Evaluation of distortion of residuals in trend surface analysis by clustered data

Distortion is induced in multiple linear regression by clusters of data. The magnitude of this distortion is a function of the magnitude of the mean of the clustered data. The location and estimated amount of maximum induced distortion can be obtained by evaluating the surface in question with and without clusters. The difference between these surfaces is the induced distortion. Clustering of data points is common in map data and especially in subsurface information. The Albion-Scipio Trend, an oil and gas field in Southern Michigan, has 82 percent of the available data in clusters. Evaluation of the distortion indicates that the analysis contains a measureable amount of distortion but its small magnitude does not alter the structural interpretation of the area.     

A simulation of the directivity effect to be expected in hard X-ray flares

A Monte Carlo technique has been used to predict the relative visibility of solar hard X-ray flares as a function of solar longitude assuming the model of Takakura and Kai to be realistic. Comparison is made with previous statistical studies of observations. A discernable longitudinal variation in the relative visibility of flares is shown to be expected but the probability of flares being visible towards the limb is shown to be higher than had previously been evident.The effect of the possible downward inclination of the particle beam with respect to the solar surface is considered.     

A Wind-Tunnel Study of Airflow in Waving Wheat: An EOF Analysis of the Structure of the Large-Eddy Motion

We have conducted an Empirical Orthogonal Functionanalysis (EOF) of a three dimensional, 2-pointvelocity covariance field, measured in a wind tunnel. The rate of convergence of the EOF sequence was usedas an objective test for the presence of distinctlarge turbulent structures. We found that in theroughness sublayer (2h > z > 0) the sequence convergedmuch more rapidly than in the lower surface layer(6h > z > 0), 75% of the total velocity variancebeing captured by the first three of 42 eigenmodes;h is the canopy height. The analysis was extended to three dimensions, whereover 50% of the variance and most of the spatialstructure of the covariance fields were captured by aneven smaller fraction of the total number ofeigenmodes. With some relatively weak additionalassumptions we were able to construct the velocityfield of a characteristic eddy or large coherentstructure. This consisted of a pair ofcounter-rotating streamwise vortices centred above thecanopy. The sense of rotation of the vortex pair wasopposite to that found in the wall region of boundarylayers but matched that found in plane mixing layers. A strong gust or sweep motion generated between thevortices was responsible for most of the shear stresscarried by the large eddies. The region of significanttransport of streamwise momentum by the characteristiceddy is much smaller than the region of coherence of theeddy's velocity field.     

Development of hepatic CYP1A and blood vitellogenin in eel (Anguilla anguilla) for use as biomarkers in the Thames Estuary, UK.

The potential of eel (Anguilla anguilla) as a monitoring species for the Thames Estuary, UK, was examined. Hepatic cytochrome P4501A [7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD) activity] and blood vitellogenin (Western analysis) were investigated as biomarkers of exposure to, respectively, organic contaminants and to contaminants showing estrogenic activity. Hepatic microsomal EROD activities in A. anguilla from seven sites in the Thames Estuary in May 1998 varied three-fold (111 +/- 24 to 355 +/- 42 pmol min-1 mg protein-1) (mean +/- S.E.M.) and showed correlation with salinity; however, the latter relationship was not maintained at other times of the year. The range of EROD activities was two- to eight-fold higher than the 37 +/- 8 pmol min-1 mg-1 for A. anguilla from the relatively clean Tamar Estuary. beta-Naphthoflavone treatment (5 mg kg-1 wet wt.; 2 days) of Thames A. anguilla produced a two-fold increase in hepatic microsomal EROD activity. Comparing the Thames EROD data with those for A. anguilla from well-characterised contaminated sites in the Netherlands (Van der Oost, R., Goks?yr, A., Celander, M., Heida, H., & Vermeulen, N. P. E. 1996. Aquatic Toxicology, 36, 189-222), the Thames is suggested to be moderately impacted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and related contaminants. 17-beta-Estradiol treatment produced the appearance of a plasma protein of 211 Kd app. mol. wt. (recognised by antibodies to vitellogenin of Morone saxatilis), but putative vitellogenin could not be detected in A. anguilla from selected sites in the Thames Estuary.     

Stable isotope dynamics of groundwater interactions with Ganges river

Groundwater depletion has been an emerging crisis in recent years, especially in highly urbanized areas as a result of unregulated exploitation, thus leaving behind an insufficient volume of usable freshwater. Presently Ganges river basin, the sixth largest prolific fluvial system and sustaining a huge population in South Asia, is witnessed to face (i) aquifer vulnerability through surface waterborne pollutant and (ii) groundwater stress due to summer drying of river as a result of indiscriminate groundwater abstraction. The present study focuses on a detailed sub-hourly to seasonally varying interaction study and flux quantification between river Ganges and groundwater in the Indian subcontinent which is one of the first documentations done on a drying perennial river system that feeds an enormous population. Contributing parameters to the total discharge of a river at its middle course on both temporal and spatial scale is estimated through three-component hydrograph separation and end-member mixing analysis using high-resolution water isotope (δ¹⁸O and δ²H) and electrical conductivity data. Results from this model report groundwater discharge in river to be the highest in pre-monsoon, that is, 30%, whereas, during post-monsoon the contribution lowers to 25%; on the contrary, during peak monsoon, the flow direction reverses thus recharging the groundwater which is also justified using annual piezometric hydrographs of both river water and groundwater. River water-groundwater interaction also shows quantitative variability depending on river morphometry. The current study also provides insight on aquifer vulnerability as a result of pollutant mixing through interaction and plausible attempts towards groundwater management. The present study is one of the first in South Asian countries that provides temporally and spatially variable detailed quantification of baseflow and estimates contributing parameters to the river for a drying mega fluvial system.     

Time geography in a hybrid physical–virtual world

Journal of Geographical Systems - Time geography was conceptualized in the 1960s when the technology was very different from what we have today. Conventional time-geographic concepts therefore were...