Water use, growth and yield of green gram under rainfed upland crop sequences in Gangetic Plains of Indian sub-tropics

A field experiment was conducted to study the effect of different crop sequences on water use, growth and yield of green gram (Vigna radiata (L) Wilezek) during 1992-93 and 1993-94 under rainfed upland condition in Indo-Gangetic plains of West Bengal. Green gram sown in the month of March as pre-rainy (summer) season crop, as and when the winter crops vacated the land, produced highest dry matter of 372 gm-2 which was significantly highest in black gram-yellow sarson sequence. The results of the field experimentation revealed that green gram gave highest grain yield to the extent of 10.80 q/ha when sown after black gram (rainy season) followed by yellow sarson (winter season) while the crop produced 10.63 q/ha under sesame-yellow sarson sequence. Highest water use of 267 mm was achieved in green gram under black gram-yellow sarson sequence and the crop gave water use efficiency of 4.07 kg ha-1mm-1 under black gram-yellow sarson sequences.     

Book Reviews

Books Reviewed Colbert C. Held, Middle East Patterns: Places, People, and Politics Barbara A. Weightman, Dragons and Tigers: A Geography of South, East, and Southeast Asia Henry J. Bruman, Alcohol in Ancient Mexico Brian W. Blouet, Geopolitics and Globalization in the Twentieth Century M. A. B. Siddique (ed.), International Migration into the 21st Century: Essays in Honour of Reginald Appleyard Michael R. Haines and Richard H. Steckel (eds.), A Population History of North America Emilio Moran, Human Adaptability: An Introduction to Ecological Anthropology Jeremy Leggett, The Carbon War: Global Warming and the End of the Oil Era Susan B. Marriott and Jan Alexander (eds.), Floodplains: Interdisciplinary Approaches William S.Logan, Hanoi: Biography of a City Alex Krieger and David Cobb (eds.) with Amy Turner, Mapping Boston Eric Sandweiss, St. Louis: The Evolution of an American Urban Landscape Carl Abbott, Greater Portland: Urban Life and Landscape in the Pacific Northwest Arthur D. Murphy, Colleen Blanchard and Jennifer A. Hill (eds.), Latino Workers in the Contemporary South Yanek Mieczkowski, The Routledge Historical Atlas of Presidential Elections     

东莞城市化过程中若干问题研究

改革开放以来，东莞市积极吸纳海外资本与技术，通过“三来一补”企业的快速发展，带动了非农产业和小城镇的迅速发展。然而，受我国分散的工业化和农村城市化政策体制的影响，在快速城市化过程中也暴露出很多值得关注的问题。该文基于实地考察与问卷访谈，重点分析了土地利用效率低、外来人口集中以及基础设施建设与城市经济发展不相协调等问题，并提出协调城市化发展的对策。     

基于农用地价格体系的征用地价应用研究

农用地价格体系和估价成果应用是当前农用地定级估价工作的难点和争论焦点，该文提出了农用地价格体系应以资源基准地价为基础，通过一系列修正，得出分级分区的征用基准地价、不转变用途的农地流转价、转变用途的农地转用价；以佛山市南海区的农用地估价成果为例，就其与现行征地补偿标准进行了比较，并与南海城区、广州市区城镇建设用地基准地价的相互衔接性进行了验算，应用成本逆推法，从城镇基准地价导出建设用地生地地价，在内涵一致的条件下相互比较。结果表明，按此地价体系建立的农用地征用价能够与城镇地价相衔接，可为城乡地价一体化的建立提供实证。     

基于卫星遥感的鲁西北季节性风沙化土地研究

文章对鲁西北地区季节性风沙化土地的分布、特征及近20年来的演变做了初步的分析，阐述了该地区风沙化土地的成因及其危害，在肯定已有治沙成绩的基础上，就如何合理利用和改造这些土地提出了合理布局农田林网、地一步完善农田水利设施等意见和建议。     

