College students’ consumption, contribution, and risk awareness related to online mapping services and social media outlets: does geography and GIS knowledge matter?

Location-enabled online tools and/or services (i.e. Google Earth/Maps, Flickr, Facebook check-ins, etc.) have been widely used for distributing and processing geospatial-related data. They attract diverse users to consume and contribute geographic information (GI) in many different forms. This study examines college students’ consumption and contribution of GI through these tools and/or services as well as their perception of risk and privacy. It evaluates the impact of Geographic information systems (GIS) and geography knowledge on the related behavior and perception. Through conducting a survey, it was found that college students’ consumption frequency of GI through the investigated tools and services is positively related to their knowledge in GIS and geography, but their GI contribution is not related. GIS knowledge was found to help raise students’ awareness level of risk. However, this relationship does not translate into students’ concern about potential privacy disclosure or their willingness to share personal location information through using location-enabled online tools and/or services. Discussions on the gap between students’ consumption and contribution of GI through the tools and/or services are shared in the paper as well as possible explanations on the disconnection between their risk awareness, privacy concern, and willingness to share personal information. Future research directions are discussed.     

Cryptic diversity and phylogeography of the island‐associated barnacle Chthamalus moro in Asia

Pleistocene glaciations were among the important historic events that shaped the population structures of marine organisms. Genetic studies of different marine fauna and flora have demonstrated the effect of Pleistocene glaciations on taxa that reside in marginal seas. However, how marine island species responded to Pleistocene glaciations remains relatively unstudied, especially in Asia. Genetic analyses based on the island‐associated barnacle Chthamalus moro collected from 14 sites in Asia reveal that C. moro comprises three distinct lineages, with COI divergence ranging from 3.9 to 8.3%. Population genetic analyses on respective lineages reveal signs of demographic expansion within the Pleistocene epoch at different times. The Ogasawara lineage, which has a more oceanic distribution, expanded the earliest, followed by the population expansion of the Ryukyu and Southern lineages that inhabit islands closer to the continent. The data suggest that the inhabitants of outer islands may have been less affected by Pleistocene glaciations than those that reside closer to the continent, as the former were able to maintain a large, stable, effective population size throughout the late Pleistocene.     

Marine radar interrogator-transponder

The use of ship's radar for collision avoidance presents a fundamental problem in threat detection and identification since all vessel radar returns ("paints") look alike. As a result, when a ship master caught in a fog is trying to use his radio-telephone to work out a maneuvering plan with another vessel, it is difficult for him to identify which blip on the planar position indicator PPI is the source of the voice on the radio. One solution now receiving worldwide attention is to fit all vessels with active transponders. The marine radar interrogator-transponder (MRIT) is an advanced form of transponder which includes an integral interrogator and works in coordination with the ship radar to provide not only target identity and "clutter-free" target paints, but also maneuvering information and such data as target's course, speed, draft, safe or dangerous cargo, etc. Mounted on a fixed navigation aid, the transponder portion alone can also function as a racon (radar beacon). This paper describes the operational parameter and reviews the system bench tests and sea trials.     

Hydrocarbons and fatty acids in the Evergreen Shale,Surat Basin,Queensland, Australia

Alkane hydrocarbon and n-fatty acid distributions have been examined in cores taken over a 550 ft thickness through the lower Jurassic, largely non-marine Evergreen Shale, Surat Basin, Queensland, Australia. No depth trends in compound abundances or carbon preference indices are discernible. There is no evidence for significant generation of n-alkanes from kerogen nor for cracking of long-chain n-alkanes. The present distribution patterns of the biochemicals probably reflect closely the nature of the original organic matter. The general strong dominance of long-chain (C₂₀₊) n-alkanes; the lack of evidence for diagenetic change; and the absence of correlation between abundances of n-alkanes and n-fatty acids (among both the longer- and shorter-chain compounds), lead to the conclusion that at least the long-chain n-alkanes were largely deposited as such in the sediment, having originated in land-plant material, remains of which are abundant in the samples. In the upper 170 ft. (possibly marine), n-alkanes with chain lengths below C₂₀ become important, suggesting greater significance of aquatic life as a source of organic matter at the time of deposition, a conclusion which is in general accord with the geological history of the basin, although this history is not well known.     

