Modeling the Stakeholder Profile in Territorial Management: The Segarra-Garrigues Irrigation System,Spain

Interest in obtaining a more accurate snapshot of irrigation management from a geographical perspective is increasingly relevant. This proposal is based on existing qualitative approaches in combination with an alternative method (the territorial irrigation management model) to identify and present key stakeholders attitudes and perceptions in the Segarra-Garrigues irrigation system in Spain. Advantages are (1) the focus on interrelations and context, (2) the applicability and extrapolation of the irrigation system, and (3) the irrigator-driven rather than researcher-driven perspective. Results revealed that there are conceptual and practical heterogeneities between the preferences of stakeholders' groups regarding water resources management, environmental protection, and agricultural challenges.     

Geology,geochemistry and 40Ar/39Ar dating of Sevan ophiolites (Lesser Caucasus,Armenia): Evidence for Jurassic Back-arc opening and hot spot event between the South Armenian Block and Eurasia

In the Lesser Caucausus the Sevan-Akera ophiolites of N Armenia have lithological features of a slow-spreading oceanic lithosphere: serpentinites are frequently exposed and hydrothermalized at sea-floor level, plutonic rocks and dykes are rare. A complete differentiation trend is observed from mafic norites evolving to diorites and plagiogranites. Normal faults have exposed some of the deep magmatic rocks at sea-floor level. Geochemically, two distinct lava flow series have been distinguished: (1) a contaminated Mid-Oceanic Ridge Basalt (MORB) series evolving from gabbros to plagiogranites and from basalts to basaltic andesites, exhibiting slight calc-alkaline features (enrichments in Large Ion Lithophile Elements (LILE); negative anomalies in Nb–Ta and Ti relative to N-MORB); (2) an alkaline series evolving from basanites to trachy-andesites (on anhydrous basis). ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar age on amphibole-bearing gabbros evidence a Middle Jurassic age (165.3 ± 1.7 Ma, 2σ) for oceanic crust formation. Structural data, including geological cross-sections and logs of the ophiolite along the northern part of Sevan Lake allow discussing the geodynamic evolution of that segment of the Amassia-Sevan-Akera ophiolitic suture zone.     

Effects of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense on the greenshell mussel Perna canaliculus

Abstract

Oxygen consumption, grazing rate, and byssus production of the greenshell mussel Perna canaliculus were measured following exposure to bloom concentrations (10⁶ cells l^?1 ) of a toxic clone of the dinoflagellate AIexandrium tamarense (GT429), using anon‐toxic clone of the same species (PLY173) as control. Following feeding for 1 h on GT429, mussels (dry weight 54–127 mg) showed significantly increased oxygen uptake at 15°C (0.08 μl O₂ (mg dry tissue weight)^?1 ) compared with control mussels. However, following 24 h recovery, oxygen uptake was similar to initial values in all experimental conditions. The grazing rate of P. canaliculus fed upon toxic clone GT429 was 4.58 ± 0.76 cells mg^?1 h^?1 compared with 1.99 ± 0.47 cells mg^?1 h^?1 for PLY173. On exposure to A. tamarense, mussels maintained normal opening behaviour and there was no change in the byssus production over 24 h. It was concluded that P. canaliculus showed no dramatic physiological effects following short‐term feeding on the toxic strain of A. tamarense. During 2 weeks’ exposure to twice daily bloom concentrations of GT429, there was no mussel mortality. Toxicity in the tissues was 1295 μg STX equivalent per 100 g tissue, levels at which these mussels would be unsuitable for human or animal consumption.     

SUMMER DIURNAL WIND PATTERNS AT 3,000 m SURFACE LEVEL,FRONT RANGE,COLORADO, U.S.A.

Observations of hourly wind speeds and directions were taken over a 56-day period in summer 1978, at the 3,000 m ground level near an INSTAAR mountain research site on the east slope of the Front Range, Colorado Rockies. During nearly calm weather, which persisted for longer periods than normal in summer 1978, the pattern of diurnal wind variations resembles results from other mountain studies of wind along high mountain slopes. However, timing of high wind speeds during the daily cycle is not readily explainable, although hypotheses can be offered. Results of this study can assist in interpretations of forest clearing microclimates at high elevations in the mountains and in important air quality questions (e.g., precipitation pH) in the Rocky Mountains.     

Hacked Landscapes: Tensions,Borders, and Positionality in Spatial Literacy

By focusing on critical geographies, landscape, and spatial literacy, this article evaluates a semester-long spatial justice project conducted in a preservice teacher education program. The analysis recognizes the limitations of reading the products literally as a means of comprehending spatial representation. It expands the analysis by hacking the products and producing new landscapes to read against or up against the products as sociospatial texts. It considers the deployment of landscape concepts—borders, the representation of tension, and the gaze and subjectivity of the reader-authors—as central elements of spatial literacy that is of consequence.     

Ab initio calculations of 6‐ and 7‐carbon meteoritic amino acids and their diastereomers

Abstract– To better explain the unusual distribution and relative abundances of several 6‐ and 7‐carbon amino acids found in meteorites, their thermodynamic properties were studied using accurate ab initio techniques. In addition to optimized structures and relative energies, vibrational frequency and thermochemical analysis of different diastereomers were performed at temperatures relevant to conditions of synthesis of these amino acids in meteorites. The results of calculations were compared with the measured content of the amino acids in the Murchison meteorite. The distribution of several longer chain amino acids in meteorites seems to point to at least some thermodynamic control in their formation. For diastereomeric compounds, on the other hand, the comparison suggests that their synthetic conditions, or those of their precursors, were far from thermodynamic equilibrium.     

The deuterium enrichment of individual amino acids in carbonaceous meteorites: A case for the presolar distribution of biomolecule precursors

The δD values of over 40 amino acids and two pyridine carboxylic acids of the Murchison and Murray meteorites have been obtained by compound-specific isotopic analyses. For compounds with no known terrestrial distribution, these values range from approximately +330‰ (for cyclic leucine) to +3600‰ (for 2-amino-2,3-dimethylbutyric acid). The latter value is the highest ever recorded for a soluble organic compound in meteorites and nears deuterium to hydrogen ratios observed remotely in interstellar molecules. Deuterium content varies significantly between molecular species and is markedly higher for amino acids having a branched alkyl chain. The δD value of Murray l-isovaline, with an enantiomeric excess of ∼ 6% in the meteorite, was within experimental error of that determined for the combined dl-isovaline enantiomers. Overall, the hydrogen isotope composition of meteoritic amino acids is relatively simple and their δD values appear to vary more with the structure of their carbon chains than with the number and relative distribution of their functionalities or ¹³C content. The magnitude and extent of deuterium enrichment shared by many and varied amino acids in meteorites indicate that cosmic regimes such as those found in the interstellar medium were capable of producing, if not all the amino acids directly, at least a suite of their direct precursors that was abundant, varied, and considerably saturated.