Wheat as food, wheat as industrial substance; comparative geographies of transformation and mobility

Wheat is the world’s second largest crop, supplies 19% of human calories, and is the largest volume crop traded internationally. Its uniquely malleable physical properties make it a valued industrial substance, albeit often an invisible one, as well as a food. This combination of transformation, invisibility and mobility demands new ways of thinking about wheat geographies. In this paper we document and analyse several ‘moments’ in the life of Australian wheat; at the supermarket, in the lives of coeliac sufferers, in laboratories, industrial factories and on the farm. We illustrate diverse patterns of interaction with wheat. The major plane of differentiation is between wheat as food and wheat as industrial substance. The explicit connection of food to the human body tends to fix the identity of wheat, whether as healthy staple of the nation, or harmful poison to coeliacs who must negotiate its presence using the regulatory regime of food labelling. This is no small task given the ubiquity of wheat; our survey of 10,235 supermarket items found it in 29.5% of labelled food items. In contrast, when wheat is physically and chemically disassembled to become an industrial substance, its presence and identity become mutable, hidden and often invisible.     

Kinetics of the Reactions of IO with HO2 and O(3P)

A discharge-flow tube coupled with resonance fluorescence and chemiluminescence detection has been used to investigate the reactions IO + HO₂ products (1) and IO + O(³P) I + O₂(2), at T = 296 ± 1 K and P = 1.7 - 2 Torr. The rate constants k_-1 and k₂ have been found to be (7.1 ± 1.6) × 10^-11 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1 and (1.35 ± 0.15) × 10^-10 cm³ molecule^-1 s^-1, respectively.     

The importance of grain size and shape in controlling the dispersion of the Vedde cryptotephra

Volcanic ash is dispersed in the atmosphere according to meteorology and particle properties, including size and shape. However, the multiple definitions of size and shape for non-spherical particles affect our ability to use physical particle properties to understand tephra transport. Moreover, although particles are often excluded from operational ash dispersion model setups, ash in tephra deposits 1000 km from source can exceed . Here we measure the shape and size of samples of Vedde ash from Iceland, an exceptionally widespread tephra layer in Europe, collected in Iceland and Norway. Using X-ray computed tomography and optical microscopy, we show that distal ash is more anisotropic than proximate ash, suggesting that shape exerts an important control on tephra dispersion. Shape also impacts particle size measurements. Particle long axis, a parameter often reported by tephrochronologists, is on average greater than geometric size, used by dispersion modellers. By using geometric size and quantifying shape, we can explain the transport of Vedde ash particles more than 1200 km from source. We define a set of best practices for measuring the size and shape of cryptotephra shards and discuss the benefits and limitations of using physical particle properties to understand cryptotephra transport.     

Alkali ion migration in albite and K-feldspar

As part of a study of ion migration mechanisms in feldspars, the dynamical behaviour of the alkali metal cations ions in albite and K-feldspar has been investigated using a combination of dielectric spectroscopy and atomistic computer simulation techniques. The low-frequency dielectric properties of these minerals have been studied from room temperature to 1100 K. At each temperature, the dielectric constant, conductivity and dielectric loss were determined over a range of frequencies from 100 Hz to 10 MHz. At high temperatures a distinct Debye-type relaxation in the dielectric loss spectra was observed for both albite and K-feldspar; the activation energy for these processes was determined to be 1.33 eV in both albite and K–feldspar. Atomistic simulation techniques were used to elucidate the mechanism and energetics of the cation migration processes. Mechanisms involving the conventional hopping of Na⁺ and K⁺ ions between cation sites in the (010) plane were found to give calculated energy barriers in good agreement with the experimentally determined activation energies. These results assist in understanding the nature of the processes responsible for the observed dielectric behaviour.     

Out there and in here: studying Eastern Europe in the West

This paper seeks to explore the challenge of studying geographies of Eastern Europe in Western Europe. It reflects on the growing relationships – imagined and material – between Eastern and Western Europe and engages in contemporary debates over 'relational geographies' to make a case for geographies which imagine our plural, European spatial connections, which connect different parts of the continent and which encourage the re-examination and renegotiation of ideas across East and West in the post-Cold War world. In these ways, the paper borrows from postcolonial frameworks and the ongoing reassessment of area studies to call for studies of Eastern and Western Europe which reinvigorate our "sense of Europe".     

