Role of container vessels in the introduction of exotic species

Ballast water exchange practices were monitored on 28 incoming container vessels at the Port of Montreal. Measurements on 15 vessels indicated 13 of 32 tanks had salinities of <30 per thousand. The 16 transits with a North Atlantic route visited 31 of 37 ports located on freshwater or near freshwater outflows. Ballast carried by this vessel type represents an important means for the introduction of species on a global scale because of its transit routes, dockside discharge and moving ballast between tanks. Container vessels represent about 15% of the world fleet, but account for 32% of all visits to global ports, and 46% of visits to the 25 largest ports. The 10 ports that handled the largest volumes of international cargo also included 8 that handled the most cargo containers. Large ports can receive over 100,000 visits by all vessel types annually, and serve as hubs for over 500 ports in 100 countries. Secondary transport of exotic species is also a concern because of frequent visits by regional vessels.     

Reducing dissolved inorganic nitrogen in surface runoff water from sugarcane production systems

Nitrogen (N) lost from farms, especially as the highly bioavailable dissolved inorganic form, may be damaging Australia's Great Barrier Reef (GBR). As sugarcane is the dominant cropping system in GBR catchments, its N management practises are coming under increasing scrutiny. This study measured dissolved inorganic N lost in surface runoff water and sugarcane productivity over 3 years. The experiment compared the conventional fertiliser N application rate to sugarcane (average 180kg N/ha/year) and a rate based on replacing N exported in the previous crop (average 94kg N/ha/year). Dissolved inorganic N losses in surface water were 72%, 48% and 66% lower in the three monitored years in the reduced N fertiliser treatment. There was no significant difference in sugarcane yield between the two fertiliser N treatments, nor any treatment difference in soil mineral N - both of these results are indicators of the sustainability of the lower fertiliser N applications.     

Detection of a new interstellar molecular ion, H2COH+ (protonated formaldehyde)

A new interstellar molecular ion, H2COH+ (protonated formaldehyde), has been detected toward Sgr B2, Orion KL, W51, and possibly in NGC 7538 and DR21(OH). Six transitions were detected in Sgr B2(M). The 1(1,0)-1(0,1) transition was detected in all sources listed above. Searches were also made toward the cold, dark clouds TMC-1 and L134N, Orion (3N, 1E), and a red giant, IRC + 10216, without success. The excitation temperatures of H2COH+ are calculated to be 60-110 K, and the column densities are on the order of 10(12)-10(14) cm-2 in Sgr B2, Orion KL, and W51. The fractional abundance of H2COH+ is on the order of 10(-11) to 10-(9), and the ratio of H2COH+ to H2CO is in the range 0.001-0.5 in these objects. The values in Orion KL seem to be consistent with the "early time" values of recent model calculations by Lee, Bettens, & Herbst, but they appear to be higher than the model values in Sgr B2 and W51 even if we take the large uncertainties of column densities of H2CO into account. We suggest production routes starting from CH3OH may play an important role in the formation of H2COH+.     

Towards an operational system for oil-spill forecast over Spanish waters: initial developments and implementation test

The ESEOO Project, launched after the Prestige crisis, has boosted operational oceanography capacities in Spain, creating new operational oceanographic services and increasing synergies between these new operational tools and already existing systems. In consequence, the present preparedness to face an oil-spill crisis is enhanced, significantly improving the operational response regarding ocean, meteorological and oil-spill monitoring and forecasting. A key aspect of this progress has been the agreement between the scientific community and the Spanish Search and Rescue Institution (SASEMAR), significantly favoured within the ESEOO framework. Important achievements of this collaboration are: (1) the design of protocols that at the crisis time provide operational state-of-the-art information, derived from both forecasting and observing systems; (2) the establishment, in case of oil-spill crisis, of a new specialized unit, named USyP, to monitor and forecast the marine oceanographic situation, providing the required met-ocean and oil-spill information for the crisis managers. The oil-spill crisis scenario simulated during the international search and rescue Exercise "Gijón-2006", organized by SASEMAR, represented an excellent opportunity to test the capabilities and the effectiveness of this USyP unit, as well as the protocols established to analyze and transfer information. The results presented in this work illustrate the effectiveness of the operational approach, and constitute an encouraging and improved base to face oil-spill crisis.     

