The 3-D lattice theory of Flower Constellations

Flower Constellations (FCs) have been extensively studied for use in optimal constellation design. The Harmonic FCs (HFCs) subset, representing the symmetric configurations, have recently been reformulated into 2-D Lattice Flower Constellations (2D-LFCs), encompassing the complete set of HFCs. Elliptic orbits are generally avoided due to the deleterious effects of Earth’s oblateness on the constellation, but here we present a novel concept for avoiding this problem and enabling more effective global coverage utilizing elliptic orbits. This new 3D Lattice Flower Constellations (3D-LFCs) framework generalizes the 2D-LFCs, Walker constellations, elliptical Walker constellations, and many of Draim’s global coverage constellations. Previous studies have shown FCs can provide improved performance in global navigation over existing Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). We found a 3D-LFC design that improved the average positioning accuracy by 3.5 % while reducing launch $\varDelta v$ Δ v requirements when compared to the existing Galileo GNSS constellation.     

Use of General Purpose Graphics Processing Units with MODFLOW

To evaluate the use of general‐purpose graphics processing units (GPGPUs) to improve the performance of MODFLOW, an unstructured preconditioned conjugate gradient (UPCG) solver has been developed. The UPCG solver uses a compressed sparse row storage scheme and includes Jacobi, zero fill‐in incomplete, and modified‐incomplete lower‐upper (LU) factorization, and generalized least‐squares polynomial preconditioners. The UPCG solver also includes options for sequential and parallel solution on the central processing unit (CPU) using OpenMP. For simulations utilizing the GPGPU, all basic linear algebra operations are performed on the GPGPU; memory copies between the central processing unit CPU and GPCPU occur prior to the first iteration of the UPCG solver and after satisfying head and flow criteria or exceeding a maximum number of iterations. The efficiency of the UPCG solver for GPGPU and CPU solutions is benchmarked using simulations of a synthetic, heterogeneous unconfined aquifer with tens of thousands to millions of active grid cells. Testing indicates GPGPU speedups on the order of 2 to 8, relative to the standard MODFLOW preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG) solver, can be achieved when (1) memory copies between the CPU and GPGPU are optimized, (2) the percentage of time performing memory copies between the CPU and GPGPU is small relative to the calculation time, (3) high‐performance GPGPU cards are utilized, and (4) CPU‐GPGPU combinations are used to execute sequential operations that are difficult to parallelize. Furthermore, UPCG solver testing indicates GPGPU speedups exceed parallel CPU speedups achieved using OpenMP on multicore CPUs for preconditioners that can be easily parallelized.     

The Slums of Aspen: Immigrants vs. the Environment in America's Eden. Lisa Sun-Hee Park and David Naguib Pellow

In the past decade, Beijing has experienced dramatic spatial restructuring. In this paper, we test whether the conventional monocentric model of urban spatial structure can explain recent developments in Beijing’s land market. Using official land transaction data from 2008 through 2012, we find that (1) for commercial, mixed-use, and residential land parcels, both land prices and development intensities do not decline with distance from the urban center; (2) for industrial land parcels, land prices increase with distance from the urban center. These insignificant and positive land-price gradients defy the predictions of the monocentric model; such results are explained by examining Beijing’s evolution from a monocentric to a polycentric spatial configuration, which has been driven by various urban planning efforts and institutional reforms. Our analysis of post-Olympic Beijing land market dynamics leads to a fresh understanding of the city’s emerging polycentric metropolitan structure.     

Assessing housing growth when census boundaries change

The US Census provides the primary source of spatially explicit social data, but changing block boundaries complicate analyses of housing growth over time. We compared procedures for reconciling housing density data between 1990 and 2000 census block boundaries in order to assess the sensitivity of analytical methods to estimates of housing growth in Oregon. Estimates of housing growth varied substantially and were sensitive to the method of interpolation. With no processing and areal‐weighted interpolation, more than 35% of the landscape changed; 75–80% of this change was due to decline in housing density. This decline was implausible, however, because housing structures generally persist over time. Based on aggregated boundaries, 11% of the landscape changed, but only 4% experienced a decline in housing density. Nevertheless, the housing density change map was almost twice as coarse spatially as the 2000 housing density data. We also applied a dasymetric approach to redistribute 1990 housing data into 2000 census boundaries under the assumption that the distribution of housing in 2000 reflected the same distribution as in 1990. The dasymetric approach resulted in conservative change estimates at a fine resolution. All methods involved some type of trade‐off (e.g. analytical difficulty, data resolution, magnitude or bias in direction of change). However, our dasymetric procedure is a novel approach for assessing housing growth over changing census boundaries that may be particularly useful because it accounts for the uniquely persistent nature of housing over time.     

