Human and Environmental Factors Affect Patterns of Crop Diversity in an Ethiopian Highland Agroecosystem

The Ethiopian highlands are a center of diversity for numerous globally important crops. Heterogeneous landscapes, traditional agricultural practices, and inaccessibility have created and maintained diverse subsistence agroecosystems. We surveyed sixty-three farms in twelve communities of the Gamo highlands and found high levels of on-farm diversity of crop species and varieties. The extent and nature of this diversity are related to both ecological factors, namely elevation, and anthropogenic factors such as land-use history, accessibility to markets and extension, and strength and scale of farmer exchange networks. These human landscape features have the potential to both enhance and mediate effects of elevation and other environmental factors on crop diversity. The interaction of environmental and anthropogenic forces on the diversity of crops grown by farmers affects the strategies farmers employ to adapt their farming to changing conditions.     

Rapid generation of Digital Elevation Models from topographic maps

Abstract

In this article we demonstrate that substantial gains in time can be made when using point sampling rather than contour line digitising for generation of Digital Elevation Models (DEMs). A simple sampling scheme, based on regularly distributed points, was used supplemented with points near break-lines in the terrain. An evaluation of surfaces created with three different interpolation methods at three different resolutions shows that the statistical distribution was better when using points as opposed to contours, and that the accuracy was comparable despite the much smaller amount of input data.     

作为复杂适应系统的农业文化遗产：复杂性的挑战

本文首先阐述了农业系统的复杂性,并对农业系统所面对不确定性,以及外部系统的冲击和压力而形成的动态性进行了分析,提出“复杂适应性系统理论”为研究活态的农业系统,尤其为研究中国的全球重要农业文化遗产（GIAHS）提供了可能,而这些农业文化遗产系统（或其中某些部分）对于研究抵抗力和自我良性管理具有重要的意义.本文认为当前研究中的相关方法将会对整个系统的认识产生新的见解,同时避免把系统分解为各组分进行微观研究再重新还原成整体的研究思路.本文通过综述与GIAHS相关的方法并将旅游引入农村系统（作为一种扰动）,认为可以创造新的方法来认识农村发展干预措施对古老景观的影响,特别是分布在中国农村的许多景观.     

LOCATING EMPLOYMENT GROWTH IN URBAN AREAS TO MINIMIZE TRAVEL TIME

The transportation requirements of an urban area are, in part, a function of its land use pattern. Reducing travel in an urban area by effective land use design appears to be a worthwhile public policy objective. The planning model derived in this article uses as its core the matrix version of the Lowry model developed by Garin. The model allocates basic employment to the zones of an urban area in order to minimize work and service trips. A hypothetical planning problem for Metropolitan Toronto illustrates use of the model.     

主体功能区情景下的土地系统变化模拟

主体功能区要求对国土实施相对严格的空间管制措施,以实现资源生态和社会经济发展的协调。选择黑龙江省哈大齐(哈尔滨-大庆-齐齐哈尔)地区为研究案例,以CLUE-S模型模拟了两种情景下的未来土地系统变化情况,结果表明,在不实施任何空间管制措施的情景下,耕地对草地的蚕食将延续,生态功能持续降低;而在主体功能区建设的情景下,居民地将大幅度扩展,且主要占用盐碱地,同时保持了耕地和生态用地的安全,在一定程度上可缓解土地利用冲突,优化土地利用结构和国土开发格局。     

用相关分析法约简MCSs空间数据库

长江流域出现致洪大暴雨与青藏高原上中尺度对流系统(MCSs)的东移密切相关。为了寻找MCSs移动和传播的规律,我们将MCSs的移动路径与其中心附近一定范围内的环境物理量场之间建立联系,构造出MCSs东移空间数据挖掘数据库。在这个数据库中,包含由9个环境物理量生成的18个属性项,除此,还包括由MCSs本身的空间特征量构成的5个属性项,即TBB强度、面积、地理位置、形状等,共计23个属性项。利用1998年6月至8月日本地球静止气象卫星(GMS)的青藏高原逐时红外遥感云图计算出的云顶黑体辐射温度(TBB)及青藏高原高分辨率有限区域数值分析预报值系统(HLAFS)环境场物理量数据,构造出上述空间数据挖掘数据库,运用空间相关分析技术对其进行约简,结果表明：在高度(H)、温度（T）、涡度(VOR)、散度(DIV)、水汽通量散度(IFVQ)、垂直速度(W）、假相当位温（θse)、K指数(K)、相对湿度(RH)等9个因素中,高度、涡度、散度、水汽通量散度、垂直速度及k指数6个因素相对独立;而温度(T)、假相当位温(θse)、相对湿度（RH)之间相关性较强,而且与高度等其它6个因素密切相关。根据数据库约简原则,可将温度（T）、假相当位温(θse)、相对湿度(RH)3个因素生成的6个属性项从数据库中删除,以便提高数据挖掘效率。     

