76 FR 24087 - Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-29

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans; Notice of Meeting The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) gives notice under Public Law 92-463 (Federal Advisory Committee Act... Harbor View Room at the Best Western Bay Harbor Hotel, 7700 Courtney Campbell Causeway, Tampa, Florida...

Storage temperature affects fruit quality attributes of Ber (Ziziphus ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

STORAGESEVER

2008-09-03

Sep 3, 2008 ... 2Department of Agricultural Research and Extension Services, Agronomy Research Institute, Box CY 550, Causeway, ... Fruit utilization is affected by quality attributes and shelf life. ... preserve fresh and dried fruits can ensure its availability ... Vitamin C was determined using titrimetric method with 2,6-.

78 FR 40436 - Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to Specified Activities; Navy Training Conducted at the Silver...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-05

... the Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Neutralization and Airborne Mine Neutralization System. Prior to... removal of Elevated Causeway System (ELCAS) support piles may also result in the harassment of marine... daylight hours; Anchored floats will be used to mark the outer limits of the mitigation zone (vsw, pos); A...

The Dendrochronological Dating of Timber Crossings in West Jutland, Denmark

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Daly, Aoife

2006-01-01

The dendrochronological analyses of a large number of timbers from two sites are described. Nybro causeway in west Jutland, Denmark, which was built in the 8th century AD, consists of numerous phases, identifiable due to the large number of dendrochronologically dated timbers, of which many had...

Časně eneolitické příkopové ohrazení v Trubíně, okr. Beroun

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Dobeš, Miroslav; Křivánek, Roman; Kyselý, René; Stolz, D.

2018-01-01

Roč. 70, č. 1 (2018), s. 3-38 ISSN 0323-1267 Grant - others:AV ČR(CZ) R300021703 Institutional support: RVO:67985912 Keywords : Bohemia * Proto-Eneolithic * Jordanów culture * Schussenried phase * causewayed enclosure * radiocarbon dating Subject RIV: AC - Archeology, Anthropology, Ethnology OBOR OECD: Archaeology

Beyond the Stone Town: Maritime Architecture at Fourteenth-Fifteenth Century Songo Mnara, Tanzania

Science.gov (United States)

Pollard, Edward; Fleisher, Jeffrey; Wynne-Jones, Stephanie

2012-10-01

The towns of the Swahili coast of East Africa are widely acknowledged as the remains of a maritime society whose relationship with the ocean was fundamental to their economy and identity. Yet research that links the terrestrial environments of the towns to their adjacent maritime landscapes is rare, and urgently required in the light of marine erosional processes unmitigated by human actions. In the Kilwa archipelago of southern Tanzania, survey of the coastal foreshore has documented maritime architecture—particularly a series of coral-built causeways—that serve to link the medieval towns of this area to coastal resources and to expand the limits of the settlements themselves. This paper reports on survey recovering these causeways on Songo Mnara Island, putting the structures into context as part of the broader spatial manifestation of the island's fourteenth-fifteenth century town. Several possible uses of the causeways are discussed, including functional explanations linked to the exploitation of oceanic resources, and more social reasons of territoriality and spatial demarcation.

Significance of beach geomorphology on fecal indicator bacteria levels.

Science.gov (United States)

Donahue, Allison; Feng, Zhixuan; Kelly, Elizabeth; Reniers, Ad; Solo-Gabriele, Helena M

2017-08-15

Large databases of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) measurements are available for coastal waters. With the assistance of satellite imagery, we illustrated the power of assessing data for many sites by evaluating beach features such as geomorphology, distance from rivers and canals, presence of piers and causeways, and degree of urbanization coupled with the enterococci FIB database for the state of Florida. We found that beach geomorphology was the primary characteristic associated with enterococci levels that exceeded regulatory guidelines. Beaches in close proximity to marshes or within bays had higher enterococci exceedances in comparison to open coast beaches. For open coast beaches, greater enterococci exceedances were associated with nearby rivers and higher levels of urbanization. Piers and causeways had a minimal contribution, as their effect was often overwhelmed by beach geomorphology. Results can be used to understand the potential causes of elevated enterococci levels and to promote public health. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 6680 - Merchant Marine Personnel Advisory Committee; Meetings

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-10

... Marriott Metairie at Lakeway Hotel, 3838 N. Causeway Boulevard, Metairie, LA. Send written material and..., Washington, DC 20593-7126. This notice may be viewed in our online docket, USCG-2010-0054, at http://www... the STCW Convention and the STCW Code Identified for Comprehensive Review; (d) Task Statement 71...

A Guide to Oceanic Sedimentary Layering.

Science.gov (United States)

1983-07-28

Clarion Fracture Zone: Hi Clipperton Fracture Zone: E9 Panama Basin: W6 San Diego Trough: T10 Santa Monica Basin: P2 NORTH PACIFIC OCEAN, WEST General and...Causeway Miami, FL 33149 67 Attn: F. Tappert Physics Department The University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881 68 Attn: C. Kaufman Department of

ONR Tropical Cyclone Motion Research Initiative; First-Year Review, Discussion and Tentative Hypotheses.

Science.gov (United States)

1988-02-01

Division ,, e,,science AOML/NOAA .. National Taiwan University 3401 Rickenbacker Causeway .-. Taipei, Taiwan Miami, FL 33149 Dr. Mike Fiorino Dr. Peter...Atmospheric Sciences Herb Hunter Nanjing University Nichols Research Corporation Nanjing, Jiangsu Province 4040 S. Memorial Parkway People’s Republic...Computer Center Otemachi 1-3-4, Chiyodaku Central Weather Bureau Tokyo 100 Japan 64 Kung Yuan Road Taipei, Taiwan 100 Dr. Lim Joo Tick Republic of

Three dimensional model evaluation of physical alterations of the Caloosahatchee River and Estuary: Impact on salt transport

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Detong; Wan, Yongshan; Qiu, Chelsea

2016-05-01

Numerical hydrodynamic modeling provides quantitative understanding of how physical alterations of an estuary may alter the waterbody hydrodynamics and the rate of mixing with the ocean. In this study, a three dimensional hydrodynamic model (CH3D) was used to compare simulated salinities between the existing condition and five historical cases representing varying physical alterations of the Caloosahatchee Estuary involving (1) removal of the headwater structure (S-79); (2) removal of the downstream causeway to Sanibel Island; (3) backfilling an oyster bar near the estuary month; (4) refilling the navigation channel; and (5) the pre-development bathymetric condition. The results suggested that some alterations including the Sanibel Causeway, backfilling the oyster bar and the S-79 structure may have some local effects but did not change estuarine salinity structure significantly. Refilling the navigation channel had a more profound effect, resulting in a dry season salinity reduction of about 5 when compared with the existing condition. The reduced salt transport was more pronounced with the pre-development bathymetry because the estuary as a whole was much shallower than today. The significant system-wide increase in salt transport caused by the historic dredging of the navigation channel in the Caloosahatchee Estuary has significant implications in the development of attainable environmental flow targets for protecting the estuarine ecosystem.

Coastal structural remains on the east coast of India: Evidence of maritime activities and their significance

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Tripati, S.

, Masulipatnam and Nagapattanam. On the other hand, Dronimukha refers to a port situated near the confluence of the river and the sea. Dronimukha was also a market place. Interestingly, the ports such as Dwarka, Tondi and Puhar also had the same meaning... and these port towns had well-established markets and hinterland connections (Roy 1994). Besides the geographical considerations in the location of ports, the maritime structures such as boatbuilding yards, landing places, boat shelters, causeways, wharves...