Qualitative GIS and the visualization of narrative activity space data

Qualitative activity space data, i.e. qualitative data associated with the routine locations and activities of individuals, are recognized as increasingly useful by researchers in the social and health sciences for investigating the influence of environment on human behavior. However, there has been little research on techniques for exploring qualitative activity space data. This research illustrates the theoretical principles of combining qualitative and quantitative data and methodologies within the context of geographic information systems (GIS), using visualization as the means of inquiry. Through the use of a prototype implementation of a visualization system for qualitative activity space data and its application in a case study of urban youth we show how these theoretical methodological principles are realized in applied research. The visualization system uses a variety of visual variables to simultaneously depict multiple qualitative and quantitative attributes of individuals' activity spaces. The visualization is applied to explore the activity spaces of a sample of urban youth participating in a study on the geographic and social contexts of adolescent substance use. Examples demonstrate how the visualization can be used to explore individual activity spaces to generate hypotheses, investigate statistical outliers, and explore activity space patterns among subject subgroups.     

The effects of non-metabolizing bacterial cells on the precipitation of U, Pb and Ca phosphates

In this study, we test the potential for passive cell wall biomineralization by determining the effects of non-metabolizing bacteria on the precipitation of uranyl, lead, and calcium phosphates from a range of over-saturated conditions. Experiments were performed using Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Gram-negative Shewanella oneidensis MR-1. After equilibration, the aqueous phases were sampled and the remaining metal and P concentrations were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES); the solid phases were collected and analyzed using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS).At the lower degrees of over-saturation studied, bacterial cells exerted no discernable effect on the mode of precipitation of the metal phosphates, with homogeneous precipitation occurring exclusively. However, at higher saturation states in the U system, we observed heterogeneous mineralization and extensive nucleation of hydrogen uranyl phosphate (HUP) mineralization throughout the fabric of the bacterial cell walls. This mineral nucleation effect was observed in both B. subtilis and S. oneidensis cells. In both cases, the biogenic mineral precipitates formed under the higher saturation state conditions were significantly smaller than those that formed in the abiotic controls.The cell wall nucleation effects that occurred in some of the U systems were not observed under any of the saturation state conditions studied in the Pb or Ca systems. The presence of B. subtilis significantly decreased the extent of precipitation in the U system, but had little effect in the Pb and Ca systems. At least part of this effect is due to higher solubility of the nanoscale HUP precipitate relative to macroscopic HUP. This study documents several effects of non-metabolizing bacterial cells on the nature and extent of metal phosphate precipitation. Each of these effects likely contributes to higher metal mobilities in geologic media, but the effects are not universal, and occur only with some elements and only under a subset of the conditions studied.     

The settling dynamics of flocculating mud and sand mixtures: part 2—numerical modelling

Estuarine and coastal sediment transport is characterised by the transport of both sand-sized particles (of diameter greater than 63?μm) and muddy fine-grained sediments (silt, diameter less than 63?μm; clay, diameter less than 2?μm). These fractions are traditionally considered as non-cohesive and cohesive, respectively, because of the negligible physico-chemical attraction that occurs between sand grains. However, the flocculation of sediment particles is not only caused by physico-chemical attraction. Cohesivity of sediment is also caused by biology, in particular the sticky extra-cellular polymeric substances secreted by diatoms, and the effect of biology in binding sediment particles can be much larger than that of physico-chemical attraction. As demonstrated by Manning (2008) and further expanded in part 1 of this paper (Manning et al., submitted), the greater binding effect of biology allows sand particles to flocculate with mud. In many estuaries, both the sand and fine sediment fractions are transported in significant quantities. Many of the more common sediment transport modelling suites now have the capability to combine mud and sand transport. However, in all of these modelling approaches, the modelling of mixed sediment transport has still essentially separated the modelling of sand and mud fractions assuming that these different fractions do not interact except at the bed. However, the use of in situ video techniques has greatly enhanced the accuracy and reliability of settling velocity measurements and has led to a re-appraisal of this widely held assumption. Measurements of settling velocity in mixed sands presented by Manning et al. (2009) have shown strong evidence for the flocculation of mixed sediments, whilst the greater understanding of the role of biology in flocculation has identified mechanisms by which this mud-sand flocculation can occur. In the first part of this paper (Manning et al., submitted), the development of an empirical flocculation model is described which represents the interaction between sand and mud particles in the flocculation process. Measurements of the settling velocity of varying mud-sand mixtures are described, and empirical algorithms governing the variation of settling velocity with turbulence, suspended sediment concentration and mud-sand content are derived. The second part of this paper continues the theme of examination of the effects of mud-sand interaction on flocculation. A 1DV mixed transport model is developed and used to reproduce the vertical transport of mixed sediment fractions. The 1DV model is used to reproduce the measured settling velocities in the laboratory experiments described in the part 1 paper and also to reproduce measurements of concentration of mixed sediments in the Outer Thames. In both modelling exercises, the model is run using the algorithms developed in part 1 and repeated using an assumption of no interaction between mud and sand in the flocculation process. The results of the modelling show a significant improvement in the ability of the 1DV to reproduce the observed sediment behaviour when the empirical equations are used. This represents further strong evidence of the interaction between sand and mud in the flocculation process.     

