Linking historical smelter emissions across Humberside （UK） to enhanced soil metal concentrations using geostatistics and preserved environmental samples

Background： Analysis of human malignancies on Humberside （UK） in 1984 showed an increased risk close to the site of the local smelter. Geochemical survey data for Pb and Sn in soil collected soon after the smelter closed showed elevated concentrations relative to local background levels, and a strong spatial trend related to the prevailing wind direction. No historical emission data existed and evidence associating the smelter with the putative soil contamination plume was considered equivocal. In this work we test the hypotheses that： a） historical data can be used to estimate the excess quantities of Pb and Sn in the soil; b） tree bark ＆ attic dust can act as historical archives of particulate deposition; c） geochemical and mineralogical information assist in linking the source of the metal and the historical contamination plume.     

Accumulation of cadmium by bivalves in the Pacific Northwest

Bivalves （mussels, scallops, oysters）, from the Pacific Northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada, contain high levels of cadmium, in some cases exceeding 7 μg/g wet weight of tissue. We have for the past 5 years, attempted to determine the source of this cadmium to these filter-feeding invertebrates, with our objective being that we would then be able to advise where bivalves could be cultured for human consumption such that cadmium accumulation by the bivalve was minimized. Our studies have indicated that there are distinct regional and temporal variations in bivalve cadmium residues. Some patterns in cadmium accumulation did occur, e.g. for bivalves located on the most outer westcoast of British Columbia, cadmium residues demonstrated some seasonal dependence. In general, however, variations could not be readily ascribed to food sources （oceanic versus terrestrial）, or to abiotic factors such as salinity and turbidity. Cadmium residues in oysters were negatively correlated with temperature supportive of a seasonal influence on measured cadmium concentrations.     

Sediment records of persistent organic pollutants （POPs） in relation to regional economic development： A comparison study in both Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta, China

Persistent organic pollutants （POPs） are semi-volatile chemicals that are toxic to wildlife and human. Typical POPs include most organochlorine pesticides （OCPs）, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs）, polychlorobiphenyls （PCBs）, polybrominated biphenyl ethers （PBDEs）, etc. Most POPs are hydrophobic, capable of accumulating and existing for a long time in the sediments. Well preserved, laminated sediment layers hence can serve as archives for POP pollution history in the sediment pool. Rapid economic growth has taken place since the early 1980s in most parts of China, of which the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Pan-Bohai Bay took the lead. Along with the brilliant regional economic development, the environmental quality has been severely deteriorated. For a more sustainable economic and social development, it is of vital need to understand the relationship between regional economic development and environmental pollution.     

THE RECENT INTELLECTUAL STRUCTURE OF GEOGRAPHY*

ABSTRACT. An active learning project in an introductory graduate course used multidimensional scaling of the name index in Geography in America at the Dawn of the 21st Century, by Gary Gaile and Cort Willmott, to reveal some features of the discipline's recent intellectual structure relevant to the relationship between human and physical geography. Previous analyses, dating to the 1980s, used citation indices or Association of American Geographers specialty‐group rosters to conclude that either the regional or the methods and environmental subdisciplines bridge human and physical geography. The name index has advantages over those databases, and its analysis reveals that the minimal connectivity that occurs between human and physical geography has recently operated more through environmental than through either methods or regional subdisciplines.     

Getting it wrong first time: building an interdisciplinary research relationship

This paper addresses recent debates on the need for greater collaboration across the physical and human geography divide. We discuss some of the problems of producing work that can be considered genuinely interdisciplinary. The paper reflects on a project examining the use of sustainable drainage systems in Glasgow and how we unwittingly produced a piece of social science research looking at a physical science topic. We suggest that more than simply the need for 'trust' between researchers, the actual practice of working together in the field – and, indeed, having the opportunity to make mistakes and learn from them – is essential. In working together, academics have a better opportunity to understand each other's intellectual and epistemological framework and develop projects where researchers can move beyond their disciplinary boundaries and weave their expertise into a coherent research output.     

Wellbeing, health and geography: A critical review and research agenda

Abstract:  This paper explores different conceptual and policy spaces of wellbeing. The increasing use of wellbeing in contemporary health debates affords geographers of health new arena in which to explore the processes that promote, remedy or regenerate health and ill-health. The paper first critically reviews the theoretical approaches and challenges for operationalizing the concept of wellbeing in both research and policy. We then present a framework of the spaces of wellbeing to provoke discussion and research amongst geographers of health. The paper concludes with proposals for future research orientations.     

