Telecommunications and the Large City-Small City Divide: Evidence from Indiana Cities*

Urban systems are increasingly dominated by large cities that house a disproportionate share of telecommunications infrastructure. This paper investigates whether telecommunications is defining a technological divide between large and smaller cities. The paper provides a conceptual basis for large-city dominance and presents the results of surveys that investigate the use of telecommunications in medium and small Indiana cities. The survey data indicate that telecommunications is used by the set of Indiana cities, but is less prevalent among the set of smallest cities. Chi-square tests, however, suggest that city size does not adequately explain these variations in use.     

The significance of surface joints

This brief review demonstrates the significance, on a global scale, of joints as shearing surfaces in the neotectonic stress field. Thus, the principal directions of the neotectonic stress field can be determined by a statistical treatment of joint orientation data. These principal stress directions agree with those postulated from plate tectonic theory in every case, on five continents.     

Fossil mammoths from Santa Cruz Island, California

Mammoth remains on Santa Cruz Island, one of the four Northern Channel Islands of California, are very sparse, in marked contrast to those reported from Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands of the same island group. A probable major reason for this scarcity is that Quaternary deposits are greatly restricted on Santa Cruz Island. It is proposed, contrary to popular opinion, that fossils found on Santa Cruz Island were derived from animals which died on the island, and were not transported there by humans. Reasons for this conclusion are that the size and geological context of the fossils are similar to those of the largest mammoth fossils of Santa Rosa Island, and that, in spite of extensive investigations by many persons, mammoth remains have not been found in middens, either on the islands or on the adjacent mainland.     

A device to examine the in situ response of intertidal cohesive sediment deposits to fluid shear

A self-contained, field-portable recirculating seawater flume was designed and constructed in order to measure in situ the erodibility of cohesive estuarine muds. The flume can be easily deployed by one person and is designed for subaerial use only. Bed shear stresses up to 0.6 Nm⁻² can be generated by the flume. Rates of sediment erosion are assessed in terms of the mass of particulate material eroded with time. Flow calibrations yield a drag coefficient (C_D) of 4.5 × 10⁻³ which enables single mid-depth velocity measurements to be related directly to the imposed bed stress. Water motions within the flume are complex, but secondary (radial) circulations are not considered sufficiently competent to dominate sediment erosion. Stratification effects due to high levels of suspended sediment ( 1.5 gl⁻¹) are negligible. However, the drag-reducing properties of the sediment suspension are uncertain.     

A comment on the continuity equation model of slope profile development and its boundary conditions

The constant base boundary condition used by Kirkby to derive characteristic form solutions to the continuity equation are unlikely in practice. Constant form solutions relying on constant basal erosion are however more probable.     

The surface chemistry of diamond

A surface chemical study of the diamond/water interface has been made which involved measurement of the electrokinetic, acid-base and wetting properties of diamond. The results obtained are considered in relation to the different groups present on the diamond surface.The groups on the surface of diamond include epoxide, carbonyl, carboxylic and hydroxyl. Less than 10% of the surface carbon atoms are linked to an acidic and/or carbonyl group. During ageing in water the number of moderately acidic groups does not apparently change although the electrophoretic mobility becomes more negative. The presence of a p positive site is suggested to account for the apparent inconsistency between the electrokinetic and acid-base properties.Freshly cleaned hydrophobic diamonds and diamond powder become hydrophilic on exposure to water. Hydration of ionic and non-ionic polar sites and an increase in the number of hydroxyl sites could account for these observations.     

Rock Magnetic Investigation of Historical Lavas Used in Palaeointensity Studies

Five samples from historical lava flows on Mt. Etna, which had previously been used in a palaeointensity study, were examined using a combination of rock magnetic and microscopic techniques to elucidate the causes of failure of palaeointensity determination. The samples were characterised using a combination of low-temperature susceptibility (LT-), Bitter pattern imaging and scanning electron microscope (SEM). High-temperature susceptibility curves and hysteresis loops had been previously measured by Calvo et al. (2001). Of the five samples only one gave an accurate palaeointensity. This sample was deuterically oxidised and consisted of large exsolved ore grains. It was only possible to distinguish this sample either optically or magnetically from a similar sample by the LT- warming curves; the unsuccessful sample displayed alteration in the LT- warming curves, which was not readily observed in the high temperature susceptibility curves. It is proposed that the measurement of LT- curves before and after heating could be a more sensitive method of determining suitability for palaeointensity determination than previous rock magnetic pre-selection techniques.     

Cyclic strength and deformation of crushable carbonate sand

Cyclic triaxial tests have been carried out on a skeletal carbonate sand from the west coast of Eire. Results are presented for undrained cyclic shear tests on samples with 80% of relative density consolidated under both isotropic and anisotropic conditions. Failure was defined as a 5% double amplitude cyclic strain and a 5% peak axial strain for stress-reversal and non-reversal stress conditions, respectively. Using this definition the cyclic strength for isotropically consolidated samples was affected by the confining pressure although the angular platey nature of the sand resulted in higher cyclic strengths than for a comparable silica sand. For anisotropically consolidated samples the cyclic strength increased with increasing initial static shear stress while on the other hand the cyclic strength normalised in the usual way with respect to the initial confining pressure decreased as this pressure increased.