The impact of natural hazards on the health sector in the Caribbean: Implications for health sector planning

In the last decade significant initiatives have been taken in the health sector with the view to better manage and respond to natural disaster emergencies. However, the recent hurricane disasters related to Hugo and Gilbert have highlighted many areas of health sector emergency planning still to be adressed. This paper briefly summarises the impact of recent natural disaster on the health sector in the Caribbean and comments on the performance of the sector during the emergencies. An effort is then made to detail what are the policy and programming issues to be tackled, if desired improvements are to be achieved.The reader may like to see GeoJournal vol. 23, no. 4 (April 1991) on Caribbean Hurricanes     

Absolute spectrophotomery of comets 1973XII and 1975IX: II. Profiles of the Swan bands

Absolute spectrophotometric measurements of the Swan bands of two comets have been compared with computed synthetic spectra using modern Franck-Condon and Hönl-London factors, and varying rotational, vibrational, and electronic excitation temperatures. Rotational and vibrational temperatures were obtained for the comets. Although the electronic excitation temperature and the molecular column density cannot be separated, a relationship is found between these two quantities. A review is made of recent determinations of column densities for CN in comets.     

Molecular simulations of metal adsorption to bacterial surfaces

The atomic-scale interactions that occur between cations and the metal-binding cell wall components common to many gram-positive bacteria were investigated using molecular simulations techniques. We examined the adsorption of Cd and Pb onto peptidoglycan and teichoic acid components of the bacterial cell wall using classical energy force field methods. Within the framework of molecular mechanics and the Cerius² modeling software, we used energy minimization, conformational analysis, and molecular dynamics to examine the different components of the cell wall and to determine relative binding energies and structural configurations of the cell wall components, both with and without the metals present. Electronic structure calculations of representative metal-organic complexes validate the more practical classical methods required in simulating the large number of atoms associated with the cell wall components. The classical force field simulations were conducted in both gas phase and solvated periodic cells. Force field-based simulation techniques can adequately describe the interactions of Cd with the cell wall, defining both metal ion coordinations and binding distances. However, the classical force field approach is inconsistent in describing the observed Pb-cell wall interactions due to possible limitations in the force field parameters, the propensity for Pb to form hydroxides at circumneutral pH, or the dominance of other adsorption mechanisms.     

Lake Sediment Core Records of Sulphur Accumulation and Sulphur Isotopic Composition in Central Ontario, Canada Lakes

Stable isotopic compositions and concentrations of total sedimentary sulphur (S) were determined in cores from 6 lakes in the acid-sensitive Muskoka-Haliburton region of south-central Ontario. The isotopic composition of S in deep sediment (> ~ 20 cm) was approximately constant in all lakes, and indicated a pre-industrial δ ³⁴S value between +4.0 and +5.3‰, which is similar to current bulk deposition. Similarly, total S concentrations in deep sediment were relatively low (1.9–5 mg S g⁻¹ dwt) and approximately constant with depth within cores. All lakes exhibited up-core increases in total S and decreases in δ ³⁴S at a depth corresponding to the beginning of industrialization in the Great Lakes region ( ~ 1900), resulting in a generally reciprocal depth pattern between total S concentration and δ ³⁴S ratios. While initial shifts in total S and δ ³⁴S were likely due to enhanced SO₄ reduction of newly available anthropogenic SO₄, both the magnitude and pattern of up-core S enrichment and shifts in δ ³⁴S varied greatly among lakes, and did not match changes in S deposition post 1900. Differences between lakes in total S and δ ³⁴S were not related to any single hydrologic (e.g., residence time) or physical (e.g., catchment-area-to-lake area ratio) lake characteristic. This work indicates that sediment cores do not provide consistent records of changes in post-industrial S deposition in this region, likely due to redox-related mobility of S in upper sediment.     

