Open-source approaches for location cover models: capabilities and efficiency

Journal of Geographical Systems - Location cover models are aimed at siting facilities so as to provide service to demand efficiently. These models are crucial in the management, planning and...     

TIN-based Tag Map Layout

With the widespread use of tag clouds, multiple map-based variations have been proposed. Like standard tag clouds (also called word clouds), these ‘tag maps’ all share the basic strategy of displaying words within a ‘geographic space’ and scaling the word size to depict frequency (or importance) of those words within some dataset. While some tag maps simply plot a standard tag cloud on top of a map, the subset of tag maps we focus on here are those in which the collection of words are displayed within bounded geographic regions (often of irregular shape) that the words are relevant for. For this form of tag map, map scale and polygon shape add constraints to word size and position that have not been considered in most prior approaches to tag map word layout. In this paper, we present a layout strategy for tag map generation that includes consideration of the shape and size of the geographical regions acting as containers for the tags. The method introduced here uses a triangulated irregular network (TIN) to subdivide the geographical region into many triangle subareas, with the centroid of each triangle being a potential location to centre a tag on. All the triangles are sorted by their area and all the tags are sorted by their weight value (e.g. frequency, importance or popularity). Positioning of tags is undertaken sequentially from most important (or frequent or popular) with potential locations being the TIN triangle centroids (tried from largest to smallest triangle). After each tag placement, the TIN is recalculated to integrate the tag centroid and bounding corners into the TIN creation. The limited whitespace in the geographical region, at any specific scale, is used fully by dynamically adjusting the font size along with the number and the direction of tags. The method can be applied to add tags within geographic polygons that are convex, concave and other more complex regions containing holes or islands.     

Challenges in applying capacitated covering models

Service system planning has long been supported by location‐covering models designed to address access and accessibility issues. An important aspect of many systems is limits on service, often conceptualized as facility capacities. Much research can be found that proposes modeling approaches and solution techniques to account for capacitated covering problems, and commercial GIS software exists that is capable of structuring and applying facility service limits. This article reviews issues and challenges associated with the application of capacitated covering models, including critical evaluation of allocation approaches and GIS capabilities. Case studies involving service provision in two cities in California—San Jose and Santa Barbara—are provided to highlight associated issues faced in practice. While user‐friendly commercial software makes it easy to access capacitated cover models, there remain challenges for addressing underlying considerations and assumptions in practice.     

Seasonal Shift in Community Structure of Periphytic Ciliates in Estuarine Waters in the Northern Bay of Bengal,Bangladesh

To investigate the seasonal heterogeneity of the periphytic ciliate communities, a 1-year baseline survey was conducted in the Karnaphuli River estuary, northern Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh. A total of 54 ciliate species were recorded, including seven common and 14 dominant species. Maximum species number was in autumn whereas maximum abundance was in winter; the minimum for both occurred in summer. Multivariate analyses, i.e., canonical analysis of principal coordinates (CAP) and principal co-ordinates analysis (PCoA), revealed a clear seasonal heterogeneity of community structure and environmental variables. Multivariate correlation analysis (RELATE) demonstrated that the community structure of the periphytic ciliate communities was significantly correlated with environmental variables, and best matching analysis (BIOENV) indicated that heterogeneity of community patterns was mainly driven by water temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, total dissolved solids and nutrients. Species richness and diversity peaked in autumn whereas species evenness peaked in summer. These results suggest that environmental conditions shape periphytic ciliate community structure, which is a potentially useful bio-indicator of estuarine water quality.     

Thermochronological insights into the structural contact between the Tian Shan and Pamirs,Tajikistan

Multi‐method thermochronology along the Vakhsh‐Surkhob fault zone reveals the thermotectonic history of the South Tian Shan–Pamirs boundary. Apatite U/Pb analyses yield a consistent age of 251 ± 2 Ma, corresponding to cooling below ~550–350°C, related to the final closure of the Palaeo‐Asian Ocean and contemporaneous magmatism in the South Tian Shan. Zircon (U–Th–Sm)/He ages constrain cooling below ~180°C to the end of the Triassic (~200 Ma), likely related either to deformation induced by the Qiangtang collision or to the closure of the Rushan Ocean. Apatite fission track thermochronology reveals two low‐temperature (<120°C) thermal events at ~25 Ma and ~10 Ma, which may be correlated with tectonic activity at the distant southern Eurasian margin. The late Miocene cooling is confirmed by apatite (U–Th–Sm)/He data and marks the onset of mountain building within the South Tian Shan that is ongoing today.     