Holocene morphogenesis of Alexander the Great's isthmus at Tyre in Lebanon

Science.gov (United States)

Marriner, Nick; Morhange, Christophe; Meulé, Samuel

2007-05-01

In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great constructed an ≈1,000-m-long causeway to seize the offshore island of Tyre. The logistics behind this engineering feat have long troubled archaeologists. Using the Holocene sedimentary record, we demonstrate that Alexander's engineers cleverly exploited a shallow proto-tombolo, or sublittoral sand spit, to breach the offshore city's defensive impregnability. We elucidate a three-phase geomorphological model for the spit's evolution. Settled since the Bronze Age, the area's geological record manifests a long history of natural and anthropogenic forcings. (i) Leeward of the island breakwater, the maximum flooding surface (e.g., drowning of the subaerial land surfaces by seawater) is dated ≈8000 B.P. Fine-grained sediments and brackish and marine-lagoonal faunas translate shallow, low-energy water bodies at this time. Shelter was afforded by Tyre's elongated sandstone reefs, which acted as a 6-km natural breakwater. (ii) By 6000 B.P., sea-level rise had reduced the dimensions of the island from 6 to 4 km. The leeward wave shadow generated by this island, allied with high sediment supply after 3000 B.P., culminated in a natural wave-dominated proto-tombolo within 1-2 m of mean sea level by the time of Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.). (iii) After 332 B.C., construction of Alexander's causeway entrained a complete anthropogenic metamorphosis of the Tyrian coastal system.

Risk factors and spatial distribution of Schistosoma mansoni infection among primary school children in Mbita District, Western Kenya.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sachiyo Nagi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available An increasing risk of Schistosoma mansoni infection has been observed around Lake Victoria, western Kenya since the 1970s. Understanding local transmission dynamics of schistosomiasis is crucial in curtailing increased risk of infection.We carried out a cross sectional study on a population of 310 children from eight primary schools. Overall, a total of 238 (76.8% children were infected with S. mansoni, while seven (2.3% had S. haematobium. The prevalence of hookworm, Trichuris trichiura and Ascaris lumbricoides were 6.1%, 5.2% and 2.3%, respectively. Plasmodium falciparum was the only malaria parasite detected (12.0%. High local population density within a 1 km radius around houses was identified as a major independent risk factor of S. mansoni infection. A spatial cluster of high infection risk was detected around the Mbita causeway following adjustment for population density and other potential risk factors.Population density was shown to be a major factor fuelling schistosome infection while individual socio-economic factors appeared not to affect the infection risk. The high-risk cluster around the Mbita causeway may be explained by the construction of an artificial pathway that may cause increased numbers of S. mansoni host snails through obstruction of the waterway. This construction may have, therefore, a significant negative impact on the health of the local population, especially school-aged children who frequently come in contact with lake water.

Holocene morphogenesis of Alexander the Great's isthmus at Tyre in Lebanon.

Science.gov (United States)

Marriner, Nick; Morhange, Christophe; Meulé, Samuel

2007-05-29

In 332 B.C., Alexander the Great constructed an approximately 1,000-m-long causeway to seize the offshore island of Tyre. The logistics behind this engineering feat have long troubled archaeologists. Using the Holocene sedimentary record, we demonstrate that Alexander's engineers cleverly exploited a shallow proto-tombolo, or sublittoral sand spit, to breach the offshore city's defensive impregnability. We elucidate a three-phase geomorphological model for the spit's evolution. Settled since the Bronze Age, the area's geological record manifests a long history of natural and anthropogenic forcings. (i) Leeward of the island breakwater, the maximum flooding surface (e.g., drowning of the subaerial land surfaces by seawater) is dated approximately 8000 B.P. Fine-grained sediments and brackish and marine-lagoonal faunas translate shallow, low-energy water bodies at this time. Shelter was afforded by Tyre's elongated sandstone reefs, which acted as a 6-km natural breakwater. (ii) By 6000 B.P., sea-level rise had reduced the dimensions of the island from 6 to 4 km. The leeward wave shadow generated by this island, allied with high sediment supply after 3000 B.P., culminated in a natural wave-dominated proto-tombolo within 1-2 m of mean sea level by the time of Alexander the Great (4th century B.C.). (iii) After 332 B.C., construction of Alexander's causeway entrained a complete anthropogenic metamorphosis of the Tyrian coastal system.

A preliminary survey of marine contamination from mining-related activities on Marinduque Island, Philippines: porewater toxicity and chemistry results from a field trip, October 14-19, 2000

Science.gov (United States)

Carr, R. Scott; Nipper, Marion; Plumlee, Geoffrey S.

2001-01-01

measurement of porewater concentrations of several heavy metals associated with copper mining activities. Pore waters for toxicological and chemical analyses were collected at several stations on the coast of Marinduque, near the mouths of the Boac and Mogpog rivers, and near the causeways formed by mine tailings disposal. Porewater samples were also collected at the Tres Reyes Marine Reserve, so that these non-contaminated samples could serve as a reference for test performance. Sea urchin embryological development and fertilization were only significantly impaired by two porewater samples, suggesting the presence of contaminants in toxic amounts at those stations. The toxic samples were collected near the up current side of the Calancan (Marcopper) mine tailings causeway (stations 2 and 3 – see figure 10). The pore water from station 2 also had the highest levels of heavy metals, particularly cadmium, cobalt, copper, nickel, lead and zinc (Table 5). The concentrations of cobalt, nickel and zinc were also elevated 2 at station 3. Copper concentrations were also elevated at the two river mouth stations (8 and 9) and near the CMI tailings causeway (station 7). Visual observations also indicated biological degradation due to heavy siltation and smothered coral at a gradient off the Calancan causeway, suggesting that siltation might also be causing a physical impact. This preliminary survey suggests that effects related to past mining activities are still evident and warrant a more comprehensive study to assess their severity and areal extent.

Architecture, cobbled roads and chronology of the main sector of the site Las Mercedes-1, Central Caribbean of Costa Rica

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vazquez Leiva, Ricardo; Chapdelaine, Claude

2008-01-01

Results from test-pit excavations, survey, and mapping at Las Mercedes-1, plus the center of a paramount chiefly polity in the Central Caribbean region of Costa Rica, are presented. Information on architecture, construction system, ceramic chronology, and funerary features, are reported. Radiocarbon dates have suggested that important construction works at the site's center were carried out circa A.D. 1000. Two cobble-paved, causeways, perpendicular to the river drainage system, were found to be linked to the main monumental compound as roads for formal access. Interest in the site has been revived and points the way to further researches at the site and its regional sphere. (author) [es

Integrated Geophysical Studies to Image the Remains of Amenemeht II Pyramid's Complex in Dahshour Necropolis, Giza, Egypt.

