Social Attitudes Predict Biases in Geographic Knowledge*

Three principal components were found to underlie Texas university students' experiences with and attitudes toward Canada, the United States, and Mexico: diversity orientation, Mexican experiences, and Canadian experiences. Diversity orientation included positive attitudes toward Hispanics, Canadians, minorities, interethnic friendships, and dating and was negatively correlated with natio‐centrism (e.g., believing U.S. citizens receive the world's best education). Diversity orientation and natio‐centrism were not related to experiences with Mexico or Canada. Students estimated the locations of Canadian cities too far north and Mexican cities too far south. Biased estimates for Mexican cities were negatively correlated with diversity orientation, not experience with Mexico.     

Evaluation of Hydrologically Relevant PCM Climate Variables and Large-Scale Variability over the Continental U.S.

The ability of the Parallel Climate Model (PCM) to reproduce the mean and variability of hydrologically relevant climate variables was evaluated by comparing PCM historical climate runs with observations over temporal scales from sub-daily to annual. The domain was the continental U.S, and the model spatial resolution was T42 (about 2.8 degrees latitude by longitude). The climate variables evaluated include precipitation, surface air temperature, net surface solar radiation, soil moisture, and snow water equivalent. The results show that PCM has a winter dry bias in the Pacific Northwest and a summer wet bias in the central plains. The diurnal precipitation variation in summer is much stronger than observed, with an afternoon maximum in summer precipitation over much of the U.S. interior, in contrast with an observed nocturnal maximum in parts of the interior. PCM has a cold bias in annual mean temperature over most of the U.S., with deviations as large as ?8 K. The PCM daily temperature range is lower than observed, especiallyin the central U.S. PCM generally overestimates the net solar radiation over most of the U.S, although the diurnal cycle is simulated well in spring, summer and winter. In autumn PCM has a pronounced noontime peak in solar radiation that differs by 5–10% from observations. PCM'ssimulated soil moisture is less variable than that of a sophisticated land-surface hydrology model, especially in the interior of the country. PCM simulates the wetter conditions over the southeastern U.S. and California during warm (El Niño) events, but shifts the drier conditions in the PacificNorthwest northward and underestimates their magnitude. The temperature response to the North Pacific Oscillation is generally captured by PCM, but the amplitude of this response is overestimated by a factor of about two.     

Effects of nitrate and phosphate on growth and C2 toxin productivity of Alexandrium tamarense CI01 in culture

Growth and C2 toxin productivity of a marine dinoflagellate, Alexandrium tamarense CI01 (ATCI01) which predominantly produces C2 toxin, were studied in unialgal batch cultures to optimize the concentrations of nitrate and phosphate for a maximal toxin yield. A range of start concentrations of the two major nutrients was determined in which algal growth was proportional to the nutrient concentrations used. The highest concentrations of nitrate and phosphate in this growth-enhancing range were 264 and 20 μM, respectively. In this concentration range, the C2 toxin yield (μg/l) and cellular toxin content (Qt, fmole per cell) reached a maximum at the lowest end of phosphate (5 μM) and the highest end of nitrate (264 μM). Further increase in the supply of nitrate continued to enhance the toxin yield. Our results indicated that the growth and toxin productivity of this algal strain in batch cultures had distinctly different optimal ranges of nitrate and phosphate concentrations. For a maximum toxin yield, a judicious use of phosphate under a nitrate-replete condition is called for.     

Influence of soil aggregation on slope stability in the Oregon Coast Ranges

Two major cohesionless soil series of the central Coast Ranges of Oregon were examined for soil and hydrologic properties. Although derived from different parent material, the Bohannon and Klickitat series exhibited nearly identical values of soil and hydrologic properties. Aggregation in both soils was found to be the most important property, for it influences shear strength and subsurface water movement, prime components of slope stability. The unusually high angle of internal friction of both cohesionless soils was 40° to 41°. The angle of internal friction was affected significantly by the mode of wetting. Subsurface water movement was predominantly by unsaturated flow. The influence of soil aggregation on pore-size distribution and arrangement created conditions where unsaturated flow was an effective means for water dispersal in both soils during most observed storm events. Considering the large area covered by these two soil series, aggregation appears to be an important slope-stability property with regional significance.     