Remote Sensing Data Acquisition,Platforms and Sensor Requirements

Although data available from various earth observation systems have been routinely used in many resource applications, however there have been gaps, and data needs of applications at different levels of details have not been met. There is a growing demand for availability of data at higher repetivity, at higher spatial resolution, in more and narrower spectral bands etc. Some of the thrust areas of applications particularly in the Indian context are;

1. Management of natural resources to ensure sustainable increase in agricultural production,
2. Study the state of the environment, its monitoring and assessment of the impact of. various development actions on the environment,
3. Updating and generation of large scale topographical maps.
4. Exploration/exploitation of marine and mineral resources and
5. Operational meteorology and studying various land and oceanic processes to understand/predict global climate changes.

Each of these thrust area of application has many components, related to basic resource areas such as agriculture, forestry, water resources, minerals, marine resources etc. and the field of cartography. Observational requirements for major applications have been summarized as under. Monitoring vegetation health from space remains the most important observational parameter with applications, in agriculture, forestry, environment, hydrology etc. Vegetation extent, quantity and temporal changes are the three main requirements which are not fully realized with RS data available. Vegetation productivity, forest biomass, canopy moisture status, canopy biogeochemistry are some examples. Crop production forecasting is an important application area. Remotely sensed data has been used for identification of crops and their acreage estimation. Fragmented holdings, large spread in crop calendars and different management practices continue to pose a challenge lo remote sensing. Remotely sensed data at much higher spatial resolution than hitherto available as well as at greater repetivity are required to meet this need. Non-availability of cloud-free data in the kharif season is one of the serious problems in operational use of remote sensing for crop inventory. Synthetic aperture radar data al X & Ku bands is necessary to meet this demand. Nutrient stress/disease detection requires observations in narrow spectral bands. In case of forestry applications, multispectral data at high spatial resolution of the order of 5 to 10 metres is required to make working plans at forest compartment level. Observations from space for deriving tree height are required for volume estimation. Observations in the middle infrared region would greatly enhance capability of satellite remote sensing in forest fire detection. Temporal, spatial and spectral observational requirements in various applications on vegetation viewing are diverse, as they address processes at different spatial and time scales. Hence, it would be worthwhile to address this issue in three broad categories. a) Full coverage, moderate spatial resolution with high repetivity (drought, large scale deforestation, forest phenology....). b) Full coverage, moderate to high spatial resolution and high repetivity (crop forecasting, vegetation productivity). c) Selected viewing at high spatial resolution, moderate to high repetivity and with new dimensions to imaging (narrow spectral bands, different viewing angles). A host of agrometeorological parameters are needed to be measured from space for their effective use in development of yield models. Estimation of root-zone soil moisture is an important area requiring radar measurements from space. Surface meteorological observations from space at the desired spatial and temporal distributions has not developed because of heavy demands placed on the sensor as well as analytical operational models. Agrometeorology not only provides quantitative inputs to other applications such as crop forecasting, hydrological models but also could be used for farmer advisory services by local bodies. Mineral exploration requires information on geological structures, geomorphology and lithology. Surface manifestation over localized regions requires large scale mapping while the lithology can be deciphered from specific narrow bands in visible. NIR, MIR and TIR regions. Sensors identified for mapping/cartography in conjunction with imaging spectrometer would seem to cover requirements of this application. Narrow spectral bands in the short regions which provide diagnostics of relevant geological phenomenon are necessary for mineral exploration. Thermal inertia measurements help in better discrimination of different rock units. Measurements from synthetic aperture data which would provide information on geological structures and geomorphology are necessary for mineral exploration. The applications related to marine environment fall in three major areas: (i) Ocean colour and productivity, biological resources; (ii) Land-ocean interface, this includes coastal landforms, bathymetry, littoral transport processes, etc. and; (iii) Physical oceanography, sea surface temperature, winds, wave spectra, energy and mass exchange between atmosphere and ocean. Measurement of chlorophyll concentration accurately on daily basis, sea surface temperature with an accuracy of 0.5 °K. and information on current patterns arc required for developing better fishery forecast models. Improved spatial resolution data are desirable for studying sediment and other coastal processes. Cartography is another important application area. The major problems encountered in relation to topographic map updation are location and geometric accuracy and information content. Two most important requirements for such an application are high spatial resolution data of 1 to 2 metre and stereo capability to provide vertical resolution of 1 metre. This requirement places stringent demands on the sensor specifications, geometric processing, platform stability and automated digital cartography. The requirements for the future earth observation systems based on different application needs can be summarized as follows:

1. Moderate spatial resolution (l50-300m), high repetivity (2 Days), minimum set of spectral bands (VIS, NIR, MIR. TIR) full coverage.
2. Moderate to high spatial resolution (20-40m), high repetivity (4-6 Days), spectral bands (VIS, MR, MIR, TIR) full coverage.
3. High spatial resolution (5-10m) muitispectral data with provision for selecting specific narrow bands (VIS, N1R. MIR), viewing from different angles.
4. Synthetic aperture radar operating in at least two frequencies (C, X, Ku), two incidence angles/polarizations, moderate to high spatial resolution (20-40m), high repetivity (4-6 Days).
5. Very high spatial resolution (1-2m) data in panchromatic band to provide terrain details at cadastral level (1:10,000).
6. Stereo capability (1-2m height resolution) to help planning/execution of development plans.
7. Moderate resolution sensor operating in VIS, NIR, MIR on a geostationary platform for observations at different sun angles necessary for the development of canopy reflectance inversion models.
8. Diurnal (at least two i.e. pre-dawn and noon) temperature measurements of the earth surface.
9. Ocean colour monitor with daily coverage.
10. Multi-frequency microwave radiometer, scatterometer. altimeter, atmospheric sounder, etc.

     

Rare earth elements in the phosphatic-enriched sediment of the Peru shelf

Apatite-enriched materials from the Peru shelf have been analyzed for their major oxide and rare earth element (REE) concentrations. The samples consist of (1) the fine fraction of sediment, mostly clay material, (2) phosphatic pellets and fish debris, which are dispersed throughout the fine-grained sediment, (3) tabular-shaped phosphatic crusts, which occur within the uppermost few centimeters of sediment, and (4) phosphatic nodules, which occur on the seafloor. The bulk REE concentrations of the concretions suggest that these elements are partitioned between the enclosed detrital material and the apatite fraction. Analysis of the fine-grained sediment with which the samples are associated suggested that this detrital fraction in the concretions should have shale REE values; the analysis of the fish debris suggested that the apatite fraction might have seawater values. The seawater contribution of REE's is negligible in the nodules and crust, in which the apatite occurs as a fine-grained interstitial cement. That is, the concentration of REE's and the REE patterns are predominantly a function of the amount of enclosed fine-grained sediment. By contrast, the REE pattern of the pelletal apatite suggests a seawater source and the absolute REE concentrations are relatively high. The REE/P₂O₅ ratios of the apatite fraction of these samples thus vary from approximately zero (in the case of the crust and nodules) to as much as approximately 1.2 × 10⁻³ (in the case of the pellets). The range of this ratio suggests that rather subtle variations in the depositional environment might cause a significant variation in the REE content of this authigenic fraction of the sediment.

Pelletal glauconite was also recovered from one sediment core. Its REE concentrations closely resemble those of the fish debris.     