Rosetta-Alice observations of exospheric hydrogen and oxygen on Mars

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, en route to a 2014 encounter with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, made a gravity assist swing-by of Mars on 25 February 2007, closest approach being at 01:54 UT. The Alice instrument on board Rosetta, a lightweight far-ultraviolet imaging spectrograph optimized for in situ cometary spectroscopy in the 750-2000 Å spectral band, was used to study the daytime Mars upper atmosphere including emissions from exospheric hydrogen and oxygen. Offset pointing, obtained five hours before closest approach, enabled us to detect and map the H i Lyman-α and Lyman-β emissions from exospheric hydrogen out beyond 30,000 km from the planet’s center. These data are fit with a Chamberlain exospheric model from which we derive the hydrogen density at the 200 km exobase and the H escape flux. The results are comparable to those found from the Ultraviolet Spectrometer experiment on the Mariner 6 and 7 fly-bys of Mars in 1969. Atomic oxygen emission at 1304 Å is detected at altitudes of 400-1000 km above the limb during limb scans shortly after closest approach. However, the derived oxygen scale height is not consistent with recent models of oxygen escape based on the production of suprathermal oxygen atoms by the dissociative recombination of .     

Origin of the differences in refractory-lithophile-element abundances among chondrite groups

Chondrite groups can be distinguished on the basis of their abundances of refractory lithophile elements (RLE). These abundances are, in part, functions of the mass fraction of Ca-Al-rich inclusions (CAIs) within the chondrites. Carbonaceous chondrites contain the most CAIs and the highest RLE abundances; they also contain modally abundant fine-grained matrix material that consists largely of modified nebular dust. The amount of dust varied throughout the solar nebula: enstatite and ordinary chondrites formed in low-dust regions in the inner part of the nebula, R chondrites formed in higher-dust zones at somewhat greater heliocentric distances, and carbonaceous chondrites formed in even dustier regions farther from the Sun. The amount of ambient dust peaked in the region where CV and CK chondrites accreted; these chondrites have abundant matrix, the highest modal abundances of CAIs, and the highest bulk RLE contents. Substantial amounts of nebular dust occurred in highly porous multi-millimeter-to-centimeter-size dustballs that were on the order of 100 times more massive than CAIs. Radial drift processes in the nebula affected these dustballs to approximately the same extent as the CAIs; both types of objects were aerodynamically concentrated in the same nebular regions. These regions maintained approximately the same relative amounts of dust through the periods of chondrule formation and chondrite accretion.     

Book reviews

Behavioural biology of killer whales. Editors: C. Kirkevold and J. S. Lockard. Zoo Biology Monographs, Volume 1. Alan Liss Inc., New York, 1986. 457 p. ISBN 0–8451–3100–1. Price: US$79.50.

Aquaculture of Cyprinids. Editors: R. Billard and J. Marcel. Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 1986. 504 p. Price FF150.00. Available from INRA Publications, Route de St Cyr, 78000 Versailles, France.

The Peruvian anchoveta and its upwelling ecosystem: three decades of change. Editors: D. Pauly and I. Tsukayama. Institute) del Mar del Peru (IMARPE); Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ); International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management (ICLARM) 1987.351 p. ISBN 971–1022–34–6, ISSN 0115–4389. Price US$17.50 surface; US$36 airmail. Available from ICLARM, MCP.O. 1501, Makati, Metro Manilla, Philippines.