Avalanche fatalities in the western United States: a comparison of three databases

Reported avalanche fatalities in the United States increased markedly through the latter half of the twentieth century, a result of the increasing popularity of winter sports. Despite this increase, the literature concerning US avalanche fatalities is sparse. This paper presents a comparison of three US databases containing avalanche fatality information: Storm Data, the West Wide Avalanche Network (WWAN) dataset, and the National Avalanche Database (NAD). The frequency of avalanche fatalities, their temporal trends, spatial distributions, and the demographic characteristics of the victims were analyzed in each database for the years 1998–2009 for the US mountainous west. The data were then pooled to arrive at an estimate of avalanche fatality frequency in the United States for the study period. While the results indicate a considerable amount of overlap between the datasets, Storm Data reports fewer avalanche fatalities than both the WWAN and NAD datasets. All three datasets report a maximum of fatalities in January and display three spatial maxima: the Rocky Mountains of west-central Colorado, the intermountain region from central Utah through Idaho to west-central Montana, and the northern Cascade Ranges of Washington; however, a large void appears in the Storm Data records in the vicinity of the Montana maximum. These maxima result from a juxtaposition of avalanche hazard in these mountainous environments with a high concentration of winter sports activities.     

Radiation Fog. Part II: Large-Eddy Simulations in Very Stable Conditions

Despite the long interest in understanding fog processes and improving fog parametrization, numerical modelling of fog remains an important challenge in short-term forecasts, due to the diversity and scales of the mechanisms involved with fog parametrization. In this study, we focus on the key processes that govern performance in fog modelling in very stable conditions. Large-eddy simulations at very high resolution are tested against the observations from Cardington, UK, presented in Part I of this study. The radiation fog forms in statically stable conditions. Five hours after its formation, the fog deepens rapidly and a significant cooling associated with the formation of positive curvature can be seen in the vertical profiles of potential temperature around 50 m. After roughly 8 h of development, a mixed layer has formed at the base of the fog, driven by surface instability. We show that the model captures well the change in static stability, but fails at capturing correctly the mechanisms associated with the deepening of the fog layer. Different possible mechanisms are discussed and tested with the model, such as additional drainage flow and cold air advection, which might result from local heterogeneity. The sensitivity of these results to different microphysical parametrizations is also briefly addressed.     

Sponge heterotrophic capacity and bacterial community structure in high‐ and low‐microbial abundance sponges

The ecological and evolutionary forces that shape interactions between marine sponges and their symbiotic microbiota remain poorly understood. Considerable work has been done to characterize the sponge microbiome, and this research has shown that there are two distinct types of sponges: those with high microbial abundances (HMA) and those with low microbial abundances (LMA). There is no clear evolutionary driver for this distinction, and we have only a limited understanding of how HMA or LMA status affects host phenotypes (e.g. feeding behavior, capacity for nutrient cycling). We had two primary goals with the present study. First, we used a variety of microscopic techniques to compare aspects of host biology (e.g. choanocyte chamber morphology and density) in the context of symbiont status. Secondly, we used molecular approaches to uncover components of ecological structure of bacterial communities in HMA versus LMA sponges (e.g. species richness, evenness). We found that choanocyte chamber density is greater in LMA sponges than in HMA sponges. We also found distinct patterns of organization for bacterial communities in HMA and LMA sponges, although environmental factors, to a lesser degree, also influence community structure in the Floridian sponges we examined. These results suggest that the large bacterial communities found in HMA sponges may allow the host to decrease their heterotrophy versus that of LMA sponges with minimal bacterial communities.