Consulting as a threat to local democracy? Flexible management consultants,pacified citizens,and political tactics of strategic development in German cities

These days, it is often claimed that democratic procedures are under threat. The detachment of policy decisions from political debates is partly a result of the increasing influence of non-elected organizations and experts. Following a conceptual discussion of the spatiality of democracy, this paper focuses on management consultants as constraint on collective political participation in urban development; namely on McKinsey and Roland Berger. (De-)democratization is assessed alongside processes of inclusion and exclusion of both topics and people from political decisions. Based on a comparison of strategy-making projects in six German cities, the findings reveal three different types of urban policymaking ranging between expert-led and participatory versions. Despite the differences, each of the projects relied on a notion of passive citizens, who primarily need to be “gotten on board” and who lack the power to make decisions. This paper exposes the political tactics involved in an expert-influenced curtailment of democratic procedures.     

The behavior of total lightning activity in severe Florida thunderstorms

The development of a new observational system called LISDAD (Lightning Imaging Sensor Demonstration and Display) has enabled a study of severe weather in central Florida. The total flash rates for storms verified to be severe are found to exceed 60 fpm, with some values reaching 500 fpm. Similar to earlier results for thunderstorm microbursts, the peak flash rate precedes the severe weather at the ground by 5–20 min. A distinguishing feature of severe storms is the presence of lightning ‘jumps' — abrupt increases in flash rate in advance of the maximum rate for the storm. The systematic total lightning precursor to severe weather of all kinds — wind, hail, tornadoes — is interpreted in terms of the updraft that sows the seeds aloft for severe weather at the surface and simultaneously stimulates the ice microphysics that drives the intracloud lightning activity.     

A review of the LATEX project: mesoscale to submesoscale processes in a coastal environment

The main objective of the LAgrangian Transport EXperiment (LATEX) project was to study the influence of coastal mesoscale and submesoscale physical processes on circulation dynamics, cross-shelf exchanges, and biogeochemistry in the western continental shelf of the Gulf of Lion, Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. LATEX was a five-year multidisciplinary project based on the combined analysis of numerical model simulations and multi-platform field experiments. The model component included a ten-year realistic 3D numerical simulation, with a 1 km horizontal resolution over the gulf, nested in a coarser 3 km resolution model. The in situ component involved four cruises, including a large-scale multidisciplinary campaign with two research vessels in 2010. This review concentrates on the physics results of LATEX, addressing three main subjects: (1) the investigation of the mesoscale to submesoscale processes. The eddies are elliptic, baroclinic, and anticyclonic; the strong thermal and saline front is density compensated. Their generation processes are studied; (2) the development of sampling strategies for their direct observations. LATEX has implemented an adaptive strategy Lagrangian tool, with a reference software available on the web, to perform offshore campaigns in a Lagrangian framework; (3) the quantification of horizontal mixing and cross-shelf exchanges. Lateral diffusivity coefficients, calculated in various ways including a novel technique, are in the range classically encountered for their associated scales. Cross-shelf fluxes have been calculated, after retrieving the near-inertial oscillation contribution. Further perspectives are discussed, especially for the ongoing challenge of studying submesoscale features remotely and from in situ data.     

Isochron‐burial dating of glaciofluvial deposits: First results from the Swiss Alps

In this study, we use isochron‐burial dating to date the Swiss Deckenschotter, the oldest Quaternary deposits of the northern Alpine Foreland. Concentrations of cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al in individual clasts from a single stratigraphic horizon can be used to calculate an isochron‐burial age based on an assumed initial ratio and the measured ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratio. We suggest that, owing to deep and repeated glacial erosion, the initial isochron ratio of glacial landscapes at the time of burial varies between 6.75 and 8.4. Analysis of 22 clasts of different lithology, shape, and size from one 0.5 m thick gravel bed at Siglistorf (Canton Aargau) indicates low nuclide concentrations: <20 000 ¹⁰Be atoms/g and <150 000 ²⁶Al atoms/g. Using an ²⁶Al/¹⁰Be ratio of 7.6 (arithmetical mean of 6.75 and 8.4), we calculate a mean isochron‐burial age of 1.5 ± 0.2 Ma. This age points to an average bedrock incision rate between 0.13 and 0.17 mm/a. Age data from the Irchel, Stadlerberg, and Siglistorf sites show that the Higher Swiss Deckenschotter was deposited between 2.5 and 1.3 Ma. Our results indicate that isochron‐burial dating can be successfully applied to glaciofluvial sediments despite very low cosmogenic nuclide concentrations. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Effect of storms during drought on post‐wildfire recovery of channel sediment dynamics and habitat in the southern California chaparral,USA