Sequence stratigraphy of the Berriassian-Lower Aptian deposits of West Siberia

The geological structure and conditions of formation of a Lower Cretaceous clinoform complex in West Siberia are examined based on sequence stratigraphy. The regional Berriasian-Hauterivian clinoforms are interpreted as third-order sequences, and their formation should be considered in terms of the Depositional Sequence III model. Productive beds of both shallow and deep marine as well as continental genesis formed mostly in a regressive basin and belong to the highstand systems tracts.     

Pressure sensitivity of olivine slip systems: first-principle calculations of generalised stacking faults

We have used a first-principle approach based on the calculation of generalised stacking faults (GSF) to study the influence of pressure on the mechanical properties of forsterite. Six cases corresponding to [100] glide over (010), (021) and (001), and [001] glide over (100), (010) and (110) have been considered. The relaxed energy barriers associated with plastic shear have been calculated by constraining the Si atoms to move perpendicular to the fault plane and allowing Mg and O atoms to move in every direction. These conditions, which preserve dilations as a relaxation process, introduce Si–O tetrahedral tilting as an additional relaxation mechanism. Relaxed GSF show little plastic anisotropy of [100] glide over different planes and confirms that [001] glide is intrinsically easier than [100] glide. The GSF are affected by the application of a 10 GPa confining pressure with a different response for each slip system that cannot be explained by sole elastic effect. In particular, [100](010) is found to harden significantly under pressure compared to [001](010). Our results give the first theoretical framework to understand the pressure-induced change of dominant slip systems observed by Couvy et al. (in Eur J Mineral 16(6):877–889, 2004) and P. Raterron et al. (in GRL, submitted). It appears necessary to account for the influence of pressure on the mechanical properties of silicates in the context of the deep Earth.     

Reconstructing fluvial bar surfaces from compound cross‐strata and the interpretation of bar accretion direction in large river deposits

The interpretation of fluvial styles from the rock record is based for a significant part on the identification of different types of fluvial bars, characterized by the geometric relationship between structures indicative of palaeocurrent and surfaces interpreted as indicative of bar form and bar accretion direction. These surfaces of bar accretion are the boundaries of flood‐related bar increment elements, which are typically less abundant in outcrops than what would be desirable, particularly in large river deposits in which each flood mobilizes large volumes of sediment, causing flood‐increment boundary surfaces to be widely spaced. Cross‐strata set boundaries, on the other hand, are abundant and indirectly reflect the process of unit bar accretion, inclined due to the combined effect of the unit bar surface inclination and the individual bedform climbing angle, in turn controlled by changes in flow structure caused by local bar‐scale morphology. This work presents a new method to deduce the geometry of unit bar surfaces from measured pairs of cross‐strata and cross‐strata set boundaries. The method can be used in the absence of abundant flood‐increment bounding surfaces; the study of real cases shows that, for both downstream and laterally accreting bars, the reconstructed planes are very similar to measured bar increment surfaces.     

Accessibility for High Asia： Comparative Perspectives on Northern Pakistan＇s Traffic Infrastructure and Linkages with Its Neighbours in the Hindukush-Karakoram- Himalaya

Starting with a discussion of development concepts which were applied in practice and which followed the developmentalist paradigm the expansion of traffic infrastructure in colonial and post-colonial periods is presented for the High Asian mountain rim. Selective railways and roads are the major feature of this development, which aimed first on serving the convenience of hill station visitors and followed strategic considerations later on. This bias between regional planning and implementation remains a characteristic feature. At the same time traffic infrastructure without asphalt roads is important for the mountain areas, thus breaking up the strong correlation between development and asphalt roads.