Place,Learning Progressions,and Progress

This commentary response reflects on the thoughts offered by Solem, Mohan, Rawling, and Lambert regarding Larsen and Harrington's article titled “Developing a Learning Progression for Place” (2018).     

Body and brood sizes of Tenagomysis spp. (Crustacea: Mysida) in southern estuaries in New Zealand

Mysids form a large biomass and mediate the benthic–pelagic coupling of numerous estuaries in southern New Zealand. An intra-annual (2011–2012) field survey in the breeding seasons (i.e. austral spring followed by summer) of mysids Tenagomysis chiltoni and Tenagomysis novaezealandiae, examining the body and brood sizes, was conducted. Samples were collected from six open and eight intermittently open/closed estuaries along the Otago coastline. Brood size of gravid females of T. chiltoni was not significantly related to their body size. Brood size of gravid females of T. novaezealandiae showed a significantly positive relationship with body size in spring but not in summer. It appears that brood size of gravid mysids do not always necessarily depend on body size, but may be influenced by breeding season (e.g. spring) and estuarine typology (e.g. intermittently open/closed).     

Relative abundance of snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) across habitats within an estuarine system

Many fish species rely on estuarine nursery habitats as they transition to adult life stages. Quantifying nursery value, however, requires identification of the life stages (often small and short-lived) that utilise nursery habitats, and survey methods that provide comparable estimates across habitats. We focused our surveys on post-settlement snapper (Chrysophrys auratus) using video camera deployments across habitats within a northeastern New Zealand harbour. Post-settlement snapper abundance was higher among structured habitat types relative to bare sediments, with the type of structured habitat not influential. The exception appeared to be for reef habitat (although sampling was limited). Reef sites were structurally complex, but largely inhabited by older life stages (snapper and other fish species). Overall, nursery value for snapper appears to be connected to structure, rather than structure type. This result emphasises the importance of a broadened scope to coastal fishery management, one that incorporates not just fish extraction, but also habitat maintenance or restoration.     

Learning Conservation: the role of conservation covenants in landscape redesign at Project Hindmarsh,Victoria

Biodiversity decline continues apace across the Australian landscape with a pressing need to redesign land use to address this situation. The significance of private land increasingly is recognised for the protection and enhancement of biodiversity as landholders inevitably make decisions that affect environmental quality. Biodiversity conservation is as much a social process as a physical one. Conservation covenants are perpetual agreements under which landholders choose to conserve land voluntarily, primarily for conservation purposes. The role covenants might play in landscape-scale conservation was investigated in north-western Victoria. In-depth interviews with a range of participants were undertaken, with an emphasis on the role covenantors might play as social learning and cultural change agents. Analysis of these interviews offers useful perspectives for understanding socio-cultural dimensions of landscape change and exploring the differing values of production farmers and nature conservation landholders. Consideration is then given to approaches to engaging local production farmers in nature covenants and promoting communication between this group and the largely non-production conservationists who currently form the mainstay of conservation covenants.     

Collapse assessment of moment frame buildings,considering vertical ground shaking

While many cases of structural damage in past earthquakes have been attributed to strong vertical ground shaking, our understanding of vertical seismic load effects and their influence on collapse mechanisms of buildings is limited. This study quantifies ground motion parameters that are capable of predicting trends in building collapse because of vertical shaking, identifies the types of buildings that are most likely affected by strong vertical ground motions, and investigates the relationship between element level responses and structural collapse under multi‐directional shaking. To do so, two sets of incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) are run on five nonlinear building models of varying height, geometry, and design era. The first IDA is run using the horizontal component alone; the second IDA applies the vertical and horizontal motions simultaneously. When ground motion parameters are considered independently, acceleration‐based measures of the vertical shaking best predict trends in building collapse associated with vertical shaking. When multiple parameters are considered, Housner intensity (SI), computed as a ratio between vertical and horizontal components of a record (SI_V/SI_H), predicts the significance of vertical shaking for collapse. The building with extensive structural cantilevered members is the most influenced by vertical ground shaking, but all frame structures (with either flexural and shear critical columns) are impacted. In addition, the load effect from vertical ground motions is found to be significantly larger than the nominal value used in US building design. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

