Artists as property owners and small-scale developers

This paper interrogates the role of artists as city builders by critically examining the relationship between artists, property ownership, and development. The ebb and flow of arts-led property development along one downtown arterial corridor, James Street North, in the mid-sized, post-industrial city of Hamilton, Ontario offers insight into the role of artists in the social context of property development processes. An analysis of the locally contingent responses of individual artists as property actors – their motivations, actions, and strategies – reveals how urban development processes are socially framed. This examination of property development conditions challenges current popular assumptions concerning the relations of artists and property and the assumed relative powerlessness of artists in city building. Small-scale artist-developers in this mid-sized city are pivotal, yet underappreciated, agents in the real estate sector, with the power to collectively impact upon both the city’s built form and the spatial stickiness of its local art scene.     

Thermochemolysis of organic matter preserved in stalagmites: A preliminary study

The analysis of organic matter (OM) preserved in stalagmites is a growing field, but there have been few studies of biomarker compounds such as lignin phenols that are widely used in other palaeoenvironmental contexts. Here we present a preliminary qualitative study of the OM in six stalagmite samples from contrasting environments, using thermochemolysis in the presence of tetramethylammonium hydroxide (TMAH). The results indicate that a wide variety of products is preserved, including several potential lignin-derived compounds, but also that further research is needed to maximise compound recovery and allow the analysis of dissolved OM preserved in stalagmites to reach its full potential.     

A Forward Modeling Approach for Interpreting Impeller Flow Logs

A rigorous and practical approach for interpretation of impeller flow log data to determine vertical variations in hydraulic conductivity is presented and applied to two well logs from a Chalk aquifer in England. Impeller flow logging involves measuring vertical flow speed in a pumped well and using changes in flow with depth to infer the locations and magnitudes of inflows into the well. However, the measured flow logs are typically noisy, which leads to spurious hydraulic conductivity values where simplistic interpretation approaches are applied. In this study, a new method for interpretation is presented, which first defines a series of physical models for hydraulic conductivity variation with depth and then fits the models to the data, using a regression technique. Some of the models will be rejected as they are physically unrealistic. The best model is then selected from the remaining models using a maximum likelihood approach. This balances model complexity against fit, for example, using Akaike's Information Criterion.     

An approach to the intercalibration of benthic ecological status assessment in the North Atlantic ecoregion, according to the European Water Framework Directive

The European Water Framework Directive (WFD) establishes a framework for the protection and improvement of transitional and coastal waters; its final objective is to achieve at least 'good water status' for all waters, by 2015. The WFD requires Member States (MSs) to assess the Ecological Status (ES) of water bodies. This assessment will be based upon the status of the biological, hydromorphological and physico-chemical quality elements, by comparing data obtained from monitoring networks to reference (undisturbed) conditions, and then deriving an Ecological Quality Ratio (EQR). One of the biological quality elements to be considered is the benthic invertebrate component and some structural parameters (composition, diversity and disturbance-sensitive taxa) must be included in the ES assessment. Following these criteria, several approaches to benthic invertebrate assessment have been proposed by MSs. The WFD requires that these approaches are intercalibrated. This contribution describes the comparison of the different methodologies proposed by United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark and Norway. Results show a high consistency between the approaches, both with regard to determining the EQR and boundary settings for the ES.     

A multi‐scale statistical approach to assess the effects of connectivity of road and stream networks on geomorphic channel condition

Roads in rural, upland landscapes are important sources of runoff and sediment to waterways. The downstream effects of these sources should be related to the connectivity of roads to receiving waters. Recent studies have explored this idea, but only simple metrics have been used to characterize connectivity and few studies have quantified the downstream effects of road–stream connectivity on sediment or solute budgets and channel morphology. In this study, we evaluated traditional and newly developed connectivity metrics that utilized features of landscape position and delivery pathway to characterize road–stream connectivity in upland settings. Using data on stream geomorphic conditions developed by the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (Montpelier, VT), we related road connectivity metrics to channel condition on a set of 101 forested, upland streams with minimal development other than predominantly gravel road networks. Logistic regression indicated that measures of road density, proximity and orientation successfully distinguished among categories of stream geomorphic condition at multiple geographic scales. Discriminant function analysis using a set of inherent channel characteristics combined with road connectivity metrics derived at the reach corridor scale successfully distinguished channel condition for over 70% of the channels evaluated. This research contributes to efforts to evaluate the cumulative downstream effects of roads on stream channels and aquatic resources and provides a new means of watershed assessment to derive metrics that can be used to predict channel condition. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Achieving development and mitigation objectives through a decarbonization development pathway in South Africa

Achieving the international 2 °C limit climate policy requires stringent reductions in GHG emissions by mid-century, with some countries simultaneously facing development-related challenges. South Africa is a middle-income developing country with high rates of unemployment and high levels of poverty, as well as an emissions-intensive economy. South Africa takes into account an assessment of what a fair contribution to reducing global emissions might be, and is committed to a ‘peak, plateau and decline' emissions trajectory with absolute emissions specified for 2025 and 2030, while noting the need to address development imperatives. This work utilizes an economy-wide computable general equilibrium model (e-SAGE) linked to an energy-system optimization model (TIMES) to explore improving development metrics within a 14 GtCO₂e cumulative energy sector carbon constraint through to 2050 for South Africa. The electricity sector decarbonizes by retiring coal-fired power plants or replacing with concentrated solar power, solar photovoltaics and wind generation. Industry and tertiary-sector growth remains strong throughout the time period, with reduced energy intensity via fuel-switching and efficiency improvements. From 2010 to 2050, the model results in the unemployment rate decreasing from 25% to 12%, and the percentage of people living below the poverty line decreasing from 49% to 18%. Total energy GHG emissions were reduced by 39% and per capita emissions decreased by 62%.

