BOOK REVIEWS

Book Reviewed in this article: Marine Resources of Kuwait: Their Role in the Development of Non-oil Resources . Fatimah H. Y. al -Abdul -Razzak Recollections of a Revolution: Geography as Spatial Science . Mark Billinge , Derek Gregory and Ron Martin Entre l'Eden et l'Utopie . Luc Bureau Developments in Political Geography . M. A. Busteed The Elements of Graphing Data . William S. Cleveland Rural Resource Management . Paul J. Cloke and Chris C. Park Third World Atlas . Ben Crow and Alan Thomas Exploitation, Conservation, Preservation: A Geographic Perspective on Natural Resource Use . Susan L. Cutter , Hilary Lambert Renwick, and William H. Renwick . Wine Regions of the Southern Hemisphere . Harm Jan de Blij Regional Development: Problems and Policies in Eastern and Western Europe . George Demko The Geographer at Work . Peter R. Gould Change in the Amazon Basin . John Hemming Geography Since the Second World War . R. J. Johnston and P. Claval Urbanization in China: Town and Countryside in a Developing Economy 1949–2000 A.D. , R. J. R. Kirkby Transport and Communications for Pacific Microstates: Issues in Organisation and Management . Christopher C. Kissling Fluvial Forms and Processes . David Knighton The Urban Millennium . Josef W. Konvitz Technological Transition in Cartography . Mark Stephen Monmonier Field Guide to Soils and the Environment: Applications of Soil Surveys . Gerald W. Olson Northern Australia: The Arenas of Life and Ecosystems on Half a Continent . Don Parkes A Killing Rain: The Global Threat of Acid Rain . Thomas Pawlick From the Family Farm to Agribusiness: The Irrigation Crusade in California and the West, 1850–1931 . Donald J. Pisani Hybrid Maize Diffusion in Kenya . Franz -Michael Rundquist Warning and Response to the Mount St. Helens Eruption . Thomas F. Saarinen and James L. Sell Coastal Geomorphology in Australia . B. G. Thom Tropical Rain Forests of the Far East , 2nd ed . T. C. Whitmore The Dark Side of the Earth . Robert Muir Wood Categorical Data Analysis for Geographers and Environmental Scientists , Neil Wrigley     

Preliminary Quantitative Assessment of Earthquake Casualties and Damages

Prognostic estimations of the expected number of killed or injured people and about the approximate cost associated with the damages caused by earthquakes are made following a suitable methodology of wide-ranging application. For the preliminary assessment of human life losses due to the occurrence of a relatively strong earthquake we use a quantitative model consisting of a correlation between the number of casualties and the earthquake magnitude as a function of population density. The macroseismic intensity field is determined in accordance with an updated anelastic attenuation law, and the number of casualties within areas of different intensity is computed using an application developed in a geographic information system (GIS) environment, taking advantage of the possibilities of such a system for the treatment of space-distributed data. The casualty rate, defined as the number of killed people divided by the number of inhabitants of the affected region, is also computed and we show its variation for some urban concentrations with different population density. For a rough preliminary evaluation of the direct economic cost derived from the damages, equally through a GIS-based tool, we take into account the local social wealth as a function of the gross domestic product of the country. This last step is performed on the basis of the relationship of the macroseismic intensity to the earthquake economic loss in percentage of the wealth. Such an approach to the human casualty and damage levels is carried out for sites near important cities located in a seismically active zone of Spain, thus contributing to an easier taking of decisions in emergency preparedness planning, contemporary earthquake engineering and seismic risk prevention.     

