen is potentially polythermal, with cold ice and a temperate surface layer during summer. This temperate surface layer is influenced by seasonal changes in temperature. In winter, the temperature of all the ice is below the melting point and temperate layers are probably present in basal sections of the glacier. This supposition is supported by the presence of icings in the forefield of Irenebreen.     

Constructing the Klamath: Nature,Culture, and the Management of a Western River

Despite decades of scientific research, stakeholder negotiations, and policy proposals, management of the Klamath River in southern Oregon and northern California remains hotly contested. This research examines the sociocultural dimensions of proposed removal of four Klamath River dams. Using a social constructivist approach to analyze the discourse of public comments regarding dam removal, I find commenters rely on diverse ideas of nature and divergent problem framings, contest the role of science, and draw on embedded and meaningful sociocultural narratives to legitimize their management preferences. These discourses shape the terrain upon which management actions are perceived, valued, and contested, and make management actions meaningful beyond their immediate spatial and temporal context. Dam removal on the Klamath River is far more than an ecological problem amenable to a scientific or technical approach; instead, it is a complex project shot through with the sociocultural identities, visions, and narratives of all involved.