NIMBY or how do the rural neighbours respond to genetically modified (GM) crops? An exploration of the structure of reactions by inhabitants in rural communities in The Netherlands to the commercial cultivation of GM crops in their community

The debate on genetic modification (GM) is persistent, polarized and mainly involves organized groups at the national level. With the European Union’s new policy of coexistence, commercial cultivation of GM crops is expected by the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality within the next few years, especially maize (BT) and potato (Phytophthera resistance and starch production). This makes the debate relevant for those directly confronted with this cultivation: the inhabitants of local rural communities. In The Netherlands, stakeholders formulated coexistence rules to prevent problems between conventional, organic and GM farmers that grow their crops in the same limited land area. Little is known, however, regarding the perceptions of the non-farming inhabitants of rural communities (“the neighbours”) in the debate. This paper presents the results of a focus group-based argumentative analysis of whether (and how) the GM issues play a decisive role among non-farming inhabitants of four rural communities in the Netherlands. We analysed the arguments in relation to a conceptual model that describes the potential rise and dynamics from a pre-Nimby ambivalence towards an outspoken Nimby position. We observed that the GM debate was given very little priority relative to other national issues on the political agenda and that more social cohesion correlates with fewer arguments in the national debate. It is argued that this mechanism keeps the Nimby ambivalence in an undetermined mode, which in turn diminishes the chances of radical rural-based protest against local GM cultivation of crops.     

Contextualizing social vulnerability: findings from case studies across Europe

Social vulnerability is a term that has been widely used in the natural hazards literature for quite a few years now. Yet, regardless of how scholars define the term, the approaches and indicators they use remain contested. This article presents findings from social vulnerability assessments conducted in different case studies of flood events in Europe (Germany, Italy and the UK). The case studies relied upon a common set of comparable indicators, but they also adopted a context-sensitive, qualitative approach. A shared finding across the case studies was that it was not possible to identify a common set of socio-economic–demographic indicators to explain social vulnerability of groups and/or individuals for all phases of the disastrous events. Similarly, network-related indicators as well as location- and event-specific indicators did not have the relevance we expected them to have. The results underline that vulnerability is a product of specific spatial, socio-economic–demographic, cultural and institutional contexts imposing not only specific challenges to cross-country research concerning social vulnerability to flooding but also to attempts at assessing social vulnerability in general. The study ends with some reflections upon the methodological, practical and theoretical implications of our findings.     

Natural tracer profiles across argillaceous formations

Argillaceous formations generally act as aquitards because of their low hydraulic conductivities. This property, together with the large retention capacity of clays for cationic contaminants, has brought argillaceous formations into focus as potential host rocks for the geological disposal of radioactive and other waste. In several countries, programmes are under way to characterise the detailed transport properties of such formations at depth. In this context, the interpretation of profiles of natural tracers in pore waters across the formations can give valuable information about the large-scale and long-term transport behaviour of these formations. Here, tracer-profile data, obtained by various methods of pore-water extraction for nine sites in central Europe, are compiled. Data at each site comprise some or all of the conservative tracers: anions (Cl⁻, Br⁻), water isotopes (δ¹⁸O, δ²H) and noble gases (mainly He). Based on a careful evaluation of the palaeo-hydrogeological evolution at each site, model scenarios are derived for initial and boundary pore-water compositions and an attempt is made to numerically reproduce the observed tracer distributions in a consistent way for all tracers and sites, using transport parameters derived from laboratory or in situ tests. The comprehensive results from this project have been reported in Mazurek et al. (2009). Here the results for three sites are presented in detail, but the conclusions are based on model interpretations of the entire data set. In essentially all cases, the shapes of the profiles can be explained by diffusion acting as the dominant transport process over periods of several thousands to several millions of years and at the length scales of the profiles. Transport by advection has a negligible influence on the observed profiles at most sites, as can be shown by estimating the maximum advection velocities that still give acceptable fits of the model with the data. The advantages and disadvantages of different conservative tracers are also assessed. The anion Cl⁻ is well suited as a natural tracer in aquitards, because its concentration varies considerably in environmental waters. It can easily be measured, although the uncertainty regarding the fraction of the pore space that is accessible to anions in clays remains an issue. The stable water isotopes are also well suited, but they are more difficult to measure and their values generally exhibit a smaller relative range of variation. Chlorine isotopes (δ³⁷Cl) and He are more difficult to interpret because initial and boundary conditions cannot easily be constrained by independent evidence. It is also shown that the existence of perturbing events such as the activation of aquifers due to uplift and erosion, leading to relatively sharp changes of boundary conditions, can be considered as a pre-requisite to obtain well-interpretable tracer signatures. On the other hand, gradual changes of boundary conditions are more difficult to parameterise and so may preclude a clear interpretation.     

