The Geography of Education and the Education of Geography: Agricultural Extension and the Political Ecology of Education

The spatial nature of learning is increasingly a focus of geographic inquiry. I argue that the spatiality of education, which is where formal learning occurs, has the potential to shape students’ spatial imaginaries. I analyze the role the spatiality of agronomic education plays in the historical construction of the social and physical landscape in southeastern Pará, Brazil. In opposing ways, the first Green Revolution, and agrarian social movements’ more recent agroecological Green Revolution are found to structure agronomic education and spatial imaginaries. The perspectives of agricultural extension agents trained in traditional agronomic programs are compared with teachers from an agroecological school located in an Amazonian agrarian reform settlement of Brazil's Landless Workers’ Movement. I collected these data over 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork. To analyze these data, I employ a political ecology of education perspective, which highlights how education and political economy interact to mediate relations with, access to, and contestations over natural resources. The geography of education and the education of geography exist in a complicated feedback cycle: Education is not neutral but ideologically charged and affects conceptions of productive landscapes, providing students intellectual and economic power to put their visions of landscape into effect.     

陕北地区退耕还林还草工程土壤保护效应的时空特征

以中国退耕还林生态工程重点区域陕北地区作为研究区,基于耕地遥感监测数据集,分析了陕北地区2000-2013年耕地的时空变化特征;基于梯田空间分布,对RUSLE模型进行改进,模拟生成陕北地区土壤侵蚀模数栅格数据并进行精度验证;最后结合耕地变化数据集对陕北地区退耕还林（草）地及未退耕地的土壤侵蚀变化特征进行对比分析,以明确工程对全区土壤侵蚀变化的影响。结果表明,2000-2010年,陕北退耕农田内部侵蚀模数减少了22.70 t/hm ²,是退耕农田区2000年土壤侵蚀模数的47.08%。同期,陕北地区未退耕农田侵蚀模数减少了10.99 t/hm ²,占未退耕农田区域2000年土壤侵蚀模数的28.60%。从陕北全区的角度看,各种土地利用类型2000-2010年土壤侵蚀模数平均减少了14.51 t/hm ²,占2000年全区土壤侵蚀模数的41.87%。由此可见,退耕还林还草工程可以有效减少土壤侵蚀模数,达到土壤保护的作用。其中,由耕地转为林草所导致的侵蚀减少最为显著,对土壤保护的贡献作用最大。但是,2010年以后（2010-2013年）为退耕还林还草巩固时期,因此该阶段陕北地区土壤侵蚀模数和土壤侵蚀量变化较前10年显著降低。     

小区地表温度与下垫面结构关系研究

以北京市为例,选取了商业区、学校、生活区和公园4种典型小区24个,基于遥感及GIS的方法反演地表温度,获取下垫面覆盖信息;研究了不同类型小区地表温度热场与下垫面结构的关系.结果表明:水体、绿地具有明显的降温功能,建筑地面则增温效果明显,这3种地表所占的面积比例与小区平均地表温度关系密切;在所选取的绿地结构指数中,对温度影响从大到小依次为绿地覆盖率、分离度、缀块平均面积、连通指数、形状指数和分维数,其中,分离度与温度呈现正相关,其它指数与温度呈负相关;在所有类型小区中,温度从高到低依次为商业区、学校、生活区和公园;公园的温度分布在所有类型小区中最分散,商业区最集中.     

Integrated management of marine biodiversity in Europe: Perspectives from ICZM and the evolving EU Maritime Policy framework

Biological diversity, or biodiversity, is high on the international agenda for nature conservation. Marine and coastal ecosystems account for an important share of the biological diversity on Earth. As a consequence many international conventions, European legislation and national laws refer to marine biodiversity. The protection of marine biodiversity is a complex legal issue as it requires consideration of geographic (between land and sea), political (between conservation and exploitation), and economic (between fisheries, tourism, intellectual property and many other sectors) factors. Like Matryoshka dolls, marine biodiversity is a heterogeneous notion difficult to address as one discrete area in the development of policy agendas or juridical frameworks. In the past decade, the EU has been very active in Promoting Integrated Coastal Zone Management and in developing a framework for an Integrated Maritime Policy. This article reviews the status of marine biodiversity in the policy and legal initiatives of the European Union, a challenging issue to both the objectives of conservation and to the concept of integration.     

An Efficient Model for Transient Surface Waves in Both Finite and Infinite Water Depths

A numerical model is developed to simulate fully nonlinear extreme waves in finite and infinite water-depth wave tanks. A semi-mixed Eulerian-Lagrangian formulation is adopted and a higher-order boundary element method in conjunction with an image Green function is used for the fluid domain. The boundary values on the free surface are updated at each time step by a fourth-order Runga-Kutta time-marching scheme at each time step. Input wave characteristics are specified at the upstream boundary by an appropr...     

