The Victorian Bushfires of 2002–03 and the Politics of Blame: a Discourse Analysis

This paper identifies contrasting environmental discourses on bushfire from the public debate that followed the Victorian fires of 2002–03. Submissions to the inquiry into the 2002–03 Victorian bushfires provide a particularly rich source of documentation. It is argued that environmental events such as bushfire only become political issues, or problems, when they are constituted as such through environmental discourse. Through the analysis, three contrasting discourses on bushfire are identified—here labelled the ‘conservationist’, ‘ruralist’ and ‘wise use’ discourses. In examining how different ‘constructions’ of bushfire have led to conflict, each discourse is shown to consist of a range of actors who draw on shared storylines. Having established a better understanding of the different attitudes, beliefs, interests and values that underpin debates about bushfire, the paper concludes with a brief discussion of the prospects for compromise among the discourses and the potential for improved land and fire management outcomes.     

开封大雾气候特征及预报

利用1961～2000年气象资料，分析了开封市大雾天气分布规律、天气特征，并总结出大雾产生的几种天气形势，找出预报指标。     

Paleo-earthquake studies on the eastern section of the Kunlun fault

Introduction East Kunlun active fault is one of the largest sinistral slip fault zones in northern Tibetan Pla-teau. The fault tails primarily after the ancient eastern Kunlun suture zone, which was reactivatedby the northward subduction of the Indian plate beneath the Eurasian plate. The western end of thefault starts near the western flank of the Buxedaban peak in Qinghai Province. The fault then ex-tends eastwards through the Kusai Lake, Xidatan, Dongdatan, Alag Lake, Tuosuo Lak…     

Application of Characteristics of Seismogenic Structures in the Determination of Parameter of Potential Seismic Source Areas

INTRODUCTIONThe method of probabilistic seismic risk analysis was proposed by Cornell in1968(Cornell,1968).After more than30years development,it has become the main method for seismic riskassessment of engineering sites and seismic zonation,and has been u…     

Characteristics of Energy Accumulation and Release of Seismogenic Tectonics and Seismic Risk Analysis in Some Areas in the Tianshan Mountains, Xinjiang1

INTRODUCTIONHowtocombinethestudyofseismogenictectonicswithearthquakepredictionisanurgentscientificdifficulty .Thereexistbiggapsbetweenstudymethodsandcurrentknowledgeonseismogenitectonics ,earthquakeprediction ,seismogenesisandthephysicsofearthquakeoccurre…     

Geographical knowledge and policy: the positive contribution of discourse studies

The 'discursive turn' has been blamed for a lack of engagement between geographers and policymakers. This paper argues that such a view is fundamentally flawed. It ignores the positive contribution that discourse analysis has made to policy studies and the particular role that geographers have played in developing such analyses. It is based on a misconceived view of the policy process and how knowledge can contribute to policy outcomes. A closer attention to policy discourses reveals exactly how knowledge is constructed within the policy process and can help identify how policy may be improved through discursive means.     

Research relevance, 'knowledge transfer' and the geographies of CASE studentship collaboration

The Co-operative Awards in Science and Engineering (CASE) studentship programme of the UK Research Councils provide one example of wider efforts internationally to encourage so-called 'knowledge transfer' and thereby harness publicly supported university research more closely to the goals of national competitiveness, regional economic development and local regeneration. In this paper we describe the implications of how the various UK research councils have interpreted the objectives and beneficiaries of 'knowledge transfer', both for the relative opportunities available to human and physical geographers for collaboration through CASE and for the sorts of values that their research must serve. Then, we draw on unpublished data from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to explore the geographies of CASE studentship allocation and participation. The broad regional and institutional patterns of participation we describe have important implications for ongoing debates in the UK about research selectivity and the role of the university as an engine of local development, while the striking disciplinary patterns of CASE participation, and in particular the overwhelming success of geographers in this competitive programme, provide an opportunity to reassess claims about whether and for whom geographical research is relevant.     

Traces of the secondary Geography curriculum

Abstract: Expressions of dissatisfaction about the post‐compulsory Geography curriculum in the early 1970s were unusually concerted, leading to the creation of a National Geography Curriculum Committee. This essay reviews this history and the resulting Syllabus for Schools: Geography Forms 5–7 as a prelude to a discussion of contemporary curriculum development. The essay argues that curriculum development from 1975 and the ‘education reforms’ of the late 1980s failed to produce conditions in which satisfactory outcomes for a Geography curriculum can be assured in 2005, and that a new and concerted period of participation in curriculum discussion is required. Some goals for this process are outlined in the final section of the paper.     

Climatic response of thick leaf spruce (Picea crassifolia) tree-ring width at different elevations over Qilian Mountains, northwestern China

Tree-ring cores of thick leaf spruce (Picea crassifolia) taken from four sites at different elevations, in the middle of the Qilian Mountains, in the arid and semi-arid region of northwestern China, were used to develop four tree-ring width chronologies using standard dendrochronological methods. Results indicate that with increasing altitude the chronologies’ year-to-year variations decreased. Hence, the sensitivity of the tree-ring chronologies to climate decreases with altitude. Further analysis showed that the significant limiting factor on tree growth is spring precipitation. Measurements of stomata density and leaf dry weight suggest the species’ ecological adaptation strategy changes with elevation. At high elevation the metabolic rate of thick leaf spruce decreases, thus showing the effect of the climate.