Current global warming projections suggest a possible increase in wildfire and drought, augmenting the need to understand how drought following wildfire affects the recovery of stream channels in relation to sediment dynamics. We investigated post‐wildfire geomorphic responses caused by storms during a prolonged drought following the 2013 Springs Fire in southern California (USA), using multi‐temporal terrestrial laser scanning and detailed field measurements. After the fire, a dry‐season dry‐ravel sediment pulse contributed sand and small gravel to hillslope‐channel margins in Big Sycamore Creek and its tributaries. A small storm in WY 2014 generated sufficient flow to mobilize a portion of the sediment derived from the dry‐ravel pulse and deposited the fine sediment in the channel, totaling ~0.60 m³/m of volume per unit length of channel. The sediment deposit buried step‐pool habitat structure and reduced roughness by over 90%. These changes altered sediment transport characteristics of the bed material present before and after the storm; the ratio of available to critical shear stress (τ_o/τ_c) increased by five times. Storms during WY 2015 contributed additional fine sediment from tributaries and lower hillslopes and hyperconcentrated flow transported and deposited additional sediment in the channel. Together these sources delivered sediment on the order of six times that in 2014, further increasing τ_o/τ_c. These storms during multi‐year drought following wildfire transformed channel dynamics. The increased sediment transport capacity persisted during the drought period characterized by the longer residence time of relatively fine‐grained post‐fire channel sedimentation. This contrasts with wetter years, when post‐fire sediment is transported from the fluvial system during the same season as the post‐fire sediment pulse. Results of this short‐term study highlight the complex and substantial effects of multi‐year drought on geomorphic responses following wildfire. These responses influence pool habitat that is critical to longer‐term post‐wildfire riparian ecosystem recovery. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Fine mesh screening of midden material and the recovery of fish bone: The development of flotation and deflocculation techniques for an efficient and effective procedure

The absence of fish remains in archaeological sites in Moreton Bay, southeast Queensland, Australia, may be a function of recovery techniques, rather than a reflection of resource paucity and late onset of occupation, as has been posited in archaeological literature. An excavation on Peel Island in Moreton Bay was devised, in part, to test this proposition, and a 1‐mm mesh screen was used to enhance recovery. But sorting this fine fraction took 20 h. In this article we outline experiments to find a more efficient and effective technique for sieving and sorting fine fraction archaeological deposits, using methods borrowed from soil science. We show how sorting time can be reduced to 2 h 30 min per 100 g sample and argue that the vast increase in knowledge about the site occurring as a result of using the very fine mesh sieve warrants the continued application of these laboratory methods. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Determination of Radiogenic 87Sr/86Sr and Stable δ88/86SrSRM987 Isotope Values of Thirteen Mineral,Vegetal and Animal Reference Materials by DS‐TIMS

This work presents new ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr and δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 isotopic values of thirteen mineral, vegetal and animal reference materials. Except for UB‐N, all our results are consistent with previously published data. Our results highlight intermediate precisions among the best presently published and a non‐significant systematic shift with the calculated δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 mean values for the three most analysed reference materials in the literature (i.e., IAPSO, BCR‐2 and JCp‐1). By comparison with the literature and between two distinct digestions, a significant bias of δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 values was highlighted for two reference materials (UB‐N and GS‐N). It has also been shown that digestion protocols (nitric and multi‐acid) have a moderate impact on the δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 isotopic values for the Jls‐1 reference materials suggesting that a nitric acid digestion of carbonate can be used without significant bias from partial digestion of non‐carbonate impurities. Different δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 values were measured after two independent Sr/matrix separations, according to the same protocol, for a fat‐rich organic reference material (BCR‐380R) and have been related to a potential post‐digestion heterogeneity. Finally, the δ^88/86Sr_SRM987 value differences measured between animal‐vegetal and between coral‐seawater reference materials agree with the previously published results, highlighting an Sr isotopic fractionation along the trophic chain and during carbonate precipitation.     