Policy relevance

Lower poverty and inequality are goals that cannot be subordinated to lower GHG emissions. Policy documents in South Africa outline objectives such as reducing poverty and inequality with a key focus on education and employment. In its climate policy and Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), South Africa is committed to a peak, plateau and decline GHG emissions trajectory. As in many developing countries, these policy goals require major transformations in the energy system while simultaneously increasing affordable access to safe and convenient energy services for those living in energy poverty. The modelled scenario in this work focuses on employment and poverty reduction under a carbon constraint, a novel combination with results that can provide information for a holistic climate and development policy framework. This study has focused on the long term, which is important in generating clear policy signals for the necessary large-scale investments.     

Far-travelled ash in past and future eruptions: combining tephrochronology with volcanic studies

Studies of recent eruptions have improved our understanding of volcanic ash transport and deposition, but have also raised important questions about the behaviour of far-travelled (distal) volcanic ash. In particular, it is difficult to reconcile estimates of distal ash mass and transport distance determined from eyewitness accounts, mapped deposits, satellite-based observations and cryptotephra records. Here we address this problem using data from well-characterized eruptions that, collectively, include all four data types. Data from recent eruptions allow us to relate eyewitness accounts to mapped deposits on the ground and satellite-based observations of ash in the air; observations from an historical eruption link eyewitness accounts to cryptotephra deposits. Together these examples show that (i) 10–20% of the erupted mass is typically deposited outside the mapped limits; (ii) estimates of the ash mass transported in volcanic clouds cannot account for all of this unmapped ash; and (iii) ash fall observed at distances beyond mapped deposits can have measurable impacts, and can form cryptotephra deposits with high (>~1000 cm⁻³) shard counts. We conclude that cryptotephra data can be incorporated into volcanological studies of ash transport and deposition and provide important insight into both the behaviour and impacts of far-travelled volcanic ash particles.     

New constraints on fluid sources in orogenic gold deposits,Victoria, Australia

Fluid inclusion microthermometry, Raman spectroscopy and noble gas plus halogen geochemistry, complemented by published stable isotope data, have been used to assess the origin of gold-rich fluids in the Lachlan Fold Belt of central Victoria, south-eastern Australia. Victorian gold deposits vary from large turbidite-hosted ‘orogenic’ lode and disseminated-stockwork gold-only deposits, formed close to the metamorphic peak, to smaller polymetallic gold deposits, temporally associated with later post-orogenic granite intrusions. Despite the differences in relative timing, metal association and the size of these deposits, fluid inclusion microthermometry indicates that all deposits are genetically associated with similar low-salinity aqueous, CO₂-bearing fluids. The majority of these fluid inclusions also have similar ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values of less than 1500 and ³⁶Ar concentrations of 2.6–58 ppb (by mass) that are equal to or much greater than air-saturation levels (1.3–2.7 ppb). Limited amounts of nitrogen-rich fluids are present at a local scale and have the highest measured ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values of up to 5,700, suggesting an external or distinct source compared to the aqueous fluids. The predominance of low-salinity aqueous–carbonic fluids with low ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar values, in both ‘orogenic’ and ‘intrusion-related’ gold deposits, is attributed to fluid production from common basement volcano-sedimentary sequences and fluid interaction with sedimentary cover rocks (turbidites). Aqueous fluid inclusions in the Stawell–Magdala deposit of western Victoria (including those associated with N₂) preserve mantle-like Br/Cl and I/Cl values. In contrast, fluid inclusions in deposits in the eastern structural zones, which contain more abundant shales, have elevated molar I/Cl ratios with maximum values of 5,170 × 10⁻⁶ in the Melbourne Zone. Br/I ratios in this zone range from 0.5 to 3.0 that are characteristic of fluid interaction with organic-rich sediments. The maximum I/Cl and characteristic Br/I ratios provide evidence for organic Br and I released during metamorphism of the shales. Therefore, the regional data provide strong evidence for the involvement of sedimentary components in gold mineralisation, but are consistent with deeper metamorphic fluid sources from basement volcano-sedimentary rocks. The overlying sediments are probably involved in gold mineralisation via fluid–rock interaction.     

Seasonal factors affecting surfactant biodegradation in Antarctic coastal waters: comparison of a polluted and pristine site

This report is the first seasonal study of anthropogenic pollutant biodegradation rates in Antarctic coastal waters. The capacity of surface waters from Rothera Research Station, Adelaide Island, Antarctica, to biodegrade the anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) was quantified in biodegradation tests from April 1988 to January 1999. Large temporal differences in the persistence of SDS were observed. In mid-winter (July), the SDS-biodegradation half life was twice that measured in mid-summer (January), despite small temperature differences (up to 2.45 degrees C). Comparisons between water from a pristine site and a site receiving grey-waste water from the station showed that some acclimation to SDS was occurring in the contaminated water. This resulted in SDS half lives up to to approximately 80 h shorter in the polluted water compared with the pristine site in the summer months when a large population of SDS-degrading bacteria had developed. Biodegradation half lives in Antarctic coastal waters (160-460 h) were generally far higher than those observed in temperate waters.