The British who are not British and the immigration policies that are not: the case of Hong Kong

"While 'closed-door' immigration policies are adopted by most countries, 'exceptionalist' legislation is often made to permit entry of special immigrant groups. An example is the British Nationality (Hong Kong) Act 1990, which was passed in the run-up to the change in sovereignty of Hong Kong in 1997. Britain's increasingly restrictive immigration policies prior to 1990 [have] resulted in the majority of Hong Kong citizens having British nationality (as British Dependent Territories citizens) but without the right of abode in the U.K. The 1990 Act conferred full British citizenship status on 50,000 heads of households in Hong Kong." The authors conclude that "in a world of marked global inequalities, immigration pressure will become even more extreme and is likely to produce an increasing number of cases of exceptionalist immigration legislation in countries with both ?open' and 'closed'-door policies.'     

澳大利亚维多利亚州肭屏半岛第四纪古土壤沉积物的初步研究

本文对澳大利亚维多利亚州肭屏（Ｎｅｐｅａｎ）半岛海岸悬崖风成岩古土壤序列沉积学地层的成土母质来源、成土时期的环境、时代等问题进行研究。     

The Mars oxidant experiment (MOx) for Mars '96

The MOx instrument was developed to characterize the reactive nature of the martian soil. The objectives of MOx were: (1) to measure the rate of degradation of organics in the martian environment; (2) to determine if the reactions seen by the Viking biology experiments were caused by a soil oxidant and measure the reactivity of the soil and atmosphere: (3) to monitor the degradation, when exposed to the martian environment, of materials of potential use in future missions; and, finally, (4) to develop technologies and approaches that can be part of future soil analysis instrumentation. The basic approach taken in the MOx instrument was to place a variety of materials composed as thin films in contact with the soil and monitor the physical and chemical changes that result. The optical reflectance of the thin films was the primary sensing-mode. Thin films of organic materials, metals, and semiconductors were prepared. Laboratory simulations demonstrated the response of thin films to active oxidants.     

Integrated chronostratigraphy of Proterozoic-Cambrian boundary beds in the western Anabar region, northern Siberia

Carbonate-rich sedimentary rocks of the western Anabar region, northern Siberia, preserve an exceptional record of evolutionary and biogeochemical events near the Proterozoic/Cambrian boundary. Sedimentologically, the boundary succession can be divided into three sequences representing successive episodes of late transgressive to early highstand deposition; four parasequences are recognized in the sequence corresponding lithostratigraphically to the Manykal Formation. Small shelly fossils are abundant and include many taxa that also occur in standard sections of southeastern Siberia. Despite this coincidence of faunal elements, biostratigraphic correlations between the two regions have been controversial because numerous species that first appear at or immediately above the basal Tommotian boundary in southeastern sections have first appearances scattered through more than thirty metres of section in the western Anabar. Carbon- and Sr-isotopic data on petrographically and geochemically screened samples collected at one- to two-metre intervals in a section along the Kotuikan River, favour correlation of the Staraya Reckha Formation and most of the overlying Manykai Formation with sub-Tommotian carbonates in southeastern Siberia. In contrast, isotopic data suggest that the uppermost Manykai Formation and the basal 26 m of the unconformably overlying Medvezhya Formation may have no equivalent in the southeast; they appear to provide a sedimentary and palaeontological record of an evolutionarily significant time interval represented in southeastern Siberia only by the sub-Tommotian unconformity. Correlations with radiometrically dated horizons in the Olenek and Kharaulakh regions of northern Siberia suggest that this interval lasted approximately three to six million years, during which essentially all 'basal Tommotian' small shelly fossils evolved.