Science.gov (United States)

Abbas, Abbas Mohamed; Atya, Magdy; El-Emam, Ahmed; Ghazala, Hosny, ,, Prof.; Shaaban, Fathy, ,, Dr; Odah, Hatem, ,, Prof; Ibrahim, El-Khedr, ,, Prof; Lethy, Ahmed, ,, Dr

2009-04-01

Dahshour archaeological site is located adjacent to Giza necropolis at about 25 km south of Cairo. The site itself is an imperative necropolis that attracts the attention of the archaeologists. This location is a spectator of several historical episodes that start with the pyramidal complexes from the early dynasties (the mud brick tombs, the mastabas, and the Bent Pyramid) passing through the phase of the Step Pyramid of Zoser at Saqqara to the first complete pyramid in the history (the Red pyramid of Senefro "Khofo's father"). In 2002, the local archaeological supervisors suggested an area around the debris of the White pyramid (of Amenemeht II) for reconnaissance magnetic survey. The survey had been completed using the gradiometer FM36. More than 98 survey grids (20 x 20 m) of a surface area of 39200 m2 have been measured. The results reported the recognition of some parts of the mortuary temple, the causeway, and some other anomalies that could not be attributed to specific archaeological aspect. Therefore, an integrated geophysical survey was proposed, in the present work, to get more details help to identify these objects. The ground penetrating radar (GPR, SIR2000), the electrical resistance meter (Geoscan RM15), and the electromagnetic profiler (GEM300) have been utilized to acquire the data. They have been applied to selected zones to investigate specific objects and oriented to solve the problems questioned by the local archaeological inspectors. The study conveyed an superior image of the whole measured site and helped to identify most of the detected artifacts. Furthermore, the margins of the causeway and its infrastructure have been perfectly delineated. However, the possible place of the eastern entrance and the Valley temple have been tentatively located. Keywords: Archaeo-geophysics, Dahshour, White Pyramid

Kelvin and industry in Ireland

Science.gov (United States)

Crossland, Bernard; Whitaker, Andrew

2009-04-01

Kelvin was a great mathematician, theoretical and experimental physicist, and educator, founding the first physical laboratory. He worked tirelessly for the creation of a reproducible set of physical units, and he was also an experienced and enthusiastic sailor. All these talents were linked to his extensive technological work, of which the most important examples were the laying of the Atlantic cable, and the marine compass. In Ireland his most important contributions were the occulting nature of the Holywood lighthouse, and his connection with the Giant's Causeway tramway. Kelvin's work on cabling and national maritime projects may have stimulated his later strong support of the British Empire and opposition to Home Rule in Ireland.

Kelvin and industry in Ireland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Crossland, Bernard [Department of Mechanical Engineering, Queen' s University, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom); Whitaker, Andrew, E-mail: b.crossland@qub.ac.u, E-mail: a.whitaker@qub.ac.u [Department of Physics, Queen' s University, Belfast BT7 1NN, Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)

2009-04-01

Kelvin was a great mathematician, theoretical and experimental physicist, and educator, founding the first physical laboratory. He worked tirelessly for the creation of a reproducible set of physical units, and he was also an experienced and enthusiastic sailor. All these talents were linked to his extensive technological work, of which the most important examples were the laying of the Atlantic cable, and the marine compass. In Ireland his most important contributions were the occulting nature of the Holywood lighthouse, and his connection with the Giant's Causeway tramway. Kelvin's work on cabling and national maritime projects may have stimulated his later strong support of the British Empire and opposition to Home Rule in Ireland.

Kelvin and industry in Ireland

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Crossland, Bernard; Whitaker, Andrew

2009-01-01

Kelvin was a great mathematician, theoretical and experimental physicist, and educator, founding the first physical laboratory. He worked tirelessly for the creation of a reproducible set of physical units, and he was also an experienced and enthusiastic sailor. All these talents were linked to his extensive technological work, of which the most important examples were the laying of the Atlantic cable, and the marine compass. In Ireland his most important contributions were the occulting nature of the Holywood lighthouse, and his connection with the Giant's Causeway tramway. Kelvin's work on cabling and national maritime projects may have stimulated his later strong support of the British Empire and opposition to Home Rule in Ireland.

Exposure to methyl tert-butyl ether, benzene, and total hydrocarbons at the Singapore-Malaysia causeway immigration checkpoint

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tan, C.; Ong, H.Y.; Kok, P.W. [and others

1996-12-31

The primary aim of this study was to determine the extent and levels of exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from automobile emissions in a group of immigration officers at a busy cross-border checkpoint. A majority (80%) of the workers monitored were exposed to benzene at levels between 0.01 and 0.5 ppm, with only 1.2% exceeding the current Occupational Safety and Health Administration occupational exposure limit of 1 ppm. The geometric mean (GM) concentrations of 8-hr time-weighted average exposure were 0.03 ppm, 0.9 ppm, and 2.46 ppm for methyl-tert-butyl ether (MTBE), benzene, and total hydrocarbons (THC), respectively. The highest time-weighted average concentrations measured were 1.05 ppm for MTBE, 2.01 ppm for benzene, and 34 ppm for THC. It was found that motorbikes emitted a more significant amount of pollutants compared with motor cars. On average, officers at the motorcycle booths were exposed to four to five times higher levels of VOCs (GMs of 0.07 ppm, 0.23 ppm, and 4.7 ppm for MTBE, benzene, and THC) than their counterparts at the motor car booths (GMs of 0.01 ppm, 0.05 ppm, and 1.5 ppm). The airborne concentrations of all three pollutants correlated with the flow of vehicle traffic. Close correlations were also noted for the concentrations in ambient air for the three pollutants measured. Benzene and MTBE had a correlation coefficient of 0.97. The overall findings showed that the concentrations of various VOCs were closely related to the traffic density, suggesting that they were from a common source, such as exhaust emissions from the vehicles. The results also indicated that although benzene, MTBE, and THC are known to be volatile, a significant amount could still be detected in the ambient environment, thus contributing to our exposure to these compounds. 4 refs., 6 figs.

Mas d’Is (Penàguila, Alicante: farms and Early Neolithic causewayed camps in the Serpis valley

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernabeu Auban, Joan

2003-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, results from recent archaeological field work carried out in the Neolithic village of Mas d’Is (Penàguila, Alicante are presented. We focus on an important set of domestic and monumental architectural structures. Integration of data from the site in a regional context allows us to rethink the social relations of the first farmers in the area. At the same time, radiocarbon data from our excavations show a finer chronology of the neolithization in Western Mediterranean, and what is more important to approach its historical process.

En este trabajo presentamos los resultados de los recientes trabajos llevados a cabo en la aldea neolítica de Mas d’Is (Penàguila, Alicante, centrándonos en las estructuras documentadas. La integración de los datos obtenidos en un contexto regional nos permiten plantear algunas reflexiones sobre la Arqueología social de los primeros agricultores, al tiempo que las dataciones radiocarbónicas permiten ir ajustando la cronología de la neolitización del Mediterráneo Occidental, así como el desarrollo de dicho proceso histórico.

Alexander the Great's tombolos at Tyre and Alexandria, eastern Mediterranean

Science.gov (United States)

Marriner, N.; Goiran, J. P.; Morhange, C.

2008-08-01

Tyre and Alexandria's coastlines are today characterised by wave-dominated tombolos, peculiar sand isthmuses that link former islands to the adjacent continent. Paradoxically, despite a long history of inquiry into spit and barrier formation, understanding of the dynamics and sedimentary history of tombolos over the Holocene timescale is poor. At Tyre and Alexandria we demonstrate that these rare coastal features are the heritage of a long history of natural morphodynamic forcing and human impacts. In 332 BC, following a protracted seven-month siege of the city, Alexander the Great's engineers cleverly exploited a shallow sublittoral sand bank to seize the island fortress; Tyre's causeway served as a prototype for Alexandria's Heptastadium built a few months later. We report stratigraphic and geomorphological data from the two sand spits, proposing a chronostratigraphic model of tombolo evolution.