湖南北部澧阳平原文化层的地球化学记录及意义

洞庭湖区澧阳平原有全国最密集、文化序列最清楚的史前遗址,是研究人与自然关系演变过程的重要地区。该区的文化层不仅蕴含了考古文物资料,而且赋存了大量的古代自然与人文环境的信息,其地球化学记录为解读人地关系提供了一把钥匙。通过对21处遗址114件不同时代的文化层及其生土层、表土层样品的地球化学特征的研究,认为文化层的常量元素更多地反映了自然环境的状况,新石器中期以后的文化层的微量元素则反映了人类活动的特征。不同时期文化层的元素组合反映了不同自然与文化阶段的古代自然和人文环境的特征,据其地球化学综合指标的分类可获得关于文化和环境演化统一性和阶段性的本质认识。     

抗震设防烈度的决策分析方法研究

研究了抗震设防烈度的决策分析方法，提出了“最优经济设防烈度”和“最优安全设防烈度”的两种决策分析模型，并引出了社会可接受死亡率的概念。通过算例分析可以发现，社会可接受死亡率的不同等级对最优设防烈度的确定具有决定作用，确定最优设防标准仅考虑经济效益是十分不全面的，还需要考虑人员伤亡的影响。     

BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Rabat: Urban Apartheid in Morocco . Janet Abu -Lughod . Marketplaces in a Developing Country: The Case of Western Nigeria . Isaac Ayinde Adalemo . Farming Development and Space: A World Agricultural Geography . Bernd Andreae . Section and Party: A Political Geography of American Presidential Elections, from Andrew Jackson to Ronald Reagan . J. Clark Archer and Peter J. Taylor . Women and Space: Ground Rules and Social Maps . Shirley Ardener , ed. European Progress in Spatial Analysis . R. J. Bennett , ed. The Origins of Academic Geography in the United States . Brian W. Blouet Geographic Perspectives on Global Problems . Ronald Reed Boyce . Seasonal Dimensions to Rural Poverty . Robert Chambers , Richard Longhurst and Arnold Pacey eds. The New Nationalism and the Use of Common Spaces: Issues in Marine Pollution and the Exploitation of Antarctica . Jonathan I. Charney , ed. Communications Tomorrow: The Coming of the Information Society . Edward Cornish , ed. The Design of Suburbia . Arthur Edwards . Explorer on the Northern Plains: Lieutenant Gouverneur K. Warren's Preliminary Report of Explorations in Nebraska and Dakota in the Years 1855–56–57. With an Introduction by Frank N. Schubert . The Changing Climate: Responses of the Natural Flora and Fauna . Michael J. Ford . Essentials of Physical Geography . Robert E. Gabler , Robert J. Sager , Sheila Brazier , and Daniel L. Wise. The Road to Jaramillo . William Glen . Valued Environments . John R. Gold and Jacquelin Burgess , eds. Proximity and Preference: Problems in the Multidimensional Analysis of Large Data Sets . Reginald G. Golledge and John N. Rayner , eds. A Search for Common Ground . Peter Gould and Gunnar Olsson , eds. Geography: Its History and Concepts . Arild Holt -Jensen . A Population Geography . Huw R. Jones . The Human Mosaic: A Thematic Introduction to Cultural Geography, 3rd ed. Terry G. Jordan and Lester Rowntree . Urban Social Geography: An Introduction . Paul Knox . The Anatomy of Job Loss: The How, Why and Where of Employment Decline . Doreen Massey and Richard Meegan . The Information Society as Post-Industial Society . Yoneji Masuda . Map Librarianship, 2nd ed. Harold Nichols . India: Cultural Patterns and Processes . Allen G. Noble and Ashok K. Dutt , eds. The God that Limps: Science and Technology in the Eighties . Colin Norman . Geography: An Introductory Perspective . Robert E. Norris , Keith D. Harries and John D. Vitek . The Politics of Technology Assessment . David M. O'Brien and Donald A. Marchand . Ethnic Segregation in Cities . Ceri Peach , Vaughan Robinson and Susan Smith , eds. Churches and Church Membership in the United States, 1980 . Bernard Quinn , Herman Anderson , Martin Bradley , Paul Goetting and Peggy Shriver . Energy in Australia: Politics and Economics . Hugh Saddler . Development from Above or Below? The Dialectics of Regional Planning in Developing Countries . Walter B. Stóuhr and D. R. Fraser Taylor , eds. Human Impact on the Ecosystem . Joy Tivy and Greg O'Hare . Plants and People: Vegetation Change in North America . Thomas R. Vale . The Mapmakers: The Story of the Great Pioneers in Cartography from Antiquity to the Space Age . John Noble Wilford .