Validation Techniques for Geological Patterns Simulations Based on Variogram and Multiple-Point Statistics

Traditional simulation methods that are based on some form of kriging are not sensitive to the presence of strings of connectivity of low or high values. They are particularly inappropriate in many earth sciences applications, where the geological structures to be simulated are curvilinear. In such cases, techniques allowing the reproduction of multiple-point statistics are required. The aim of this paper is to point out the advantages of integrating such multiple-statistics in a model in order to allow shape reproduction, as well as heterogeneity structures, of complex geological patterns to emerge. A comparison between a traditional variogram-based simulation algorithm, such as the sequential indicator simulation, and a multiple-point statistics algorithm (e.g., the single normal equation simulation) is presented. In particular, it is shown that the spatial distribution of limestone with meandering channels in Lecce, Italy is better reproduced by using the latter algorithm. The strengths of this study are, first, the use of a training image that is not a fluvial system and, more importantly, the quantitative comparison between the two algorithms. The paper focuses on different metrics that facilitate the comparison of the methods used for limestone spatial distribution simulation: both objective measures of similarity of facies realizations and high-order spatial cumulants based on different third- and fourth-order spatial templates are considered.     

The Bulgheria canyon-fan: a small-scale proximal system in the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea (Italy)

The Bulgheria canyon-fan system in the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea displays well-developed, small-scale, fluvial-like features and has formed alongside the northern slope of the Sapri peri-Tyrrhenian basin. This study reveals, for the first time, the morphology and course of the present-day system as well as the buried elements based on a Digital Terrain Model and high-resolution seismic profiles interpretation. Two adjacent canyons (Infreschi and Luna) originate in the Cilento outer shelf at a short distance from each other and feed an intraslope basin fan through two main sub-parallel channels that run about 12 and 8 km, respectively. Channel and levee development seems to be controlled primarily by the local slope gradient and by Coriolis forces that induce a faster vertical growth of the right-side features, as is often observed in the Northern Hemisphere. Centrifugal forces, on the other hand, have induced episodic flow-stripping at the meander loops and bends, causing local destruction of the main channel levees rather than new levee growth at the outer bends. Overbank deposits are associated with overspill turbidite deposition in the mid fan where a topographic constraint occurs, whereas large-sediment, low-angle wave fields are mainly developed on the outer fan. Buried features and relict morphologies suggest that the Infreschi channel experienced at least two phases of re-incision since the final stages of the middle Pleistocene. Local re-adjustment of outer lobe growth due to channel avulsion and meander abandonment is possibly a consequence of relative base-level fluctuations. The sedimentary record of the mid and outer fan includes outrun mass wasting deposits from extensive failures of the Sapri slope. Indeed, a marked scar is present on the eastern side of the modern outer lobe that indicates the persistency of mass flow passages up to recent times. In addition to the environmental factors that are currently considered to cause canyon formation on the shelf margin, this study proposes the possibility that the head canyon branch close to the mainland was incised by massive and persistent underground freshwater flow from the adjacent aquifer when the sea-level was lower than at present.     

Carbonate sedimentation and hydrodynamic pattern on a modern temperate shelf: The strait of Bonifacio (western Mediterranean)

The sedimentary features of the inner-middle shelf of the strait of Bonifacio (western Mediterranean) were analyzed to evaluate the relationship between the production and transport of biogenic carbonate sediments and the basin morphology and hydrodynamics. A three-dimensional hydrodynamic modeling was performed in order to simulate the influence of waves and currents at seabed level. Superficial sediments were collected at depths ranging from 5 to 80 m and were analyzed for grain size, mineralogical composition and skeletal carbonate composition. Posidonia oceanica seagrass meadows border the coasts in a narrow strip on both sides of the strait down to a depth of 40 m. At greater depths, the seabed is characterized by the presence of plateaus and ridges which are controlled by outcropping bedrock morphology.     

