The next frontiers in research on submerged prehistoric sites and landscapes on the continental shelf

Submerged prehistory has emerged as a key topic within archaeology over the last decade. During this period the broader academic community has become aware of its potential for revolutionising our understanding of the past. With recent technological and scientific developments has come an opportunity to investigate larger areas and learn more than previously thought possible. When charting the future of the subject, however, it is also necessary to consider its historical trajectory. This sense of opportunity and optimism has been experienced before, but not sustained. As such, our greatest challenge lies not in adopting technological developments, but in maintaining momentum.     

Reducing leachable petroleum hydrocarbon concentration in weathered fuel oil contaminated soil by chemical oxidation with hydrogen peroxide

Number 6 fuel oil is one of the most used energy sources for electricity generation. However, leaks can contaminate soil and also groundwater due to leaching. At old sites, the oil may have low toxicity but still contaminate groundwater with foul-tasting compounds even at low concentrations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of applying H₂O₂ to reduce the leaching potential of a fuel oil contaminated soil. A silt-loam soil was collected from a contaminated thermal-electric plant with a hydrocarbon concentration of 3.2% in soil producing 4.3 mg/l in leachate. Hydrogen peroxide was applied (0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 0.6, 1.2% dry weight basis), and petroleum hydrocarbons were measured in soil and leachate pre- and post-treatment (72 h). At first, the soil and leachate concentrations diminished linearly (24.4 and 27.3% in soil and leachate, respectively). This was followed by a phase in which the concentration in leachate diminished greatly (75.8%) although the concentration in soil was reduced only moderately (15.1%). Overall, hydrocarbons in leachates were reduced 82.4% even though concentrations in soil were only reduced 35.8%. Correlation analysis showed that at only 1.0% w/w H₂O₂ a concentration of petroleum hydrocarbons in leachate safe for human consumption (≤ 1 mg/l) could be obtained even with a final hydrocarbon concentration in soil > 2%. Thus, this study presents an alternative strategy for remediation of fuel oil contaminated soils in urban environments that protects water sources by focusing on contamination in leachates, without spending extra financial resources to reduce the hydrocarbon concentration in low-toxicity soil.     

Using a Chandra Source-Finding Algorithm to Automatically Identify Solar X-ray Bright Points

We describe adapting a method that is used to find point sources in Chandra X-ray telescope data for use in finding solar X-ray bright points. The algorithm allows selected pixels to be excluded from the source-finding, thus excluding saturated pixels (from flares and/or active regions). For Chandra data the noise is determined by photon-counting statistics, whereas solar telescopes typically integrate a flux. Thus, the calculated signal-to-noise ratio is incorrect, but we find that we can scale the number to get reasonable results. We compare our source-finding to previous Yohkoh results and find a similar number of bright points. Finally, we analyze three sets of data from Hinode, representing different parts of the decline to minimum of the solar cycle. Although these preliminary results are based on a small sample, we see no dependence on the solar cycle.     

Relationship of instruments and policy in the Hawaii warning system

The tsunami which follows a strong local earthquake occurs within a few minutes of the origin time. This requires that any warning system for such local tsunamis be decentralized, as in the system used by the Japan Meterological Agency. Thus, decisions are being made by local officials rather than in a central office. This usually means that the level of training, the education, and the preparation is not as intense in such a local office as in a central office. Therefore, the decision making should be assisted by instrumentation that discriminates tsunamigenic earthquakes from non‐tsunamigenic earthquakes. This is not yet possible in real time; however, since only very large earthquakes (more than 6.5) generate significant tsunamis, an instrument to inform the local official of the tsunami prospects can be implemented.

An instrument for assisting the local decision maker has been developed. This instrument consists of an analog computer (an inverted pendulum having a period of 0.75 sec and damping about 0.3) and a digital computer (a hardwired signal‐recognition circuit), providing output to a display of status or alarm. The level of displacement (or velocity or acceleration) , the number of times that the threshold must be exceeded, and the time window within which the excedance must occur are all adjustable. Initial settings require about 0.06 g three times, not more than ten seconds apart. Battery back‐up and test circuitry are provided.

Since the operating instructions require that motion be felt before the instrument alarm be considered valid, great weight is given to assuring that the instrument will operate when required. The instru‐ment is always “ON,”; with the earthquake turning it “OFF”; thus, it is continually self‐testing.

Twelve units have been installed in police stations, fire stations, or similar locations around the State of Hawaii, which funded the system developed at Indiana University. This tsunami seismic trigger should be considered whenever the primary objective is to trigger an alarm rather than to record data; the emphasis in design and development has been on reminding the local official when there may be a tsunami hazard and not on recording research data.     

The flux and spatial distribution of micrometeoroids in the near-Earth environment

The near-Earth micrometeoroid data of Prospero has been re-appraised in the light of recent data from the HEOS satellite and other detectors which sampled the near-Earth region. This has enabled a cumulative micrometeoroid flux-mass curve to be defined for this region which shows a pronounced flux enhancement above the similar, more detailed, curve obtained at greater geocentric distances. The latter curve is shown to be consistent with flux data obtained from recent lunar microcrater studies. The trend of increasing flux with decreasing geocentric distance is now positively established. The high flux which is detected at Prospero altitudes, a majority fraction of which appears to occur in clusters, a feature also apparent from HEOS data, is shown to be consistent with a model for the origin of near-Earth micrometeoroids based on the fragmentation of larger meteors in the upper atmosphere.     

The journey to school in Britain since the 1940s: continuity and change

The journey to school has major significance both for families and urban environments, yet little is known in detail about the ways this has changed over the twentieth century. This study uses oral history evidence to compare decisions about the journey to school in the past and the present, and to assess the impact of these changes on the mobility experience of children. The paper argues that despite obvious increases in car use, and decreases in children travelling alone, other characteristics of the journey to school in British urban areas have changed little over the past 60 years.     

Cosmic microwave background anisotropy in the decaying neutrino cosmology

It is attractive to suppose for several astrophysical reasons that the Universe has close to the critical density in light (∼30 eV) neutrinos which decay radiatively with a lifetime of ∼10²³ s. In such a cosmology the Universe is re-ionized early and the last scattering surface of the cosmic microwave background significantly broadened. We calculate the resulting angular power spectrum of temperature fluctuations in the cosmic microwave background. As expected, the acoustic peaks are significantly damped relative to the standard case. This would allow a definitive test of the decaying neutrino cosmology with the forthcoming MAP Planck surveyor missions.     

The Cape Town Stereotactic Pointer: A Novel Application of Photogrammetric Theory

Stereotactic methods have been successfully used for the treatment of a wide range of neurological disorders. The main difficulties experienced with the current systems are their cumbersome frames and their time consuming positioning procedures. The South African Medical Research Council/University of Cape Town Biostereometrics Group, together with the Department of Neurosurgery of the University of Cape Town, in an attempt to overcome the problems associated with the present stereotactic guidance frames, have developed a very simple probe pointing device. The Cape Town Stereotactic Pointer (CTSP) is based on stereophotogrammetric principles but uses computed tomography as the imaging and measuring medium.