Theoretical investigation of convective instability in inclined and fluid-saturated three-dimensional fault zones

The convective instability of pore-fluid flow in inclined and fluid-saturated three-dimensional fault zones has been theoretically investigated in this paper. Due to the consideration of the inclined three-dimensional fault zone with any values of the inclined angle, it is impossible to use the conventional linear stability analysis method for deriving the critical condition (i.e., the critical Rayleigh number) which can be used to investigate the convective instability of the pore-fluid flow in an inclined three-dimensional fault zone system. To overcome this mathematical difficulty, a combination of the variable separation method and the integration elimination method has been used to derive the characteristic equation, which depends on the Rayleigh number and the inclined angle of the inclined three-dimensional fault zone. Using this characteristic equation, the critical Rayleigh number of the system can be numerically found as a function of the inclined angle of the three-dimensional fault zone. For a vertically oriented three-dimensional fault zone system, the critical Rayleigh number of the system can be explicitly derived from the characteristic equation. Comparison of the resulting critical Rayleigh number of the system with that previously derived in a vertically oriented one has demonstrated that the characteristic equation of the Rayleigh number is correct and useful for investigating the convective instability of pore-fluid flow in the inclined three-dimensional fault zone system. The related numerical results from this investigation have indicated that: (1) the convective pore-fluid flow may take place in the inclined three-dimensional fault zone; (2) if the height of the fault zone is used as the characteristic length of the system, a decrease in the inclined angle of the inclined fault zone stabilizes the three-dimensional fundamental convective flow in the inclined three-dimensional fault zone system; (3) if the thickness of the stratum is used as the characteristic length of the system, a decrease in the inclined angle of the inclined fault zone destabilizes the three-dimensional fundamental convective flow in the inclined three-dimensional fault zone system; and that (4) the shape of the inclined three-dimensional fault zone may affect the convective instability of pore-fluid flow in the system.     

A Hybrid Multi-Agent/Spatial Interaction Model System for Petrol Price Setting

This paper examines the use of multi‐agent simulations (MAS) to model the petrol market. The development of a purely agent based model for petrol prices is presented. Failings within this model are discussed and an alternative strategy for controlling the price of each petrol station based on population of customers is considered. Individual level modelling of customers is too computationally intensive; therefore a spatial interaction model was used to estimate the sales and linked to the agent system to create a hybrid model. To evaluate how effective this hybrid model was, a comparison was made with an existing data set of real petrol prices collected over a two month period. This was achieved both statistically and visually with the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS). Experimentation revealed that the hybrid model outperformed the agent model. Investigation into the behaviour and sensitivity of the system (for example, how prices diffuse spatially) was undertaken by means of idealised simulations.     

The relative importance of chlorophyll and colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) to the prediction of the diffuse attenuation coefficient in shallow estuaries

The availability of underwater light is a critical factor in the growth and abundance of primary producers in shallow embayments. The goal of this study was to examine the relative importance of factors influencing light availability in this type of water body. Many simulation models of aquatic ecosystems predict light attenuation from chlorophyll or phytoplankton stock. In the three southern New England sites studied here, no useful relationship was found to exist between chlorophyll and K_PAR (the diffuse attenuation coefficient of photosynthetically active radiation; Kirk 1994; Mobley 1994). In 40 of 53 cases, a regression of chlorophyll versus K_PAR was not statistically significant. Variation in K_PAR did demonstrate a correlation to salinity, implicating a freshwater source of light attenuating material. This was true even in a system with little freshwater inflow. Colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) is one such terrestrial input that enters estuaries from their watersheds and can strongly influence the availability of light to aquatic primary producers. This study demonstrated that over 70% of the variability in the K_PAR coefficient can be attributed to CDOM in the shallow estuaries studied. This illustrates the need for improved model formulations that include CDOM in the prediction of light attenuation in shallow coastal systems. A new equation has been developed to predict K_PAR with CDOM.     

Undressing the researcher: feminism, embodiment and sexuality at a queer bathhouse event

In this paper we examine how the researcher's body can be used as a tool for data collection in the process of ethnographic fieldwork. We focus in particular on the tensions inherent in undertaking embodied ethnographic research in the sexualized setting of a queer women's bathhouse event in Toronto, Canada. Our discussion addresses three moments within the research process: preparing our bodies to attend the bathhouse; positioning our bodies within the spaces of the bathhouse; and interacting with our bodies during the event. Through this discussion we argue that the body of the researcher is a contested site of knowledge production.