Use of an Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) to Measure Hypersaline Bidirectional Discharge

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, K.K.; Loving, B.L.; ,

2002-01-01

The U.S. Geological Survey measures the exchange of flow between the north and south parts of Great Salt Lake, Utah, as part of a monitoring program. Turbidity and bidirectional flow through the breach in the causeway that divides the lake into two parts makes it difficult to measure discharge with conventional streamflow techniques. An acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) can be used to more accurately define the angles of flow and the location of the interface between the layers of flow. Because of the high salinity levels measured in Great Salt Lake (60-280 parts per thousand), special methods had to be developed to adjust ADCP-computed discharges for the increased speed of sound in hypersaline waters and for water entrained at the interface between flow layers.

Sedimentology of onshore tsunami deposits of the Indian Ocean tsunami, 2004 in the mangrove forest of the Curieuse Marine National Park, Seychelles

Science.gov (United States)

Nentwig, V.; Bahlburg, H.; Monthy, D.

2012-12-01

The Seychelles were severely affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. Since the tsunami history of small islands often remains unclear due to a young historiography we conducted a study of onshore tsunami deposits on the Seychelles in order to understand the scale of impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and potential predecessors. As part of this project we found and studied onshore tsunami deposits in the mangrove forest at Old Turtle Pond bay on the east coast of Curieuse Island. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami caused a change of habitat due to sedimentation of an extended sand sheet in the mangrove forest. We present results of the first detailed sedimentological study of onshore tsunami deposits of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami conducted on the Seychelles. The Curieuse mangrove forest at Old Turtle Pond bay is part of the Curieuse Marine National Park. It is thus protected from anthropogenic interference. Towards the sea it was shielded until the tsunami by a 500 m long and 1.5 m high causeway which was set up in 1909 as a sediment trap. The causeway was destroyed by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The silt to fine sand sized and organic rich mangrove soil was subsequently covered by carbonate fine to medium sand (1.5 to 2.1 Φ) containing coarser carbonate shell debris which had been trapped outside the mangrove bay before the tsunami. The tsunami deposited a sand sheet which is organized into different lobes. They extend landwards to different inundation distances as a function of morphology. Maximum inundation distance is 200 m. The sediments often cover the pneumatophores of the mangroves. No landward fining trend of the sand sheet has been observed. On the different sand lobes carbonate-cemented sandstone debris ranging in size from 0.5 up to 12 cm occurs. Also numerous mostly fragmented shells of bivalves and molluscs were distributed on top of the sand lobes. Intact bivalve shells were mostly positioned with the convex side upwards

The pursuit of perfect packing

CERN Document Server

Weaire, Denis

2000-01-01

In 1998 Thomas Hales dramatically announced the solution of a problem that has long teased eminent mathematicians: what is the densest possible arrangement of identical spheres? The Pursuit of Perfect Packing recounts the story of this problem and many others that have to do with packing things together. The examples are taken from mathematics, physics, biology, and engineering, including the arrangement of soap bubbles in foam, atoms in a crystal, the architecture of the bee''s honeycomb, and the structure of the Giant''s Causeway. Using an informal style and with key references, the book also includes brief accounts of the lives of many of the scientists who devoted themselves to problems of packing over many centuries, together with wry comments on their efforts. It is an entertaining introduction to the field for both specialists and the more general public.

The architectonic encoding of the minor lunar standstills in the horizon of the Giza pyramids.

Science.gov (United States)

Hossam, M. K. Aboulfotouh

The paper is an attempt to show the architectonic method of the ancient Egyptian designers for encoding the horizontal-projections of the moon's declinations during two events of the minor lunar standstills, in the design of the site-plan of the horizon of the Giza pyramids, using the methods of descriptive geometry. It shows that the distance of the eastern side of the second Giza pyramid from the north-south axis of the great pyramid encodes a projection of a lunar declination, when earth's obliquity-angle was ~24.10°. Besides, it shows that the angle of inclination of the causeway of the second Giza pyramid, of ~13.54° south of the cardinal east, encodes the projection of another lunar declination when earth's obliquity-angle reaches ~22.986°. In addition, it shows the encoded coordinate system in the site-plan of the horizon of the Giza pyramids.

Bikini: Disposal of contaminated soil in Berm construction; Design and costs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-01-01

Since the levels of cesium-137 and strontium-90 in Bikini Island soil fall off exponentially (on average) with depth, the bulk of soil contamination can be removed directly by excavating the top 30 cm. Radiologically, the spoil is of low specific activity, and it can be handled without special precautions. However, the disposal of the spoil, totalling some 940,000 cubic yards plus vegetation, would pose something of a problem. Dumping into the lagoon (Bravo Crater) or ocean, presumably simple and effective measures, would not be legally permissible. A more practical alternative would employ the spoil to build a berm on the ocean-side of the island, or possibly a causeway between Bikini and Eneu Islands. The design of the proposed structures was reviewed at a conference held at the U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station, August 19, 1985. It was concluded that further study was required (BARC 2). This has been done by Coastal Engineering Research center and the complete report is presented

Sedimentology of Coastal Deposits in the Seychelles Islands—Evidence of the Indian Ocean Tsunami 2004

Science.gov (United States)

Nentwig, Vanessa; Bahlburg, Heinrich; Monthy, Devis

2015-03-01

The Seychelles, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean at a distance of 4,500-5,000 km from the west coast of Sumatra, were severely affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami with wave heights up to 4 m. Since the tsunami history of small islands often remains unclear due to a young historical record, it is important to study the geological traces of high energy events preserved along their coasts. We conducted a survey of the impact of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami on the inner Seychelles islands. In detail we studied onshore tsunami deposits in the mangrove forest at Old Turtle Pond in the Curieuse Marine National Park on the east coast of Curieuse Island. It is thus protected from anthropogenic interference. Towards the sea it was shielded until the tsunami in 2004 by a 500 m long and 1.5 m high causeway which was set up in 1909 as a sediment trap and assuring a low energetic hydrodynamic environment for the protection of the mangroves. The causeway was destroyed by the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami. The tsunami caused a change of habitat by the sedimentation of sand lobes in the mangrove forest. The dark organic rich mangrove soil (1.9 Φ) was covered by bimodal fine to medium carbonate sand (1.7-2.2 Φ) containing coarser carbonate shell fragments and debris. Intertidal sediments and the mangrove soil acted as sources of the lobe deposits. The sand sheet deposited by the tsunami is organized into different lobes. They extend landwards to different inundation distances as a function of the morphology of the onshore area. The maximum extent of 180 m from the shoreline indicates the minimum inundation distance to the tsunami. The top parts of the sand lobes cover the pneumatophores of the mangroves. There is no landward fining trend along the sand lobes and normal grading of the deposits is rare, occurring only in 1 of 7 sites. The sand lobe deposits also lack sedimentary structures. On the surface of the sand lobes numerous mostly fragmented shells of bivalves and

Influence of thermal loading on the ecology of intertidal algae

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vadas, R.L.; Keser, M.; Rusanowski, P.c.