新疆哈密香山西铜镍-钛铁矿床系同源岩浆分异演化产物——矿相学、锆石U-Pb年代学及岩石地球化学证据

香山西岩体是东天山地区发现的唯一的一个铜镍-钛铁复合型含矿岩体,前人对香山西铜镍-钛铁矿床成因认识一直存在争议。本次通过矿相学研究结合电子探针分析,在香山西铜镍矿石中发现了铜镍硫化物与钛铁氧化物共生的现象,并首次测定了香山西钛铁辉长岩的SIMS锆石U-Pb年龄为278.6±1.8Ma(MSWD=1.2),与前人测得香山中岩体角闪辉长岩的锆石U-Pb年龄基本一致,证实了香山西铜镍矿与钛铁矿为共生关系,两者空间上渐变过渡。岩石地球化学研究表明,香山岩体(包括钛铁辉长岩)为同源岩浆经结晶分异作用形成的一套镁铁-超镁铁质岩体,具有拉斑玄武质岩浆分异演化趋势,并且经历了与地壳物质的混染。与中段和东段岩石相比,香山西辉长岩类具有相对高的REE、SiO₂(平均48.99%)、K₂O+Na₂O(平均3.43%)、TiO₂(平均1.26%)和明显低的Mg^#值(平均62.4),表现出分异演化程度高于中段和东段。经反演得出香山岩体原始岩浆含MgO约10%,FeO约9%,TiO₂约1.14%,与同一成矿带内其它含铜镍矿岩体原始岩浆成份相近,应为 普通的拉斑玄武质岩浆。因此,香山西钛铁矿床的形成机制可能是由普通的拉斑玄武质岩浆,经历了较高程度的分异演化导致钛铁氧化物在残余岩浆中逐步富集,岩浆在上升侵位过程中与地壳物质的混染,不仅促使了岩浆中硫化物的饱和,同时提高了岩浆体系的氧逸度,进而促使了钛铁氧化物结晶沉淀。对香山西钛铁矿床成因研究的启示意义在于,除我国攀西地区高钛的玄武质岩浆外,普通的拉斑玄武质岩浆,在有利的分异演化条件下(如初始低氧逸度、相对高度的分异演化、后期与地壳物质混染)也有可能形成大型钛铁矿床。     

Producer Services Research in U.S. Regional Studies

Fifteen years of academic concern about the extent, causes, and implications of the explosion of service activities as a proportion of regional and national employment and income have verified the increased proportion of employment in these activities, their tendencies toward concentration, their structural role in local economies, their potential to form part of a region's economic base, and their importance in assisting other activities in the regional economy. There has been some progress in modeling the locational needs of intermediate or producer services. Beyond this progress, however, lies much uncharted territory. This paper makes recommendations for the direction of basic research and of policy-oriented work.     

Big Bend Megafold or Broken River Triple Junction?

The Broken River Embayment is a major transverse structure in the Tasman Orogen in northern Queensland. Bell (1980) suggested that it is a hinge zone of an orocline, which he named the Big Bend Megafold. An alternative explanation, presented in this paper, involves a Silurian‐Devonian triple plate junction.     

Comparing health status and access to health care in Canada’s largest metropolitan areas

Research has shown persistent inequalities in access to health care between and within sociodemographic groups and geographic areas. Yet much of what we know about geographical disparities in access comes from studies of regional and urban/rural contrasts, or from studies of intra-urban, neighborhood-level variations. We know relatively little about variations in access to primary health care across different urban areas, and whether such variations translate into differences among residents’ health. This study examines how health status and access to primary care vary across five of Canada’s largest cities, paying particular attention to populations that may be particularly vulnerable based on age and income. Across all outcomes, there was a consistently strong relationship with individual socioeconomic status. We show that city of residence is important for access to health care but not for health status. Results are discussed in terms of their relevance for urban health-care policy and delivery, and impacts on health and access to care.