Application and cost-benefit analysis of solar hybrid power installation on merchant marine vessels

Photovoltaic systems are renewable energy sources with various applications and their implementations in energy production and saving are verified. Installing those systems onto merchant marine vessels could prove to be an efficient way of minimizing fuel costs and simultaneously protecting the environment by reducing significant carbon dioxide emissions. This paper examines the feasibility of installing solar panels onto vessels and also calculated the payback period from the adopted investment with respect to fuel oil savings. Thus, the two important parameters incorporated in the parametric analysis are the solar radiation density and the fuel cost. In order to calculate the energy production of the solar installation systems, the globe is divided in six different zones, according to solar radiation density (Stackhouse and Whitlock, 2008). For one square meter of the considered solar panels the peak output power is taken equal to 130 W (Kagaraki, 2001). The payback period of the investment depends greatly on the fuel prices. For a reasonable fuel price annual increase at about 10-15% the estimated payback period varies from 16 to 27 years. The more the fuel oil increases, the methodology reveals that the payback period converges to a minimum of 10 years. When using any storage media such as hydrogen, the methodology shows that the payback period increases and this depends on the proportion of the energy stored and from the storage media itself.     

Interaction of ocean waves with floating and submerged horizontal flexible structures in three-dimensions

A three-dimensional general mathematical hydroelastic model dealing with the problem of wave interaction with a floating and a submerged flexible structure is developed based on small amplitude wave theory and linear structural response. The horizontal floating and submerged flexible structures are modelled with a thin plate theory. The linearized long wave equations based on shallow water approximations are derived and results are compared. Three-dimensional Green’s functions are derived using fundamental source potentials in water of finite and infinite depths. The expansion formulae associated with orthogonal mode-coupling relations are derived based on the application of Fourier transform in finite and infinite depths in case of finite width in three-dimensions. The usefulness of the expansion formula is demonstrated by analysing a physical problem of surface gravity wave interaction with a moored finite floating elastic plate in the presence of a finite submerged flexible membrane in three-dimensions. The numerical accuracy of the method is demonstrated by computing the complex values of reflected wave amplitudes for different modes of oscillation and mooring stiffness. Further, the effect of compressive force and modes of oscillations on a free oscillation hydroelastic waves in a closed channel of finite width and length for floating and submerged elastic plate system is analysed.     

Bioenergetic responses in green lipped mussels (Perna viridis) as indicators of pollution stress in Xiamen coastal waters, China

Samples of green lipped mussels (Perna viridis) were collected from three sites (Huoshao, I’Maluan and Tong’an) around Xiamen coastal waters, where levels of various trace organic pollutants have been studied. Samples were also collected at a “cleaner” reference site near Dongshan Island for comparison. Clearance rate, absorption efficiency and oxygen consumption of the mussels were measured under controlled laboratory condition; organic pollutants in their tissues were also analyzed. Scope for growth (SFG) was employed as a general biomarker to evaluate the stress of pollutants. Specimens from Tong’an site had the lowest SFG values (1.14 J/h/g); while specimens from the I’Maluan site and Huoshao site had SFG values of 5.01 and 6.72 J/h/g, respectively. Specimens from Dongshan (reference site) had a relatively high SFG value of 10.96 J/h/g. There was a significant negative correlation between the SFG of the different populations of green lipped mussels and the concentration of DDT in their tissues.     

内蒙古半干旱草原土壤－植被－大气相互作用综合研究

为深化对中纬度半干旱草原气候-生态相互作用过程、机制及其对全球变化的响应与贡献的认识,一项名为“内蒙古半干旱草原土壤-植被-大气相互作用(IMGRASS)”的基金重大项目于1997~2001年在内蒙古锡林郭勒草原执行。IMGRASS计划在1998年草原生长季节在所选定的以典型草原为主,包括草甸草原、稀疏沙地草原等在内的中尺度试验区开展了多点、多要素的综合观测。观测内容包括土壤、植被、大气的相关要素和发生于地-气界面的潜热、感热通量,还包括N2O,CH4,CO2等微量气体交换量、辐射与降水分布。除1998年中尺度观测试验外,1999~2001年在代表性地点进行了微量气体收支、遥感和沙尘天气相关的专项观测,结合草原站已进行的长期监测资料,分析气候-生态长期相互作用,特别是人类活动干预的影响。在分析观测结果的基础上,对该地区的气候-生态相互作用进行了数值模拟研究。文章简要介绍IMGRASS计划目标和初步成果,包括:计划目标与实验区背景;半干旱草原不同地表陆气相互作用特征;浑善达克沙地及其沙尘气溶胶特征;半干旱草原温室气体收支与碳循环测量分析;人类活动干预下半干旱草原生态退化与恢复演替规律;半干旱草原的遥感测量。     

绿山设计软件在三维地震勘探中的应用

绿山三维观测系统设计软件,可根据用户给定的地质目标、成像面积、覆盖次数、现有设备和工区实际情况,设计合理的观测系统和布设方案.此软件还能帮助野外技术人员根据野外实际情况现场指导生产,提高工作效率,减少施工成本,对工程质量进行实时监控.