Reconciling customary and constitutional law: managing marine resources in Palau, Micronesia

As in much of Oceania, Palauan society of the pre-European contact era practiced sophisticated systems of tenure and management that extended to the fish and other resources of the surrounding coral reefs and lagoons. With its colonial experiences, the opening up of economic and social links with the outside world, and the introduction of highly efficient fishing technologies, Palau’s customary marine resource management systems have eroded.Like most Pacific Island countries, the Republic of Palau only recently gained independence from a western administrating nation. Its constitution, being based on western models, emphasizes democratic and egalitarian ideals. At the same time, it seeks to preserve and revitalize many aspects of customary Palauan society, particularly its institutions and processes of chiefly authority. These customs, however, are based on titled elitism and other principles contrary to those emphasized in the constitution. Through a combination of a series of court decisions that illustrate the incompatibility of the two bodies of law and a lack of any legislative initiative that could reconcile them, the exercise of purely customary authority has been relegated to matters of only minor importance. Thus, as in many Pacific Island nations, independence has contributed to the erosion of traditional tenure and management systems.Some recent village-level initiatives, however, may portend an important shift back toward decentralized, if not exactly traditional, control over the use of Palau’s inshore resources. The constitution’s critical provision that inshore resources are owned by the 16 states has allowed these relatively new village-level political and social units, with their mix of titled and elected leaders, to exert increasing control over inshore resources. They have done so in response to increasing resource scarcity owing to increasing fishing pressure, increasing demand by the booming marine-based tourism sector, and impending resource degradation from physical development. The effectiveness of these emerging local-level management regimes will be determined largely by the degree of support offered by the national government. Little has been forthcoming. The executive branch has been hesitant to support the marine property rights of the states, the judiciary has interpreted the constitution in a manner that has limited the authority of traditional leaders, and the legislature has not enacted laws that might guide the other two branches in interpreting and implementing the constitution with regard to either customary law or state ownership of marine resources.     

Isolated olivines in the Yamato 82042 CM2 chondrite: The tracing of major condensation events in the solar nebula

Abstract— Yamato 82042 is an unusual CM2 chondrite consisting mainly of phyllosilicates, a few olivines and carbonates, very minor sulphides and trace metal. Olivine occurs: (1) as isolated grains dispersed in the phyllosilicate matrix, (2) as constituents of mineral aggregates or accretionary fragments associated with abundant phyllosilicates and minor sulphides, and (3) as objects which resemble barred olivine chondrules also associated with phyllosilicates. Olivine, from all occurrences, ranges in composition from 0.26 to 22.6 weight % FeO, but generally contains less than 1.25 wt.% FeO. Minor element contents, particularly Ca, Al, and Cr, are relatively high and are generally correlated, as reported for olivines in other carbonaceous chondrites. However, we report here uncorrected trends for the same minor elements which occur in distinct areas (volumes) within the same olivines. These compositional trends may be due to condensation of olivine from a vapor of non-solar composition and partial mobilization of Ca during later annealing. If this is the case, the data may be used to trace changes in the Ca/Al ratio of the parent medium during the formation of these olivines, provided that it is possible to distinguish the effects of any post-formation annealing which could have redistributed the minor elements. Some isolated olivines show distinctive minor element zoning which severely limits the possibility of any post-formation redistribution of these elements. Accordingly, these isolated olivines indeed retain evidence of early condensation processes in the solar nebula, though non-classic conditions are implied for their formation.     

The stabilizing effect of viscosity on magnetic wind flows from accretion discs

Magnetically channelled winds are believed to be a feature of most accretion discs. It has been shown that such flows can remove significant amounts of angular momentum from the disc and make a major contribution to driving the inflow. For a suitable range of poloidal magnetic field bending, only a small fraction of the disc mass is lost in the wind flow, so most material reaches the inner region of the disc. However, discs driven purely by such a process are prone to a field-bending instability which can lead to runaway mass loss. It is shown here that a small amount of disc viscosity can quench such an instability and allow steady disc-wind models to be constructed. The effects of perturbations to the coupling between the radial and vertical structures are allowed for, with the thermal balance having particular relevance. Runaway increases in field bending are prevented by increases in the disc temperature and magnetic diffusivity mainly caused by viscous dissipation.     