Equations for the Estimation of Strong Ground Motions from Shallow Crustal Earthquakes Using Data from Europe and the Middle East: Horizontal Peak Ground Acceleration and Spectral Acceleration

This article presents equations for the estimation of horizontal strong ground motions caused by shallow crustal earthquakes with magnitudes M_w 5 and distance to the surface projection of the fault less than 100km. These equations were derived by weighted regression analysis, used to remove observed magnitude-dependent variance, on a set of 595 strong-motion records recorded in Europe and the Middle East. Coefficients are included to model the effect of local site effects and faulting mechanism on the observed ground motions. The equations include coefficients to model the observed magnitude-dependent decay rate. The main findings of this study are that: short-period ground motions from small and moderate magnitude earthquakes decay faster than the commonly assumed 1/r, the average effect of differing faulting mechanisms is not large and corresponds to factors between 0.8 (normal and odd) and 1.3 (thrust) with respect to strike-slip motions and that the average long-period amplification caused by soft soil deposits is about 2.6 over those on rock sites. Disappointingly the standard deviations associated with the derived equations are not significantly lower than those found in previous studies.     

Biomonitoring of Atmospheric Heavy Metal Deposition by Mosses in the Vicinity of Industrial Sites

At four industrial regions, heavy metal concentrations and calculated depositions were investigated by sampling and analysing mosses. In each region, a special spatial pattern of heavy metal concentrations was detected, reflecting the industrial processes. Metals most likely originating from the industrial sites showed an exponential decrease of concentrations and depositions with increasing distance from the pollution source. The exponential deposition pattern was in some cases modified by a series of natural factors, like the main direction of winds or orographic conditions. The distance at which deposition dropped to background values was up to 20 km. Beside the fact that the moss-metho is a useful tool for deposition measurement in the vicinity of stationary sources, some improvements for using this method are discussed, highlighting factors such as a proper calculation of deposition from concentrations, or the better knowledge of correlations between heavy metal concentrations in mosses and effects on human health.     

An investigation of analysis of variance as a tool for exploring regional differences in strong ground motions

The statistical technique known as analysis of variance is applied to a large set of European strong-motion data to investigate whether strong ground motions show a regional dependence. This question is important when selecting strong-motion records for the derivation of ground motion prediction equations and also when choosing strong-motion records from one geographical region for design purposes in another. Five regions with much strong-motion data (the Caucasus region, central Italy, Friuli, Greece and south Iceland) are investigated here. For the magnitude and distance range where there are overlapping data from the five areas (2.50 M_s 5.50, 0 d 35 km) and consequently analysis of variance can be performed, there is little evidence for a regional dependence of ground motions. There is a lack of data from moderate and large magnitude earthquakes (M_s > 5.5) so analysis of variance cannot be performed there. Since there is uncertainty regarding scaling ground motions from small to large magnitudes whether ground motions from large earthquakes are significantly different in different parts of Europe is not known. Analysis of variance has the ability to complement other techniques for the assessment of regional dependence of ground motions.     

Solar radiative output and its variability: evidence and mechanisms

Electromagnetic radiation from the Sun is Earths primary energy source. Space-based radiometric measurements in the past two decades have begun to establish the nature, magnitude and origins of its variability. An 11-year cycle with peak-to-peak amplitude of order 0.1 % is now well established in recent total solar irradiance observations, as are larger variations of order 0.2 % associated with the Suns 27-day rotation period. The ultraviolet, visible and infrared spectral regions all participate in these variations, with larger changes at shorter wavelengths. Linkages of solar radiative output variations with solar magnetism are clearly identified. Active regions alter the local radiance, and their wavelength-dependent contrasts relative to the quiet Sun control the relative spectrum of irradiance variability. Solar radiative output also responds to sub-surface convection and to eruptive events on the Sun. On the shortest time scales, total irradiance exhibits five minute fluctuations of amplitude %, and can increase to as much as 0.015 % during the very largest solar flares. Unknown is whether multi-decadal changes in solar activity produce longer-term irradiance variations larger than observed thus far in the contemporary epoch. Empirical associations with solar activity proxies suggest reduced total solar irradiance during the anomalously low activity in the seventeenth century Maunder Minimum relative to the present. Uncertainties in understanding the physical relationships between direct magnetic modulation of solar radiative output and heliospheric modulation of cosmogenic proxies preclude definitive historical irradiance estimates, as yet.Received: 26 August 2004, Published online: 16 November 2004 Correspondence to: Claus Fröhlich     