1976-01-01

Thermal effluents from the Maine Yankee Atomic Power Company (operating intermittently from October 1972 to December 1974) increased water temperatures in the discharge area by 7 to 15 0 C. Plant operation and the removal of a causeway increased mixing and salinities in Montsweag Bay. Four small red algae immigrated into the area, but no species were lost from the system. Distribution and abundance patterns of the dominant algae, Ascophyllum nodosum and Fucus vesiculosus, were altered by the thermal discharge. The cover of F. vesiculosus decreased, whereas that of A. nodosum increased in 1973 but declined significantly in 1974. Reductions in biomass and percent cover were accompanied by changes in the growth dynamics of A. nodosum. Growth and survival in the discharge area were enhanced in 1973 but reduced in 1974. Growth was initiated earlier at all sites affected by the warm water. Plants at experimental sites not directly in the discharge channel grew at accelerated rates during the two years, but stressed plants in the discharge produced few or no viable apexes in 1974. The net effect has been a compression and reduction of intertidal algae into a narrower and less dense band

The architect Alexander Iosif Bernardazzi (1831–1907 and his first projects in Bessarabia

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Alla Chastina

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This year marks the 185th birthday of the famous architect A. I. Bernardazzi, who is also known for creating various historic buildings in the Northern Caucasus, Ukraine and Bessarabia. The archival documents provide evidence of the beginning of Bernardazzi’s architectural career, when he was appointed as technician for the arrangement of the towns Akkerman and Bendery in 1853, as well as for building some bridges and causeways in those districts. In 1855 he participated in the setting of the third market at the Forest square, which was his first mission in Kishinev. Alexander Bernardazzi performed the duty of municipal architect from 1856 to 1878 replacing Luca Zaushkevich, another architect of Kishinev. In Bessarabia he designed and built buildings such as the temporary theatre, the Lutheran school, the railway station, the Greek Church, Manuk-Bey’s Palace etc. He also dealt with the pavement of streets, the construction of the urban water supply system and the cast-iron fence in Kishinev public garden. After his departure to Odessa, in the second half of the XX century, Alexander Bernardazzi continued to design social facilities in Bessarabia, which became best examples of European architecture.

Djedkare’s pyramid complex: Preliminary report of the 2016 season

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Mohamed Megahed

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents the results of the 2016 archaeological season of the Egyptian mission in the pyramid complex of King Djedkare in South Saqqara. The works focused on the western part of the causeway where remains of a drainage was documented, and on the storerooms situated to the south of the entrance passage. During this work, also the north side of the so-called southern massive was cleaned. Besides the funerary temple, also the private cemetery located to the south-east of it started to be documented in this season. A mud brick structure, MS 1, was cleaned; it consisted of six shafts with vaulted burial chambers. Only one of the chambers (in shaft 5 was cased with limestone slabs, which bear a well preserved painted decoration. This burial chamber belonged to Pepyankh Setju and can be dated to the late Sixth Dynasty. Another part of the work in 2016 concentrated inside the pyramid of the king. The consolidation and restoration works were carried out in the burial apartments, concentrating on the missing part of the eastern wall of the antechamber and the core behind it.

Detailed magnetic survey at Dahshour archeological sites Southwest Cairo, Egypt

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Mekkawi, Mahmoud; Arafa-Hamed, Tarek; Abdellatif, Tareq

2013-06-01

Dahshour area has recently shown a great potential of archeological findings. This was remarkable from the latest discovery of the causeway and the mortuary temple of the Pyramid of Amenemhat III using geophysical data. The main objective of the present work is to locate the buried archeological remains in the area of Dahshour, Southwest Cairo using magnetic survey for shallow investigations. Land magnetic data is acquired using proton magnetometer (two sensors) with a sensor separation of 0.8 m; i.e. gradiometer survey. The study area is located nearby the two known pyramids of Dahshour. The field data is processed and analyzed using Oasis Montaj Geosoft™ software. The processed data is presented in order to delineate the hidden artifacts causing the magnetic anomalies. The results indicated a distribution of the buried archeological features within the study area. These archeological features are detected according to the magnetic contrast between the magnetic archeological sources (such as mud bricks, basalt and granite) and the surroundings; mainly sandy soil. The delineated archeological features at Dahshour are probably dated back to the old kingdom having a depth reach up to 3.0 m. Consequently it is highly recommended to carry out excavation to precisely classify them and high light their nature and value.

Seasonal variability in the surface sediments of Mobile Bay, Alabama, recorded by geochemistry and foraminifera, 2009–2010

Science.gov (United States)

Umberger, D.K.; Osterman, L.E.; Smith, C.G.; Frazier, J.; Richwine, K.A.

2012-01-01

A study was undertaken in order to document and quantify recent environmental change in Mobile Bay, Alabama. The study was part of the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGOM) Ecosystem Change and Hazard Susceptibility project, a regional project funded by the Coastal and Marine Geology Program to understand how natural forcings and anthropogenic modifications influence coastal ecosystems and their susceptibility to coastal hazards. Mobile Bay is a large drowned-river estuary that has been modified significantly by humans to accommodate the Port of Mobile. Examples include repeated dredging of a large shipping channel down the central axis of the bay and construction of a causeway across the head of the bay and at the foot of the bayhead delta. In addition to modifications, the bay is also known to have episodic periods of low oxygen (hypoxia) that result in significant mortality to fish and benthic organisms (May, 1973). For this study a series of surface sediment samples were collected. Surface benthic foraminiferal and bulk geochemical data provide the modern baseline conditions of the bay and can be used as a reference to changing environmental parameters in the past (Osterman and Smith, in press) and into the future. This report archives data collected as part of the Mobile Bay Study that may be used in future environmental change studies.

Pre-Columbian landscape impact and agriculture in the Monumental Mound region of the Llanos de Moxos, lowland Bolivia

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Whitney, Bronwen S.; Dickau, Ruth; Mayle, Francis E.; Soto, J. Daniel; Iriarte, José

2013-09-01

We present a multiproxy study of land use by a pre-Columbian earth mounds culture in the Bolivian Amazon. The Monumental Mounds Region (MMR) is an archaeological sub-region characterized by hundreds of pre-Columbian habitation mounds associated with a complex network of canals and causeways, and situated in the forest-savanna mosaic of the Llanos de Moxos. Pollen, phytolith, and charcoal analyses were performed on a sediment core from a large lake (14 km2), Laguna San José (14°56.97'S, 64°29.70'W). We found evidence of high levels of anthropogenic burning from AD 400 to AD 1280, corroborating dated occupation layers in two nearby excavated habitation mounds. The charcoal decline pre-dates the arrival of Europeans by at least 100 yr, and challenges the notion that the mounds culture declined because of European colonization. We show that the surrounding savanna soils were sufficiently fertile to support crops, and the presence of maize throughout the record shows that the area was continuously cultivated despite land-use change at the end of the earth mounds culture. We suggest that burning was largely confined to the savannas, rather than forests, and that pre-Columbian deforestation was localized to the vicinity of individual habitation mounds, whereas the inter-mound areas remained largely forested.

The Writing on the Wall: National and Global Implications of the Ruling Chinese Communist Party’s Domestic and Foreign Policies

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Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The December 201 5 crackdown on labour activists was the culmination of a year of the Chinese Communist Party regime’s war on China’s civil society kicked off by of the arrests of the “Feminist Five” in March followed by the infamous crackdown on civil rights lawyers that began on 5th July and lasted till August. At around the same time, from mid-October to end of December 2015, five owners and staff members of Hong Kong’s Mighty Current publishing company and Causeway Bay bookshop which respectively publishes and selling politically dissident books banned by China disappeared under mysterious circumstances (including one while vacationing in Pattaya, Thailand, and another while inspecting warehouse in Hong Kong and reemerged in mainland China under the custody of the Chinese authorities. While these volatile incidents were unfolding domestically, the year also witnessed the continued rise of China’s economic might in the global system. With specific focus on the latest events unfolding from year 2015 to the present, this paper attempts to interpret such developments especially in terms of government policies with respect to the State’s relations with the civil society since the leadership transition from Hu-Wen to Xi-Li administration, the implications of the global reach of China’s economic might and soft power in this regard, as well as the current nature of the governing regime of the Chinese Communist Party.