Fortress conservation at sea: A commentary on the Chagos marine protected area

The world's largest no-take Marine Protected Area in Chagos is examined in light of the Convention on Biological Diversity's provisions on Access and Benefit Sharing, as well as terrestrial experiences with fortress conservation. It is acknowledged that this closure presents a unique opportunity to preserve an ecologically 'pristine' area. However, the means by which the political process unfolded are brought into question. In particular, the fact that the UK proceeded with designating the area whilst the European Court of Human Rights was deliberating the right of native Chagossians to return to the island is questioned. In addition it is argued that the scale of the area poses significant management and enforcement challenges, which are not necessarily taken into consideration in the rush for large, no-take Marine Protected Areas.     

Environmental justice implications of Maritime Spatial Planning in the European Union

This paper examines the implications of environmental justice in the regime for Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) currently developing in the European Union (EU). An ‘ecosystem-based approach’ to marine management is enshrined in the new Integrated Maritime Policy and Marine Strategy Framework Directive and forms the basis of MSP. This concept is intended to encompass all aspects of an ecosystem, including the human element. Yet the modes of including meaningful public participation in the decision-making process for MSP remain undetermined. At the same time, the Aarhus Convention (on access to information, public participation in decision making and access to justice in environmental matters) empowers non-governmental organisations to hold EU Member States to account. Consequently the issue of transparency will gain increased importance, as will linkages between human and environmental rights. Such public interest-based activism on the part of NGOs has the potential to enforce the developing framework for stakeholder engagement within MSP, but it also has implications worth considering regarding the appropriate role of interest-based organisations in the international political arena.     

Bioturbation effects of Corophium volutator: Importance of density and behavioural activity

Bioturbation is one of the major processes influencing ecosystem functioning. Population parameters such as species density, burrow density and species-specific life modes, determine the impact of bioturbation on the ecosystem. A laboratory experiment was developed, using microcosms mimicking a marine intertidal sediment–water interface which allowed for quantification of different population parameters. The vertical redistribution, bioturbation rate and maximum penetration depth of two sizes (41 and 129 μm) of luminophores were measured in five treatments (control, low density of burrows with and without Corophium (1989 ind./m²), and high density of burrows with and without Corophium (14,921 ind./m²)) after 1, 7 and 14 days. Results indicate that the behavioural activities of Corophium are of the utmost importance in sediment reworking, since they contributed to a five-fold increase in bioturbation rate compared to the passive transport induced by the static structure of the burrows. Furthermore, density is an important parameter because only high densities play a prominent role in particle transport and hence in organic matter processing, while the role of low Corophium densities is limited in sediment reworking. No evidence for differentiation in sediment size fractions was observed. Finally, bioturbation rates in this study were low compared to other studies, and these results suggest an influence of the tidal rhythmicity in the behavioural activity of Corophium on the bioturbation rate.     

基于WebGIS的气象服务产品自动加工关键技术

针对融媒体时代对气象服务产品加工个性化、准实时、智能化新诉求,以SOA架构组件式开发思想为指导,归纳气象服务产品加工业务共性,提出一套集成应用WebGIS、并行计算和大数据技术的气象服务产品自动化加工解决方案。利用组件开发和工作流引擎技术,搭建面向服务体系架构的产品加工模型装备框架,对产品加工组件进行模型编排,实现无须编程情况下的产品加工模型快速构建;利用基于分布式架构的加工服务器集群技术,搭建加工服务器集群环境,对产品加工模型服务进行发布和管理,实现产品加工任务的秒级高并发处理;利用基于消息和定时机制的加工任务调度技术,开发了产品加工任务调度器,通过设置消息主题和定时计划策略,实现加工任务参数智能解析和适配应用,统一协调触发各加工模型服务进行自动化作业。智能化气象服务产品自动加工系统自业务化运行以来,在加工效率、美观性和扩充性等方面表现出很好的应用价值。以温度、降水、风速、相对湿度全国实况格点服务产品加工为例进行实验,加工耗时由797 s缩减至14 s,效率提高50倍以上。