Crustal structure across the Grand Banks–Newfoundland Basin Continental Margin – II. Results from a seismic reflection profile

New multichannel seismic reflection data were collected over a 565 km transect covering the non-volcanic rifted margin of the central eastern Grand Banks and the Newfoundland Basin in the northwestern Atlantic. Three major crustal zones are interpreted from west to east over the seaward 350 km of the profile: (1) continental crust; (2) transitional basement and (3) oceanic crust. Continental crust thins over a wide zone (∼160 km) by forming a large rift basin (Carson Basin) and seaward fault block, together with a series of smaller fault blocks eastwards beneath the Salar and Newfoundland basins. Analysis of selected previous reflection profiles (Lithoprobe 85-4, 85-2 and Conrad NB-1) indicates that prominent landward-dipping reflections observed under the continental slope are a regional phenomenon. They define the landward edge of a deep serpentinized mantle layer, which underlies both extended continental crust and transitional basement. The 80-km-wide transitional basement is defined landwards by a basement high that may consist of serpentinized peridotite and seawards by a pair of basement highs of unknown crustal origin. Flat and unreflective transitional basement most likely is exhumed, serpentinized mantle, although our results do not exclude the possibility of anomalously thinned oceanic crust. A Moho reflection below interpreted oceanic crust is first observed landwards of magnetic anomaly M4, 230 km from the shelf break. Extrapolation of ages from chron M0 to the edge of interpreted oceanic crust suggests that the onset of seafloor spreading was ∼138 Ma (Valanginian) in the south (southern Newfoundland Basin) to ∼125 Ma (Barremian–Aptian boundary) in the north (Flemish Cap), comparable to those proposed for the conjugate margins.     

Characterization and quantification of data voids in the shuttle Radar topography mission data

The goal of this study was to characterize and quantify the occurrence of data voids in data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) for the conterminous United States. For this purpose, SRTM data and corresponding data from the national elevation data were downloaded in 21 samples spatially organized to cover the main topography of the U.S. Void locations in SRTM data were compared to terrain attributes and subsequently the area of individual data voids to the same attributes. It was found that data voids amounted to 0.3% of the total dataset. Data voids were found in all topographic settings but more often in slopes steeper than approximately 20/spl deg/ that face south (170/spl deg/), and also in flat areas such as lakes and rivers. It was also found that more than 50% of all data voids were composed of connected pixels in groups less than six pixels. The largest data voids could be attributed to water bodies, while the rest could be explained by terrain-radar interaction characteristics.     

Mining Association Rules in Spatio-Temporal Data: An Analysis of Urban Socioeconomic and Land Cover Change

This research demonstrates the application of association rule mining to spatio‐temporal data. Association rule mining seeks to discover associations among transactions encoded in a database. An association rule takes the form A→B where A (the antecedent) and B (the consequent) are sets of predicates. A spatio‐temporal association rule occurs when there is a spatio‐temporal relationship in the antecedent or consequent of the rule. As a case study, association rule mining is used to explore the spatial and temporal relationships among a set of variables that characterize socioeconomic and land cover change in the Denver, Colorado, USA region from 1970–1990. Geographic Information Systems (GIS)‐based data pre‐processing is used to integrate diverse data sets, extract spatio‐temporal relationships, classify numeric data into ordinal categories, and encode spatio‐temporal relationship data in tabular format for use by conventional (non‐spatio‐temporal) association rule mining software. Multiple level association rule mining is supported by the development of a hierarchical classification scheme (concept hierarchy) for each variable. Further research in spatio‐temporal association rule mining should address issues of data integration, data classification, the representation and calculation of spatial relationships, and strategies for finding ‘interesting’ rules.     

Subducted slabs beneath the eastern Indonesia-Tonga region: insights from tomography