The Writing on the Wall: National and Global Implications of the Ruling Chinese Communist Party’s Domestic and Foreign Policies

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Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh

2016-04-01

Full Text Available The December 2015 crackdown on labour activists was the culmination of a year of the Chinese Communist Party regime’s war on China’s civil society kicked off with the arrests of the “Feminist Five” in March, followed by the infamous crackdown on civil rights lawyers that began on 5th July and lasted till August. At around the same time, from mid-October to end of December 2015, five owners and staff members of Hong Kong’s Mighty Current publishing company and Causeway Bay bookshop which respectively publishes and sells politically dissident books banned by China disappeared under mysterious circumstances (including one while vacationing in Pattaya, Thailand, and another while inspecting warehouse in Hong Kong and reemerged in mainland China under the custody of the Chinese authorities. While these volatile incidents were unfolding domestically, the year also witnessed the continued rise of China’s economic might in the global system. With specific focus on the latest events unfolding from year 2015 to the present, this paper attempts to interpret such developments especially in terms of government policies with respect to the State’s relations with the civil society since the leadership transition from Hu-Wen to Xi-Li administration, the implications of the global reach of China’s economic might and soft power in this regard, as well as the current nature of the governing regime of the Chinese Communist Party.

Nearshore circulation and water-column properties in the Skagit River Delta, northern Puget Sound, Washington: juvenile Chinook Salmon habitat availability in the Swinomish Channel

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Grossman, Eric E.; Stevens, Andrew W.; Gelfenbaum, Guy; Curran, Christopher

2007-01-01

Time-series and spatial measurements of nearshore hydrodynamic processes and water properties were made in the Swinomish Channel to quantify the net direction and rates of surface water transport that influence habitat for juvenile Chinook salmon along their primary migratory corridor between the Skagit River and Padilla Bay in northern Puget Sound, Washington. During the spring outmigration of Skagit River Chinook between March and June 2007, currents measured with fixed acoustic doppler current profilers (ADCP) at the south and north end of the Swinomish Channel and with roving ADCP revealed that the currents are highly asymmetric with a dominant flow to the north (toward Padilla Bay). Maximum surface current velocities reached 1.5 m/s and were generally uniform across the channel near McGlinn Island Causeway. Transport times for surface water to travel the 11 km from the southern end of Swinomish Channel at McGlinn Island to Padilla Bay ranged from 2.1 hours to 5.5 days. The mean travel time was ~1 day, while 17 percent of the time, transport of water and passive particles occurred within 3.75 hours. Surface water in the Swinomish Channel during this time was generally very saline 20-27 psu, except south of the Rainbow Bridge in the town of La Conner where it ranged 0-15 psu depending on tide and Skagit River discharge. This salinity regime restricts suitable low salinity (

Overseas Voter Mobilisation in Singapore: Implications from Malaysia’s 13th General Election

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James Gomez

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses voter mobilisation and other election-related activities of Malaysian voters living, studying and working in Singapore in the context of Malaysia’s 13th general election (GE13. According to the World Bank, nearly 400,000 Malaysians reside in the city-state. Thus these figures represent a significant Malaysian voter pool based in Singapore. Efforts to mobilise these voters for general elections or other causes have political implications for both countries, which became apparent following Singapore-based Malaysians’ activities to encourage Malaysians to return home to cast their votes during the 13th general election. Singapore’s strict public assembly laws led to several legal issues related to the voter mobilisation and election campaign activities undertaken by Malaysians in the city-state. These legal issues became a source of friction between the two countries during the elections as government leaders and authorities on both sides of the causeway accused the other of interfering in domestic political matters. Given the growing number of Malaysians in Singapore and the likely repeat of Malaysian voter mobilisation activities in Singapore in the run-up to the fourteenth general election (GE14 in 2018, issues related to the election activities of Malaysian voters in Singapore stand to be another set of factors that will shape the health of bilateral relations between these two countries.

Changes in lake levels, salinity and the biological community of Great Salt Lake (Utah, USA), 1847-1987

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Stephens, D.W.

1990-01-01

Great Salt Lake is the fourth largest terminal lake in the world, with an area of about 6000 square kilometers at its historic high elevation. Since its historic low elevation of 1277.52 meters in 1963, the lake has risen to a new historic high elevation of 1283.77 meters in 1986-1987, a net increase of about 6.25 meters. About 60 percent of this increase, 3.72 meters, has occurred since 1982 in response to greater than average precipitation and less than average evaporation. Variations in salinity have resulted in changes in the composition of the aquatic biological community which consists of bacteria, protozoa, brine shrimp and brine flies. These changes were particularly evident following the completion of a causeway in 1959 which divided the lake. Subsequent salinities in the north part of the lake have ranged from 16 to 29 percent and in the south part from 6 to 28 percent. Accompanying the rise in lake elevation from 1982 to 1987 have been large decreases in salinity of both parts of the lake. This has resulted in changes in the biota from obligate halophiles, such as Dunaliella salina and D. viridis, to opportunistic forms such as a blue-green alga (Nodularia spumigena). The distribution and abundance of brine shrimp (Artemia salina) in the lake also have followed closely the salinity. In 1986, when the salinity of the south part of the lake was about 6 percent, a population of brackish-water killifish (Lucania parva) was observed along the shore near inflow from a spring. ?? 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers.

The extant shore platform stromatolite (SPS facies association: a glimpse into the Archean?

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A. Smith

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Shore platform stromatolites (SPS were first noted at Cape Morgan on the south-east African seaboard. Since then they have been found growing discontinuously in rocky peritidal zones along the entire southern African seaboard. They have also been found on the southwest Australian coast, at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland, and more recently at Harris on the Scottish Hebridean Atlantic coast. In this paper SPS occurrence and SPS potential as analogues for Precambrian fossil stromatolites, as well as potential stromatolite occurrences in shore platform regions on Mars, are assessed. Sub-horizontal surfaces promote stromatolite development, while tufa develops on cliffs and steep rocky surfaces. Tufa and stromatolites are end members of a spectrum dictated by coastal topography. Extant SPS occur on well indurated shore platforms in high wave energy settings, often around or near headlands. They can be associated with boulder beaches, boulder ridges, storm swash terraces, coastal dunes, and peat bogs. In contrast to other extant stromatolites, SPS are produced primarily by mineral precipitation, although minor trapping and binding stromatolites do occur. From a geological perspective, SPS develop in mildly transgressive siliciclastic settings in various climatic and tidal regimes. We suggest that SPS could be preserved in the geological record as micritic lenses on palaeo-shore platform surfaces. SPS share many features with Precambrian stromatolites and are a valid modern analogue despite the widely different atmospheric and oceanic conditions of the Archean. We suggest that terraces associated with former oceanic or lacustrine flooding surfaces on Mars are potential targets in the search for palaeo-SPS on Mars.

Environmental management of a highly impacted, urbanized tropical estuary: rehabilitation and restoration

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Thorhaug, A.