Competition between iron- and carbon-based colloidal carriers for trace metals in a freshwater assessed using flow field-flow fractionation coupled to ICPMS

Flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF) coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS) has been used to determine the chemical composition of colloids from a freshwater sample as a function of size. Organic carbon and iron are the most abundant colloidal components, and are considered as the major carrier phases for other chemical elements present. The size distribution of organic carbon colloids shows a single peak with an estimated hydrodynamic diameter between 1 and 1.5 nm, while the iron colloids show a more complex distribution centred at larger colloid sizes with estimated hydrodynamic diameters up to 5 nm. The association of 32 trace elements with these two carrier colloids has been quantified by deconvolution analysis, and the resulting distributions are shown to be chemically consistent. The observed distributions are also shown to be broadly consistent with predictions from speciation modelling for the subset of 8 elements for which appropriate stability constants are available.     

Chandra Detection of Massive Black Holes in Galactic Cooling Flows

Anticipating forthcoming Chandra X-ray observations, we describe the continuation of interstellar cooling flows deep into the cores of elliptical galaxies. Interstellar gas heated to T>1 keV in the potential of massive black holes (r less, similar50 pc) should be visible unless thermal heating is diluted by nonthermal pressure. Since our flows are subsonic near the massive black holes, distributed cooling continues within approximately 300 pc. Dark, low-mass stars formed in this region may be responsible for some of the mass attributed to central black holes.     

Structural characterization of vitrinite-rich and inertinite-rich Permian-aged South African bituminous coals

Two South African coals of the same rank and age, but different in maceral composition were subjected to extensive structural analyses. Inertinite-rich Highveld coal (dominated by semifusinite) and vitrinite-rich Waterberg coal were studied to determine structural differences and similarities. The two coals had similar carbon content ( 84%, dmmf) and vitrinite reflectance (mean-maximum 0.71% for vitrinite-rich vs. 0.75% for inertinite-rich), but differed in hydrogen content (6.23% for vitrinite-rich and 4.53% for inertinite-rich). The inertinite-rich coal was more aromatic (86% for inertinite-rich and 76% for vitrinite-rich) and more polycondensed (indicated by a higher bridgehead carbon content). The inertinite-rich coal was structurally more ordered, with a higher degree of crystalline stacking. Both coals had similar average aromatic cluster sizes (16 carbons for vitrinite-rich and 18 carbons for inertinite-rich) and number of cluster attachments (6 attachments for vitrinite-rich and 5 attachments for inertinite-rich). Mass spectrometry showed that both coals consist of similar molecular weight distributions; ranging to approximately 1700 m/z with a maximum abundance of  450 m/z for the vitrinite-rich coal and  550 m/z for the inertinite-rich coal. Compared to the Argonne Premium coals the South African vitrinite-rich Waterberg coal was comparable to the coals in the high-volatile bituminous range and inertinite-rich Highveld was closer to the medium- to low-volatile bituminous range. Both coals were surprisingly similar in bulk characterization, although inertinite-rich Highveld coal was structurally more ordered, hydrogen deficient, and more aromatic.     

Water Content Ratio: An Effective Substitute for Liquidity Index for Prediction of Shear Strength of Clays

Undrained shear strength of saturated clays is a very important property in geo-technical engineering practice. Since the collection of undisturbed samples and testing the same is difficult task and time consuming process, any attempt to obtain correlations between shear strength and consistency limits would be highly desirable. Several attempts have been made in the past to correlate shear strength with Liquidity index. The computation of Liquidity index involves the value of plastic limit determined by Casagrande thread rolling method; but the determination of the same is relatively a difficult task in geotechnical engineering practice especially so in less plastic soils. It has been shown that a good linear correlation exists between log of shear strength and water content ratio (ratio of water content to liquid limit). With the help of numerous experimental results, it could be established that water content ratio could replace the well-known parameter liquidity index to predict shear strength. This enables to eliminate the determination of the plastic limit. The relation between water content ratio and liquidity index depends on the liquid limit to plastic limit ratio, irrespective of the geological origin of the soil.