策勒绿洲植被覆盖动态变化遥感研究

使用经严格配准的2个时相的TM和HRV图像数据为基础底料编制规一化植被指数图（NDVI），根据策勒绿洲特有的生态环境特征，研究植被指数灰度级与盖度级的对应函数关系，将其转换成植被盖度图。最终利用植被盖度图像所提供的各盖度级的数量和空间分配状况来评价图像所包括时段，即1990年至1998年期间植被环境质量的变化，为该区域生态环境综合治理提供新的研究方法。     

(Re)surveying the uses of Geographical Information Systems in Health Authorities 1991–2001

This paper provides a comparative analysis of two separate national surveys of the uptake and use of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) by Health Authorities (HAs) in England and Wales. The surveys were undertaken at two different time points (1991 and 2001), and the intervening period has been characterized by major (and continuing) health sector restructuring. The substantial number of HA mergers between 1991 and 2001 provide a methodological challenge in attempting to make comparisons. A pragmatic approach is adopted and the presentation of results has to be restricted solely to English and Welsh HA data. Our findings show that there has been a considerable increase in the use of GIS since the early 1990s, and there is some evidence of more sophisticated uses for a wider range of policy-related and application tasks. However, we conclude that there is still considerable scope for the wider uptake and use of GIS within the NHS. In addition, our findings provide a baseline with which to monitor the impacts of future organizational restructuring on the uses of GIS within the NHS. We suggest that this is important given the replacement of 95 English HAs with 28 new Strategic HAs (StHAs) from April 2002, and the repercussions of the anticipated shift in GIS responsibility to Primary Care Trusts.     

Distribution and effectiveness of nivation in Mediterranean mountains: Peñalara (Spain)

Snow accumulation is responsible for geomorphic and biogeographic processes taking place in the southern sector of the Peñalara massif in central Spain (40°51′N, 3°57′W; max. altitude 2428 m at Pico de Peñalara). This work compares the intensity of nivation on the eastern slope, leeward of the prevailing westerly winds and heavily eroded by glacial activity during the Pleistocene, to that of the western slope on the windward side, unaffected by glacial erosion and completely covered by a thick weathering mantle. On the eastern slope, nivation is effective only where the weathering mantle is exposed or on morainic formations. It does not occur on the landforms derived from glacial erosion. In contrast, the western side shows almost no evidence of snow action except where catastrophic mass movements have altered the regularity of the slope. During the post-glacial epoch, nivation cirques formed in the scars left by mass wasting. In the last 30 years, spring temperatures have increased and this activity has diminished. The pattern of evolution observed at Peñalara can be extrapolated to other Mediterranean mountains with similar characteristics such as marginal glacial activity during the Pleistocene, unconsolidated formations on the summits caused by chemical weathering, and dry, hot summers that can increase the effectiveness of nivation.     

Late Pleistocene–Holocene hydrologic changes in the interfluve areas of the central Ganga Plain, India

Abandoned channel belts, ponds and point bar deposits of palaeochannels in the interfluve regions of the central Ganga Plain suggest changes in the morphohydrologic conditions during the Latest Pleistocene–Holocene. Stratigraphy of these ponds comprises channel sand at the base overlain by shell-bearing clayey silt. The contact of the two facies marks the phase when channels converted into standing water bodies. Point bar deposits of some palaeochannels are overlain by oxidised aeolian sand, indicating that the channel abandonment possibly occurred due to the desiccation and aridity in the region.Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronometry of the pond sediments suggests that the deposition of the basal channel sand started before 13 ka and continued up to 8 ka. The ponds formed around 8–6 ka when the channel activity ceased. Evidence from the point bar deposits also indicates that the fluvial activity in the region ended sometime during 7–5 ka. This was followed by aeolian aggradation. The present study thus suggests that the hydrologic conditions in the Gangetic plains, i.e. initiation of channels and their abandonment, formation of microgeomorphologic features such as ponds and their eventual siltation, were controlled largely by climatic changes (i.e. monsoon changes) supported by tectonic activity. For the past 2 ka, increasing human and related agricultural activity has substantially accentuated the natural siltation rate of ponds.