‘I’ve got my Sat Nav,it’s alright’: Users’ Attitudes towards,and Engagements with,Technologies of Navigation

The use of qualitative research techniques in a largely quantitative cartographic domain is opening up myriad ways to explore users’ engagements technologies of navigation. This study draws on young UK-based students’ real words and life experiences as they engage with Satellite Navigation and other wayfinding technologies during first-time visits to new places to reflect on the nature of the changing relationships between self, navigational object, space and place.     

De Draconis: Spectroscopic orbit,rotation effect and physical model

New spectroscopic observations are used for the determination of orbital elements and for a study of the rotation effect of DE Draconis. The primary component is found to rotate much faster than the synchronous rate and with its axis of rotation possibly inclined with respect to the perpendicular to the orbital plane. The system is fully detached and the stars are relatively young and unevolved.     

Estimating the Effects of Map Error on Habitat Delineation for the California Spotted Owl in Southern California

The reliability of habitat maps that have been generated using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and image processing of remotely sensed data can be overestimated. Habitat suitability and spatially explicit population viability models are often based on these products without explicit knowledge of the effects of these mapping errors on model results. While research has considered errors in population modeling assumptions, there is no standardized method for measuring the effects of inaccuracies resulting from errors in landscape classification. Using landscape‐scale maps of existing vegetation developed for the USDA Forest Service in southern California from Landsat Thematic Mapper satellite data and GIS modeling, we performed a sensitivity analysis to estimate how mapping errors in vegetation type, forest canopy cover, and tree crown size might affect delineation of suitable habitat for the California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis occidentalis). The resulting simulated uncertainty maps showed an increase in the estimated area of suitable habitat types. Further analysis measuring the fragmentation of the additional patches showed that they were too small to be useful as habitat areas.     

Environmentalism and Natural Aggregate Mining

Sustaining a developed economy and expanding a developing one require the use of large volumes of natural aggregate. Almost all human activity (commercial, recreational, or leisure) is transacted in or on facilities constructed from natural aggregate. In our urban and suburban worlds, we are almost totally dependent on supplies of water collected behind dams and transported through aqueducts made from concrete. Natural aggregate is essential to the facilities that produce energy—hydroelectric dams and coal-fired powerplants. Ironically, the utility created for mankind by the use of natural aggregate is rarely compared favorably with the environmental impacts of mining it. Instead, the empty quarries and pits are seen as large negative environmental consequences. At the root of this disassociation is the philosophy of environmentalism, which flavors our perceptions of the excavation, processing, and distribution of natural aggregate. The two end-member ideas in this philosophy are ecocentrism and anthropocentrism. Ecocentrism takes the position that the natural world is a organism whose arteries are the rivers—their flow must not be altered. The soil is another vital organ and must not be covered with concrete and asphalt. The motto of the ecocentrist is man must live more lightly on the land. The anthropocentrist wants clean water and air and an uncluttered landscape for human use. Mining is allowed and even encouraged, but dust and noise from quarry and pit operations must be minimized. The large volume of truck traffic is viewed as a real menace to human life and should be regulated and isolated. The environmental problems that the producers of natural aggregate (crushed stone and sand and gravel) face today are mostly difficult social and political concerns associated with the large holes dug in the ground and the large volume of heavy truck traffic associated with quarry and pit operations. These concerns have increased in recent years as society's demand for living space has encroached on the sites of production; in other words, the act of production has engendered condemnation. Many other environmental problems that are associated with dust and noise and blasting from quarry and pit operations have been reduced through the efficient use of technology. Recycling concrete in buildings, bridges, and roads and asphaltic pavements will ultimately reduce the demand for virgin natural aggregate. The impact created by the large holes in the ground required for the mining of natural aggregate can be greatly reduced by planning their reclamation before mining begins.     

A Holocene record of climate,vegetation change and peat bog development,east Otago,South Island,New Zealand

A Holocene record of pollen, macrofossils, testate amoebae and peat humification is presented from a small montane bog. Sediment accumulation began before 9000 yr BP, but peat growth not until ca. 7000 BP. From 12 000 to 7000 yr BP, a shrub–grassland dominated under a dry climate, with increasing conifer forest and tall scrub from ca. 9600 yr BP. At 7000 yr BP a dense montane–subalpine low conifer forest established under a moist, cool climatic regime. Between 7000 and 700 yr BP the bog surface was shrubby, tending to be dry but with highly variable surface wetness. The catchment was affected by major fire at least four times between 4000 and 1000 yr BP. Both fire and bog surface wetness may have been linked to ENSO-caused variations in rainfall. Cooler, cloudier winters and disturbance by fire promoted the expansion of the broadleaf tree Nothofagus menziesii between 4000 yr BP and 1300 yr BP at the expense of the previous conifer forest–scrub vegetation. Polynesian fires (ca. 700 yr BP) reduced the vegetation to tussock grassland and bracken. Deforestation did not markedly affect the hydrology of the site. European pastoralism since ad 1860 has increased run-off and rising water tables in the bog have led to a Sphagnum-dominated cover. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Inundation of a low-lying urban atoll island: Majuro,Marshall Islands

Natural Hazards - Majuro is a low-lying island perched on a coral atoll in the central Pacific Ocean and is home to nearly 28,000 people. Considered highly vulnerable to the impacts of marine...     

Real-time PCR and NASBA for rapid and sensitive detection of Vibrio cholerae in ballast water

Transport of ballast water is one major factor in the transmission of aquatic organisms, including pathogenic bacteria. The IMO-guidelines of the Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, states that ships are to discharge <1 CFU per 100 ml ballast water of toxigenic Vibrio cholerae, emphasizing the need to establish test methods. To our knowledge, there are no methods sensitive and rapid enough available for cholera surveillance of ballast water. In this study real-time PCR and NASBA methods have been evaluated to specifically detect 1 CFU/100ml of V. cholerae in ballast water. Ballast water samples spiked with V. cholerae cells were filtered and enriched in alkaline peptone water before PCR or NASBA detection. The entire method, including sample preparation and analysis was performed within 7 h, and has the potential to be used for analysis of ballast water for inspection and enforcement control.     

Strontium Isotope Analysis of Kimberlitic Groundmass Perovskite via LA-MC-ICP-MS

Strontium isotopic composition is a potentially powerful tracer in studies of kimberlitic rocks but the results from even the most carefully collected and stringently prepared bulk-rock samples are still hampered by contamination and alteration effects. Here we describe a LA-MC-ICP-MS technique which can obtain accurate, high precision Sr_i ratios from 50–150 μm kimberlitic groundmass perovskite without requiring time-consuming mineral separation procedures. Since perovskite is a robust magmatic phase with an extremely low Rb/Sr ratio, the effects of late-stage crustal contamination, post-emplacement alteration and age correction are minimised and results are more representative of primary melt compositions, while additionally preserving powerful grain-scale spatial and textural information. We demonstrate that the adopted protocol overcomes isobaric interferences from Kr⁺, Rb⁺, Er²⁺ and Yb²⁺, and that Ca dimers and Ca argides do not detectably affect the quality of ⁸⁷Sr/⁸⁶Sr ratios produced. To illustrate the utility of the technique, contrasting bulk-rock and in situ perovskite results from eleven Proterozoic kimberlites are documented.