Tomographic images of mantle structure beneath the region north and northeast of Australia show a number of anomalously fast regions. These are interpreted using a recent plate tectonic reconstruction in terms of current and former subduction systems. Several strong anomalies are related to current subduction. The inferred slab lengths and positions are consistent with Neogene subduction beneath the New Britain and Halmahera arcs, and at the Tonga and the New Hebrides trenches where there has been rapid rollback of subduction hinges since about 10 Ma. There are several deeper flat-lying anomalies which are not related to present subduction and we interpret them as former subduction zones overridden by Australia since 25 Ma. Beneath the Bird’s Head and Arafura Sea is an anomaly interpreted to be due to north-dipping subduction beneath the Philippines-Halmahera arc between 45 and 25 Ma. A very large anomaly extending from the Papuan peninsula to the New Hebrides, and from the Solomon Islands to the east Australian margin, is interpreted to be the remnant of south-dipping subduction beneath the Melanesian arc between 45 and 25 Ma. This interpretation implies that a flat-lying slab can survive for many tens of millions of years at the bottom of the upper mantle. In the lower mantle there is a huge anomaly beneath the Gulf of Carpentaria and east Papua New Guinea. This is located above the position where the tectonic model interprets a change in polarity of subduction from north-dipping to south-dipping between 45 and 25 Ma. We suggest this deep anomaly may be a slab subducted beneath eastern Australian during the Cretaceous, or subducted north of Australia during the Cenozoic before 45 Ma. The tomography also supports the tectonic interpretation which suggests little Neogene subduction beneath western New Guinea since no slab is imaged south of the New Guinea trench. However, one subduction zone in the tectonic model and many others, that associated with the Trobriand trough east of Papua New Guinea and the Miocene Maramuni arc, is not seen in the tomographic images and may require reconsideration of currently accepted tectonic interpretations.     

Anthropogenic Impacts on Summer Precipitation in Central Arizona,U.S.A.

This article explores the possibility of urbanization‐ and irrigation‐induced increases in summer precipitation totals in central Arizona. Maximum precipitation impacts are hypothesized to occur downwind of the Phoenix area in the Lower Verde basin. Results from statistical tests indicate that summer precipitation totals in the Lower Verde basin are greater than totals in nearby basins. Precipitation totals in the basin also appear to be equivalent to totals at more monsoon‐impacted stations in eastern Arizona. While this research is preliminary, the results do provide encouraging evidence of the existence of anthropogenically enhanced summer precipitation in central Arizona.     

Climatic and environmental reconstructions based on fossil assemblages from middle devensian (Weichselian) deposits of the river Thames at south kensington, central London, UK

Fossiliferous silts within the Late Pleistocene Kempton Park Gravel, of the River Thames Valley, were exposed in 1980 during foundation works for the Ismaili Centre in South Kensington, London. The results of a multidisciplinary study of the geomorphology, sediments, fossil plants, vertebrates, molluscs, ostracods and insects are reported. The silts were deposited under two distinct climatic regimes; a lower unit accumulated when the climate was arctic and an upper when the temperatures were at least as warm as those of the present day. Both these units occupy the same channel system and are separated from one another by less than a metre of sediment, implying that the climatic change was probably sudden and intense. The strongest evidence for this climatic difference comes from a study of the Coleoptera, which show an almost complete replacement of the arctic element in the fauna by a suite of temperate species. Palaeotemperature reconstructions using the Mutual Climatic Range method, based on the coleopteran assemblages from the lower unit, suggest that the mean temperature of the warmest month was 9±2 °C and that of the coldest month −22±10 °C. For the upper unit the mean temperature of the warmest month had risen to about 17 °C and that of the coldest month to about −4 °C. The episode represented by the lower unit, with its arctic climate, had not previously been recognized in the Thames Valley. The fauna from the upper, temperate, unit is very similar to that from other sites in the Kempton Park Gravel, such as that from Isleworth, 10 km upriver, which, like the upper unit at the Ismaili Centre, was characterized by the virtual absence of trees. It would appear that in such cases this treelessness does not indicate cold conditions, equivalent to those of the modern tundra, but may instead result from a combination of ecological and temporal factors. The value of multidisciplinary studies in reaching such conclusions is emphasized.The temperate episode described here is correlated with the thermal maximum at the early part of the Upton Warren Interstadial Complex. An earlier suggestion, based on amino acid epimerization ratios, that the Upton Warren Interstadial correlates with Oxygen Isotope Sub-stage 5a is not supported by the data, which show no evidence of the forested environments that characterized this period in both Britain and the adjacent Continent. It is thought that the temperate deposits at the Ismaili Centre belong to the Middle (Pleniglacial), rather than the Early, Devensian (Weichselian) and are equivalent to Oxygen Isotope Stage 3.