The freshwater planktonic blue‐greens (Cyanophyta/Cyanobacteria) of New Zealand: a taxonomic guide. By M. K. Etheredge and R. D. Pridmore. Published for the National Water and Soil Conservation Authority, 1987. 122 p, including 93 figures. ISSN0110–4705. Price $38.50. Available from DSIR Publishing, P.O. Box 9741, Wellington, New Zealand.     

Highly siderophile element and osmium isotope evidence for postcore formation magmatic and impact processes on the aubrite parent body

Abstract– Aubrites exhibit a wide range of highly siderophile element (HSE—Re, Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Pt, Pd, Au) concentrations and ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os compositions. Their HSE concentrations are one to three orders of magnitude less than chondrites, with the exception of the Shallowater and Mt. Egerton samples. While most aubrites show chondritic HSE abundance ratios, significant enrichments of Pd and Re relative to Os, Ir, and Ru are observed in 12 of 16 samples. Present‐day ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios range from subchondritic values of 0.1174 to superchondritic values of up to 0.2263. Half of the samples have ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os ratios of 0.127 to 0.130, which is in the range of enstatite chondrites. Along with the brecciated nature of aubrites, the HSE and Re‐Os isotope systematics support a history of extensive postaccretion processing, including core formation, late addition of chondritic material and/or core material and potential breakup and reassembly. Highly siderophile element signatures for some aubrites are consistent with a mixing of HSE‐rich chondritic fragments with a HSE‐free aubrite matrix. The enrichments in incompatible HSE such as Pd and Re observed in some aubrites, reminiscent of terrestrial basalts, suggest an extensive magmatic and impact history, which is supported by both the ¹⁸⁷Re‐¹⁸⁷Os isotope system and silicate‐hosted isotope systems (Rb‐Sr, K‐Ar) yielding young formation ages of 1.3–3.9 Ga for a subset of samples. Compared with other differentiated achondrites derived from small planetary bodies, aubrites show a wide range in HSE concentrations and ¹⁸⁷Os/¹⁸⁸Os, most similar to angrites. While similarities exist between the diverse groups of achondrites formed early in solar system history, the aubrite parent body(ies) clearly underwent a distinct evolution, different from angrites, brachinites, ureilites, howardites, eucrites, and diogenites.     

An amoeboid olivine inclusion (AOI) in CK3 NWA 1559, comparison to AOIs in CV3 Allende,and the origin of AOIs in CK and CV chondrites

An amoeboid olivine inclusion in CK3 NWA 1559 (0.54 × 1.3 mm) consists of a diopside‐rich interior (approximately 35 vol%) and an olivine‐rich rim (approximately 65 vol%). It is the first AOI to be described in CK chondrites; the apparent paucity of these inclusions is due to extensive parent‐body recrystallization. The AOI interior contains irregular 3–15 μm‐sized Al‐bearing diopside grains (approximately 70 vol%), 2–20 μm‐sized pores (approximately 30 vol%), and traces of approximately 2 μm plagioclase grains. The 75–160 μm‐thick rim contains 20–130 μm‐sized ferroan olivine grains, some with 120º triple junctions. A few coarse (25–50 μm‐sized) patches of plagioclase with 2–18 μm‐thick diopside rinds occur in several places just beneath the rim. The occurrence of olivine rims around AOI‐1 and around many AOIs in CV3 Allende suggests that CK and CV AOIs formed by the acquisition of porous forsteritic rims around fine‐grained, rimless CAIs that consisted of diopside, anorthite, melilite, and spinel. Individual AOIs in carbonaceous chondrites may have formed after transient heating events melted their olivine rims as well as portions of the underlying interiors. In AOI‐1, coarse plagioclase grains with diopside rinds crystallized immediately below the olivine rim. Secondary parent‐body alteration transformed forsterite in the rims of CV and CK AOIs into more‐ferroan olivine. Some of the abundant pores in the interior of AOI‐1 may have formed during aqueous alteration after fine‐grained melilite and anorthite were leached out. Chondrite groups with large chondrules tend to have large AOIs. AOIs that formed in dust‐rich nebular regions (where CV and CK chondrites later accreted) tend to be larger than AOIs from less‐dusty regions.