Ethnic coexistence in a pluralistic campus environment

In Malaysia, ethnic segregation seems to have grown more and more pronounced at all levels of education, which may have in the main contributed to increasing occupational segregation by ethnicity when the graduates left to join the job market. Such trends may be disturbing given the effort the country has put in to promote interethnic understanding and reduce interethnic economic disparity since 1970. By critically investigating the dynamics of ethnic coexistence in the microcosm of the university campus environment, this paper provides statistical evidence to show how far the country has progressed in terms of ethnic relations since the watershed events of May 13, 1969; to what extent Malaysian multiethnic society is different now compared to the unmistakable racial “corporateness” and interethnic “separateness” that Furnivall observed in his classic study of 1948; and in what ways ethnic relations have been reshaped by three decades of affirmative action policies and the form of ethnic democracy adapted for this unique society.

Assessing selected natural and anthropogenic impacts on freshwater lens morphology on small barrier Islands: Dog Island and St. George Island, Florida, USA

Abstract The freshwater lens morphologies of the barrier islands Dog Island and St. George Island on the panhandle coast of Florida (FL), USA, are controlled to varying degrees by both natural and anthropogenic factors. Variable-density groundwater flow models confirm that spatial variability of recharge values can account for the observed lens asymmetry on these islands. The depth to the base of the lens does not vary significantly seasonally. Human development has altered recharge patterns in some areas, locally thinning the freshwater lens. Aqueduct water supply to St. George Island represents 7–25% of natural recharge; higher recharge rates are required to simulate the lens on St. George Island than on Dog Island. On both islands, coastal erosion rates are sufficiently rapid that the freshwater lens may not be in equilibrium with current boundary conditions.

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Resumen Las morfologías de los lentes de agua dulce en las islas de barrera: Islas Dog y St. George, en la costa alargada y estrecha de Florida, EUA, están controladas en diferentes grados por factores antropogénicos y naturales. Los modelos de flujo con densidad variable del agua subterránea, confirman que la variabilidad espacial de los valores de recarga, pueden ser la causa de la asimetría observada en los lentes de estas islas. La profundidad hasta la base de los lentes no varía significativamente con las estaciones climáticas. El desarrollo humano ha alterado las tendencias de recarga en algunas áreas, causando adelgazamiento local de los lentes de agua dulce. El abastecimiento de agua del acueducto en la Isla St. George, representa entre 7% y 25% de la recarga natural; por otro lado se necesitan cantidades mayores de recarga para simular los lentes en la Isla St. George que en la Isla Dog. En ambas islas, las tasas de erosión costera son tan rápidas, que las lentes de agua dulce podrían no estar en equilibrio con las condiciones actuales de frontera.

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Résumé La morphologie des lentilles deau douce des îles de Dog et de St. George, situés dans le district côtier de Florida-Etats Unis est contrôlé dans une mesure variable par des facteurs naturelles et humaines. Les modèles découlement à densité variable des eaux souterraines confirment que la variation spatiale de la recharge peut expliquer les asymétries observées des lentilles des cettes îles. La profondeur des lentilles ne présente pas des variations saisonnières importantes. Les activités humaines ont modifié la recharge dans certaines zones en amincissant localement les lentilles deau douce. Lalimentation en eaux de lîle de St. George représente 7–25% de la recharge naturelle; pour simuler les lentilles de lîle de Dog il a été nécessaire dintroduire des valeurs plus élevées de la recharge par rapport aux ceux utilisés pour lîle de St. George. Pour les deux îles lérosion côtière est assez rapide ainsi que les lentilles de eau douce ne sont pas en équilibre avec les conditions à la frontière.

     

在空间抽象中线状目标间拓扑关系的等价转换

拓扑关系在抽象过程中的等价转换是维护多尺度空间关系一致性的基础。本文以空间拓扑关系组合推理所描述的线状目标之间的拓扑关系为例,采用成分抽象的等价转换方法,研究了线之间拓扑关系等价转换的原则,并绘出了相应的等价转换图。