Geology of Santa Fe island: The oldest galapagos volcano

Santa Fe Island was a volcanic center when it emerged 3.9 ± 0.6 m.y. ago. Later upfaulting of a horst along the central axis of the island dominates its present morphology. Santa Fe is made up of evolved transitional lavas that are not related by fractional crystallization alone. Source heterogeneties, differing degrees of melting, or open-system magma chambers may explain the observed trace element variations.Santa Fe, Baltra, and Española make up a geologic subprovince in the central Galapagos: they are older than the other islands, and their lavas are compositionally similar. At the time of their emergence, the three islands were in a tectonic setting similar to that of the young western and central Galapagos Island.     

Chemical variation in metabasites from a proterozoic amphibolite-granulite transition zone,South Norway

The metabasites were originally minor intrusions which are now characterised by wholly metamorphic textures and mineral assemblages diagnostic of an amphibolite-granulite facies transition. Two forms of chemical variation can be distinguished: (1) an igneous-type differentiation, involving tholeiitic iron enrichment accompanied by increases in some incompatible elements, and decreases in the transition trace elements; (2) metamorphic fractionation effects resulting in deficiencies in K, Rb, Sr, Ba, Zr, and enhancement in Na in the highest grade rocks. These distributions closely parallel those in the host acid-intermediate charnockitic gneisses. The data preclude the possibility that the deficiencies were caused by removal of melts from the granulites. The metamorphism closely followed intrusion, and it is unlikely that the fractionations were caused by secondary dehydration of once hydrous assemblages. The preferred model involves intrusion and crystallisation directly under high-grade conditions, possibly with CO₂-rich fluids playing an important role in suppressing the formation of hydrous minerals.     

Upwelled spectral radiance distribution in relation to particulate matter in sea water

Spectral analysis of water color and concurrent measurements of the relative concentration of various particulate and dissolved constituents within a broad range of water types are necessary to quantify ocean color observations and successfully relate them to various biological and physical processes that can be monitored by remote sensing. Some of the results of a Nimbus-G prelaunch cruise in connection with the Coastal Zone Color Scanner (CZCS) experiment, which was carried out in the Gulf of Mexico in October 1977, are presented and discussed. Based upon a small but diverse sample of near-surface measurements, it appears possible to estimate total suspended particulate matter (SPM) to useful accuracies by forming ratios of the spectral radiances measured at wavelengths falling near the centers of certain CZCS bands, viz., 440 nm: 550 nm and 440 nm : 520 nm. Furthermore, the analysis suggests a very high degree of covariation between SPM and phytoplankton pigments except for certain well-defined special cases.Contribution number 401 from NOAA/ERL/PMEL, Seattle, Washington, U.S.A.     

A note on observation decorrelation, variances of residuals, and redundancy numbers

A technique for processing correlated observations suitable for large, sparse, least-squares adjustments is reviewed. Correlated coordinate differences derived from the Global Positioning System are used as illustrative examples. However, the methods examined are suitable for all types of correlated observations. The computation of variances of residuals, redundancy numbers, and marginally detectable errors is considered for sparse systems.     

Searching for the ‘Right’ Legend: The Impact of Legend Position on Legend Decoding in a Cartographic Memory Task

ABSTRACT

Map legends are key elements of thematic maps and cartographic communication. The question of how to style map legends is a topic which has often been addressed by cartographic academics and practitioners. Nevertheless, the question of where to position a map legend has only hardly been discussed. Principles of cognitive sciences allow the assumption that a legend positioned to the right of a map field can be read and decoded faster than a legend on the left side. This study investigates the impact of legend positioning on legend decoding. It involves an experiment based on a recognition memory paradigm and the registration of eye-movements. The results show that, in less time, a legend positioned to the right of the map field (compared to a left legend) can be decoded faster. The same accuracy of a cognitive representation of geographic space can be achieved in spatial memory.