From catfish to organic fish: making distinctions about nature as cultural economic practice

This paper addresses the cultural economy of nature and the material culture of economic practice. Attending to ways that cultural notions about the biophysical world play key roles in political economic conflicts, discussion centers on two recent debates involving the cultural economy of seafood production and trade. The first debate is over whether the label “catfish” should include catfish imported from Vietnam into the United States; the second deals with whether fish and shellfish should be eligible to be certified “organic” under new US regulations. Analysis reveals that the key dynamic in these debates is not necessarily how people think about “nature”, but instead is how people make distinctions about the world. Rather than focusing on what is natural or not, key actors make distinctions among both organisms and environments. The ways that different groups define and enclose the biophysical world works to distinguish places as either appropriate or not for certain kinds of production activities. The overall argument is that significance and meaning of the biophysical become implicated in economic geographies by making distinctions about the world that then become important for how economic activity can work. As such, cultural economic approaches should attend to the ways that the biophysical is involved in relations such as competition and international trade, while nature-society approaches should shift focus from Nature to specific aspects of the biophysical world.     

三江源生态环境监测研究

青海省生态环境监测系统主要由遍布全省各典型生态系统区的生态环境监测站网、卫星遥感信息接收处理系统，信息收集、处理、模拟、评价系统，综合信息服务与反馈等部分组成。建立环境监测系统的目的是对青海省的生态环境进行系统监测和评估，及时为各级政府、有关部门和公众提供准确、全面的生态环境监测信息，为生态环境保护和建设提供科学依据。青海省生态环境监测系统于2003年5月1日开始业务运行，目前尚处于起步阶段。     

飞行物体虚拟环境仿真系统的研究

概述了飞行物体虚拟环境仿真系统包含的主要技术，重点讨论了虚拟环境中视景系统构建的关键问题，如场景建模、模型驱动及视点的控制与变换等。     

大地测量数据接口技术与接口标准

建立了由接口文件、接口文件处理器和共享信息模型组成的大地测量数据接口体系结构，划分了大地测量数据服务的3类不同接口类型。在建立了面向对象的接口数据模型的基础上，讨论了面向传统用户的控制点数字化成果格式、面向生产过程的大地控制网统一数据结构和面向GIS的大地测量数据交换格式。     

山西省大型水库水环境评价

通过对山西省大型水库1983年至1985年及1996年至1998年水质监测资料的分析评价，表明67％的水库水质只要进行简单处理后，即可满足各类用水要求，其余33％污染较重的水库，其污染物质也十分单一。因此山西省大型水库开发利用的前景十分广阔。在此基础上，进一步提出了大型水库水质保护和改善措施。     

计算机网络的分布式计算环境及分布式处理

本文对网络计算模式、分布式计算环境以及分布式处理机能作了分析和探讨。     

甘、宁、青地区地震孕育的力源环境

从3个方面讨论了甘、宁、青三省区地震孕育的力源环境。①从强震震源机制、地震形变带、断层滑移特征和现代形变、地应力实地测量等几个不同侧面，讨论了区域构适应力场的分布规律。指出，甘、宁、青现今区域构造应力场以水平为主，主压应力方向从地区的西部到东南部，由NNE逐渐转为近EW向，且在地壳的深部、浅部和地表，方向有较好的一致性。它是印度板块向青藏块体碰撞、挤压，使青藏块体向北东方向推济，同时向东蠕散的结果。②通过讨论发展断层的错动形式以及部分前兆资料所反映的应力特征，揭示了地震孕育过程中震源及周围地区处于一种更高的应力状态。这是该地区地震前兆具有普遍性的根本原因。③讨论了甘、宁、青现今地震的孕育方式。指出，6级以上地震基本上以先存断层重新活动或相互沟通为主要活动形式。     

辽河小洼油田东营组沉积环境条件的研究

陆相盆地沉积作用主要受构造作用及古气候的控制，所以从区域构造背景出发，结合地层、古生物、沉积、地球化学等方面资料，对小洼油田东营组的沉积环境条件进行综合分析。确定了沉积物源来自北东方向的中央凸起，古气候属于半干旱—半潮湿的温带气候条件，水介质是弱还原性的淡水滨浅湖泊沉积环境。此时中央凸起上丰富的风化剥蚀产物经过河流的搬运和分异作用，进入湖盆中形成三角洲沉积体     

200 years of mining activities at La Paz/San Luis Potosí/Mexico - Consequences for environment and geochemical exploration

The Ag---Pb---Zn---Cu---Au mining district of Santa María de La Paz has been extensively exploited for approximately 200 years. Consequences of these activities are several deposits of tailings with high As and heavy metal concentrations, which are completely unstable. The climate is semiarid and as the dumps have no protective cover, material from the dumps is dispersed by strong winds. It is also washed out during seasonally heavy rainfalls. By these processes approximately 100 km² of surrounding have been contaminated by dump material. The As and heavy metal content of the soils was determined as well as their level in crops (Zea Maize) from agricultural lands in the vicinity of the dumps. In the direction of prevailing winds concentrations up to 1000 ppm Zn, 400 ppm Pb, 16 ppm Cd, 550 ppm Cu and 300 As have been detected in top soils. Using fuzzy cluster analysis the different contamination sources could be identified. Grains of corn from contaminated sites showed no critical concentrations, but leaves which are also used tor fodder, have As-concentrations up to 20 ppm.     

Mercury mobility at the Carson River Superfund Site, west-central Nevada, USA: Interpretation of mercury speciation data in mill tailings, soils, and sediments

The Carson River Superfund Site in west-central Nevada is an area of Hg-contaminated soil, sediment, water, air, and biola resulting from the amalgamation milling of Ag-Au ores of the Comstock lode worked approximately a century ago. In order to develop an understanding of the behavior, transport, and fate of Hg at this site, a technique was developed to estimate the proportions of total, elemental, exchangeable, organic, and sulfide Hg in soils, sediments, and tailings.Results of this analysis performed on active Carson River sediments indicate that Hg is selectively dissolved out of Hg-Au amalgam particles and subsequently adsorbed to fine-grained sediments which are then deposited in downstream, low-energy reaches of the Carson River and Labontan Reservoir. In the relatively more-reducing environment of the reservoir Hg appears to be converted, in large part, to relatively-insoluble HgS.The original elemental form of Hg released to the environment is the chemical form which is still dominant in most highly-contaminated soils, sediments, and tailings. Deeper, more-reducing soil horizons, however, appear to fix a significant portion of the Hg as HgS, analogous to the Lahontan Reservoir example described above. This fixation as HgS is documented to be largely limited to higher-sulfur areas where sulfide minerals from the Comstock ores increase the total sulfur concentrations of contaminated soils, sediments, and tailings.