1980-03-01

The principles of the dynamics and interrelationships within the dominant subtropical and tropical Caribbean seagrass community have been studied previously before, during, and after impact. From these and scores of observations of damage and recovery patterns in Thalassia ecosystems, a sense of management recovery strategy has emerged. Artificial restoring of Thalassia testudinum seeds into areas cut off from stock (fruit, seeds) appeared feasible on a large scale after the Turkey Point (Biscayne Bay, Miami, Florida) restoration and test sampling throughout North Biscayne Bay. Two large-scale seeding attempts were made; after 11 months they compared favorably with Turkey Point specimens with regard to growth parameters, despite the turbidity and other persistent pollution. Thus, the possible areas in which Thalassia seed restoration can be used has increased to include estuaries of multiple impact still in various stages of recovery after physical and sewage pollution. This technique should be especially useful to “developing” nations where important nearshore fisheries nurseries based on Thalassia ecosystems have been heavily damaged and now lie barren. Man's impact on the estuary where seed restoration was attempted includes the following activities: 50% of the bay bottom directly dredged or filled (leaving much unconsolidated sediment); 50 million gallons of domestic waste dumped directly into a low flushing part of the bay for 20 years; seven major causeways transecting the bay, restricting circulation and flushing; two artificial inlets made into navigational channels; freshwater sheet flow drastically changed due to channelization by flood-control canals; urban runoff from a million people entering the bay. Most of the impacts have now abated; however, their long-term effects remain.

Space Station view of the Pyramids at Giza

Science.gov (United States)

2002-01-01

One of the world's most famous archaeological sites has been photographed in amazing detail by the astronauts onboard Space Station Alpha. This image, taken 15 August, 2001, represents the greatest detail of the Giza plateau captured from a human-occupied spacecraft (approximate 7 m resolution). Afternoon sun casts shadows that help the eye make out the large pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. Sets of three smaller queens' pyramids can be seen to the east of the Pyramid of Khufu and south of the Pyramid of Menkaure. The light-colored causeway stretching from the Mortuary Temple at the Pyramid of Khafre to the Valley Temple near the Sphinx (arrow) can also be seen. Because it is not tall enough to cast a deep shadow, the Sphinx itself cannot readily be distinguished. Although some commercial satellites, such as IKONOS, have imaged the Pyramids at Giza in greater detail (1 m resolution), this image highlights the potential of the International Space Station as a remote sensing platform. A commercial digital camera without space modifications was used to obtain this picture. Similarly, a variety of remote sensing instruments developed for use on aircraft can potentially be used from the Space Station. Currently, all photographs of Earth taken by astronauts from the Space Shuttle and Space Station are released to the public for scientific and educational benefit and can be accessed on the World Wide Web through the NASA-JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth (http://eol/jsc.nasa.gov/sseop). Image ISS003-ESC-5120 was provided by the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center (http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov).

Quantifying Ancient Maya Land Use Legacy Effects on Contemporary Rainforest Canopy Structure

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Jessica N. Hightower

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Human land use legacies have significant and long-lasting ecological impacts across landscapes. Investigating ancient (>400 years legacy effects can be problematic due to the difficulty in detecting specific, historic land uses, especially those hidden beneath dense canopies. Caracol, the largest (~200 km2 Maya archaeological site in Belize, was abandoned ca. A.D. 900, leaving behind myriad structures, causeways, and an extensive network of agricultural terraces that persist beneath the architecturally complex tropical forest canopy. Airborne LiDAR enables the detection of these below-canopy archaeological features while simultaneously providing a detailed record of the aboveground 3-dimensional canopy organization, which is indicative of a forest’s ecological function. Here, this remote sensing technology is used to determine the effects of ancient land use legacies on contemporary forest structure. Canopy morphology was assessed by extracting LiDAR point clouds (0.25 ha plots from LiDAR-identified terraced (n = 150 and non-terraced (n = 150 areas on low (0°–10°, medium (10°–20°, and high (>20° slopes. We calculated the average canopy height, canopy openness, and vertical diversity from the LiDAR returns, with topographic features (i.e., slope, elevation, and aspect as covariates. Using a PerMANOVA procedure, we determined that forests growing on agricultural terraces exhibited significantly different canopy structure from those growing on non-terraced land. Terraces appear to mediate the effect of slope, resulting in less structural variation between slope and non-sloped land and yielding taller, more closed, more vertically diverse forests. These human land uses abandoned >1000 years ago continue to impact contemporary tropical rainforests having implications related to arboreal habitat and carbon storage.

Eco-engineered rock pools: a concrete solution to biodiversity loss and urban sprawl in the marine environment

Science.gov (United States)

Firth, Louise B.; Browne, Keith A.; Knights, Antony M.; Hawkins, Stephen J.; Nash, Róisín

2016-09-01

In coastal habitats artificial structures typically support lower biodiversity and can support greater numbers of non-native and opportunistic species than natural rocky reefs. Eco-engineering experiments are typically trialed to succeed; but arguably as much is learnt from failure than from success. Our goal was to trial a generic, cost effective, eco-engineering technique that could be incorporated into rock armouring anywhere in the world. Artificial rock pools were created from manipulated concrete between boulders on the exposed and sheltered sides of a causeway. Experimental treatments were installed in locations where they were expected to fail and compared to controls installed in locations in which they were expected to succeed. Control pools were created lower on the structure where they were immersed on every tidal cycle; experimental pools were created above mean high water spring tide which were only immersed on spring tides. We hypothesised that lower and exposed pools would support significantly higher taxon and functional diversity than upper and sheltered pools. The concrete pools survived the severe winter storms of 2013/14. After 12 months, non-destructive sampling revealed significantly higher mean taxon and functional richness in lower pools than upper pools on the exposed side only. After 24 months the sheltered pools had become inundated with sediments, thus failing to function as rock pools as intended. Destructive sampling on the exposed side revealed significantly higher mean functional richness in lower than upper pools. However, a surprisingly high number of taxa colonised the upper pools leading to no significant difference in mean taxon richness among shore heights. A high number of rare taxa in the lower pools led to total taxon richness being almost twice that of upper pools. These findings highlight that even when expected to fail concrete pools supported diverse assemblages, thus representing an affordable, replicable means of

Lake Urmia Shrinkage and its Effect on the Settlement of the Surrounding Areas Investigated Using Radar and Optical Satellite Images

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Motagh, M.; Shamshiri, R.; Hosseini, F.; Sharifi, M. A.; Baes, M.

2014-12-01

With a total area of more than 50000 km^2 Lake Urmia basin in northwest of Iran was once one of the biggest salt lakes in the world. The lake has been shrinking in the recent years, losing in turn dramatically its area. A lot of factors have been attributed to this shrinking including construction of dams on the rivers feeding the lake and overexploitation of groundwater for agricultural and industrial purposes. In this study we first utilized time-series analysis of Landsat images to precisely quantify surface changes in the region between 1984 and 2013. We then analyzed a number of SAR images from 2002 to 2014 including 30 ASAR images from Envisat, 10 PALSAR images from ALOS, and more than 35 TerraSAR-X (TSX) in both Stripmap and Spot modes to assess surface ground deformation. Ground deformation was evaluated for both agricultural regions around the lake and Lake Urmia Causeway (LUC), connecting two provinces of East and West Azerbaijan on both sides of the lake. The InSAR results of the LUC embankments is further investigated using Finite Element approach to better understand the relation between soil parameters, lake level changes and settlement of the LUC. The classification results using optical imagery analysis show that human and anthropogenic activities have resulted in shrinking of Lake Urmia by more than 60% over the past 30 years. The agricultural areas around the lake are dominated by ground subsidence reaching to 10 cm/yr in places. The LUC embankments also show large deformation with peak settlement of more than 5 cm/yr over the last decade. FEM simulation shows that consolidation due to dissipation of excess pore pressure in embankments can satisfactorily explain its surface deformation.