Effect of simultaneous state–parameter estimation and forcing uncertainties on root-zone soil moisture for dynamic vegetation using EnKF

In this study, an EnKF-based assimilation algorithm was implemented to estimate root-zone soil moisture (RZSM) using the coupled LSP–DSSAT model during a growing season of corn. Experiments using both synthetic and field observations were conducted to understand effects of simultaneous state–parameter estimation, spatial and temporal update frequency, and forcing uncertainties on RZSM estimates. Estimating the state–parameters simultaneously with every 3-day assimilation of volumetric soil moisture (VSM) observations at 5 depths lowered the average standard deviation (ASD) and the root mean square error (RMSE) for RZSM by approximately 1.77% VSM (78%) and 2.18% VSM (93%), respectively, compared to the open-loop ASD where as estimating only states lowered the ASD by approximately 1.26% VSM (56%) and the RMSE by 1.66% VSM (71%). The synthetic case obtained RZSM estimates closer to the observations than the MicroWEX-2 case, particularly after precipitation/irrigation events. The differences in EnKF performance between MicroWEX-2 and synthetic observations may indicate other sources of errors in addition to those in parameters and forcings, such as errors in model biophysics.     

Scapolite stoichiometry

Over the range Ca/(Ca + Na) from zero to 0.75, scapolites vary linearly between Na₄Al₃Si₉O₂₄Cl and NaCa₃Al₅Si₇O₂₄CO₃, by means of a coupled replacement of Na₃Si₂Cl by Ca₃Al₂CO₃. Ca includes minor Sr, Na includes K, and CO₃ may include substantial SO₄. From Ca/(Ca + Na) = 0.75 to 1.00, variation is between NaCa₃Al₅Si₇O₂₄CO₃ and Ca₄Al₆Si₆O₂₄CO₃, by means of a coupled replacement of NaSi by CaAl, as in plagioclase. Anion substitution is complete at the 0.75 point. Recalculation of scapolite analyses on the basis of Al + Si atoms = 12.0, as suggested by computed unit cell contents, offers a reasonable basis for normalization of atomic proportions. On this basis, Ca + Sr + Na + K + Fe atoms total very close to 4.0. New limits on the minor element content of scapolite are proposed. In view of the inflection at 0.75, subdivision of the scapolites at Ca/(Ca + Na) ratios of 0.25, 0.5, and 0.75 seems more logical than the 0.2, 0.5, and 0.8 limits used hitherto for marialite, dipyre, mizzonite, and meionite.     

Changing methods of location planning for retail companies

Academic research has made an enormous contribution to applied problem solving in the areas of retail planning and marketing. The aim of this paper is to review the changing methodologies used in store location research beginning with the work on simple checklist and analogue techniques in the 1960s. The arrival of geographical information systems (GIS) heralded the start of a second phase of work which eventually saw GIS established in many retail organisations. However, the main argument of this paper is the need to consider more sophisticated modelling procedures if the different types of corporate growth strategy are to be adequately investigated. This third phase of research development focuses on these models and illustrates the business potential of such approaches through a number of case studies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Bulk finite tectonic strain estimates from the deformation of neptunian dykes

Large sedimentary dykes, which penetrate down through their host sediments for several metres, are described from the Late Precambrian Dalradian sediments of Islay in the southwest Scottish Highlands. The sediments and their neptunian dykes have suffered a single penetrative deformation which produced a slaty cleavage during the evolution of the Islay nappe. Ratios of the three principal finite strains are calculated for the bulk or large-scale, homogeneous deformation of the sediments and their neptunian dykes using the method of Borradaile and Johnson (1973) and a new, more general method. Since the neptunian dykes result from the infilling of fractures in already consolidated sediments, subsequent considerable volume changes are unlikely to have occurred. Accepting constant volume post-diagenetic deformation the bulk tectonic strain is shown to have, in round figures: 70% shortening normal to slaty cleavage and extensions of 50% and 120% within the cleavage. The deformation accompanying the slaty cleavage lies within the field of true flattening.