Development and Re‐Evaluation of Tourmaline Reference Materials for In Situ Measurement of Boron δ Values by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Six tourmaline samples were investigated as potential reference materials (RMs) for boron isotope measurement by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The tourmaline samples are chemically homogeneous and cover a compositional range of tourmaline supergroup minerals (primarily Fe, Mg and Li end‐members). Additionally, they have homogeneous boron delta values with intermediate precision values during SIMS analyses of less than 0.6‰ (2s). These samples were compared with four established tourmaline RMs, that is, schorl IAEA‐B‐4 and three Harvard tourmalines (schorl HS#112566, dravite HS#108796 and elbaite HS#98144). They were re‐evaluated for their major element and boron delta values using the same measurement procedure as the new tourmaline samples investigated. A discrepancy of about 1.5‰ in δ¹¹B was found between the previously published reference values for established RMs and the values determined in this study. Significant instrumental mass fractionation (IMF) of up to 8‰ in δ¹¹B was observed for schorl–dravite–elbaite solid solutions during SIMS analysis. Using the new reference values determined in this study, the IMF of the ten tourmaline samples can be modelled by a linear combination of the chemical parameters FeO + MnO, SiO₂ and F. The new tourmaline RMs, together with the four established RMs, extend the boron isotope analysis of tourmaline towards the Mg‐ and Al‐rich compositional range. Consequently, the in situ boron isotope ratio of many natural tourmalines can now be determined with an uncertainty of less than 0.8‰ (2s).     

Interaction between lateral sorting in river bends and vertical sorting in dunes

Sediment is sorted in river bends under the influence of gravity that pulls the heavier grains downslope and secondary flow that drags the finer grains upslope. Furthermore, when dunes are present, sediment is also sorted vertically at the dune lee side. However, sorting functions are poorly defined, since the relation to transverse bed slope and the interaction between lateral and vertical sorting is not yet understood for lack of data under controlled conditions. The objective of this study is to describe lateral sorting as a function of transverse bed slope and to gain an understanding of the interaction between lateral and vertical sorting in river bends. To this end, experiments were conducted with a poorly sorted sediment mixture in a rotating annular flume in which secondary flow intensity can be controlled separately from the main flow velocity, and therefore transverse bed slope towards the inner bend and dune dimensions can be systematically varied. Sediment samples were taken along cross-sections at the surface of dune troughs and dune crests, and over the entire depth at the location of dune crests (bulk samples), which enabled comparison of the relative contribution of vertical sorting by dunes to lateral sorting by the transverse bed slope. The data show that lateral sorting is always the dominant sorting mechanism in bends, and bulk samples showed minor effects of vertical sorting by dunes as long as all grain-size fractions are mobile. An empirical bend sorting model was fitted that redistributes the available sediment fractions over the cross-section as a function of transverse bed slope. Comparison with field data showed that the model accurately reproduces spatially-averaged trends in sorting at the bend apex in single-thread channels. The bend sorting model therefore provides a better definition of bend sorting with conservation of mass by size fraction and adds to current understanding of bend sorting. The implication for numerical modelling is that bend sorting mechanisms can be modelled independently of dunes, allowing the application of the active layer concept.     

Adjustability of exposed elements by updating their capacity for resistance after a damaging event: application to an earthquake–tsunami cascade scenario

Natural Hazards - The 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami remind us once again that these types of cascade event can occur and cause considerable damage. The scientific community realizes...