Socioeconomic impacts and management ciguatera in the Pacific.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, R J

1992-01-01

population, pollution and development (e.g. causeways) pressures.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Open Pit Water Control Safety A Case Of Nchanga Open Pit Mine Zambia

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Silwamba C

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Mining in Chingola Zambia started underground in 1931 and was catastrophically flooded and closed. The present Nchanga Underground Mine NUG started in 1937. The Nchanga Open Pit NOP mine started in 1955 situated to the west of NUG and partially overlying it. Open pit water control safety operations in the Nchanga-Chingola area have successfully enabled the safe extraction of millions of tonnes of copper ore annually over the past 60 years from NUG mining as well as the NOP. At the start Nchanga mining license surface already had NUG and many watershed divides with the Nchanga and Chingola streams being the main streams feeding into Zambias second largest river Kafue river and 42 of the year was characterised by heavy rains ranging between 800mm to 1300mm per annum. In this paper the presence of very significant amounts of seasonal rain and subsurface water in the mining area was identified as both a curse and a blessing. An excess in seasonal rain and subsurface water would disrupt both open pit and underground mining operations. In order for NOP to be operated successfully stable and free from flooding coping water management tactics were adopted from 1955 to 2015 including 1. Underground mine pump chamber pumping system 2. Piezometer instrumented boreholes 3. Underground mine 1500-ft sub-haulage east borehole dewatering beneath the open pit 4. Nchanga and Chingola stream diversionary tunnel and open drains 5. Nchanga stream causeway and embankment dam in the Matero School Golf Club area 6. Pit perimeter borehole pumping 7. Outer and inner pit perimeter drains and bund walls 8. In-pit ramp side drains 9. In-pit sub-horizontal borehole geo-drains and water and 10. Pit bottom sump pumps. Application of grout curtains along the Vistula River Poland was noted as a possibility in the right circumstances although it had never been used at Nchanga Open Pit. An additional conclusion was that forward health safety and environmental end

Methane fluxes along a salinity gradient on a restored salt marsh, Harpswell, ME

Science.gov (United States)

Gunn, Cailene; Johnson, Beverly, ,, Dr.; Dostie, Phil; Bohlen, Curtis; Craig, Matthew

2016-04-01

This study functions as a pilot project to understand the relationship between salinity and methane emissions on a recently restored salt marsh in Casco Bay, Maine. Salt marshes are dynamic and highly productive ecosystems that provide a multitude of ecosystem services including nutrient filtration, storm-water buffering and carbon sequestration. These ecosystems are highly susceptible to anthropogenic alteration. The emplacement of causeways and narrow culverts, restricts tidal flow and leads to loss of healthy salinity gradients. Consequently, numerous salt marshes have experienced increases in freshwater vegetation growth as a result of coastal population expansion. Recent restoration efforts on Long Marsh, Harpswell, ME replaced a severely undersized culvert with a larger one in February, 2014. The salinity gradient has since been restored along much of the marsh, and freshwater vegetation that encroached on the marsh platform has died back. Vegetation and salinity are key indicators and drivers of CH4 emissions on salt marshes. Using static gas chambers, we quantified CH4 fluxes along two transects at five diverse sites ranging from healthy marsh (salinity of 27 to 31 psu) with Spartina vegetation, to regions invaded by Typha and other freshwater vegetation (salinity of 0 to 4 psu). Sampling was executed in the months of July, August and October. CH4 concentrations were determined using a gas chromatograph with a flame-ionization detector. Preliminary findings suggest reintroduction of healthy tidal flows into the marsh inhibits CH4 production, where the lowest fluxes with least variability were observed at the most saline sites with Spartina vegetation. The largest range of CH4 fluxes exhibited emissions from 0.75 μmol CH4/m2/hr to 518.4 μmol CH4/m2/hr at the Typha dominated sites from July to October. Fluxes at the saltwater and brackish regions were far less variable with ranges from 0.94 μmol CH4/m2/hr to 8.2 μmol CH4/m2/hr and 2.6 to 9.5 μmol CH4/m2

Anthropogenic influences on the input and biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and mercury in Great Salt Lake, Utah, USA

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Naftz, David [US Geological Survey, Salt Lake City 84119, UT (United States)], E-mail: dlnaftz@usgs.gov; Angeroth, Cory; Kenney, Terry [US Geological Survey, Salt Lake City 84119, UT (United States); Waddell, Bruce; Darnall, Nathan [US Fish and Wildlife Service, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Silva, Steven [US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA (United States); Perschon, Clay [Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Salt Lake City, UT (United States); Whitehead, John [Utah Department of Environmental Quality, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

2008-06-15

Despite the ecological and economic importance of Great Salt Lake (GSL), little is known about the input and biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and trace elements in the lake. In response to increasing public concern regarding anthropogenic inputs to the GSL ecosystem, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) initiated coordinated studies to quantify and evaluate the significance of nutrient and Hg inputs into GSL. A 6 per mille decrease in {delta}{sup 15}N observed in brine shrimp (Artemia franciscana) samples collected from GSL during summer time periods is likely due to the consumption of cyanobacteria produced in freshwater bays entering the lake. Supporting data collected from the outflow of Farmington Bay indicates decreasing trends in {delta}{sup 15}N in particulate organic matter (POM) during the mid-summer time period, reflective of increasing proportions of cyanobacteria in algae exported to GSL on a seasonal basis. The C:N molar ratio of POM in outflow from Farmington Bay decreases during the summer period, supportive of the increased activity of N fixation indicated by decreasing {delta}{sup 15}N in brine shrimp and POM. Although N fixation is only taking place in the relatively freshwater inflows to GSL, data indicate that influx of fresh water influences large areas of the lake. Separation of GSL into two distinct hydrologic and geochemical systems from the construction of a railroad causeway in the late 1950s has created a persistent and widespread anoxic layer in the southern part of GSL. This anoxic layer, referred to as the deep brine layer (DBL), has high rates of SO{sub 4}{sup 2-} reduction, likely increasing the Hg methylation capacity. High concentrations of methyl mercury (CH{sub 3}Hg) (median concentration = 24 ng/L) were observed in the DBL with a significant proportion (31-60%) of total Hg in the CH{sub 3}Hg form. Hydroacoustic and sediment-trap evidence indicate that turbulence introduced by internal waves

Environmental flows and water quality objectives for the River Murray.

Science.gov (United States)

Gippel, C; Jacobs, T; McLeod, T

2002-01-01

from many factors acting over a long period. Also, the health of the river varies along its length, from highly degraded to reasonably healthy, so it is clear that different approaches will be needed in the various river zones, with some problems requiring reach or even point scale solutions. Environmental flow needs have been determined through two major Expert Panel reports that identified the ecological priorities for the river. The next step is to translate these needs into feasible flow management actions that will provide the necessary hydrological conditions. Several investigations are underway to recommend options for flow management. Two important investigations are described in this paper: how to enhance flows to wetlands of national and international significance, and how to physically alter or change the operation of structures (including a dam, weir, lock, regulator, barrage or causeway), to provide significant environmental benefits. Early modelling suggests that the only option which has a positive environmental effect in all zones of the River is a reduction in overall water consumption.

Foreword – Upon the Twentieth Anniversary of the Hong Kong Handover: An Update on State-Civil Societal Relations

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Emile Kok-Kheng Yeoh

2017-08-01

Full Text Available 1st July 2017 is the twentieth anniversary of the handover of Hong Kong by Great Britain to the People’s Republic of China, thus ending 156 years of British Crown rule (from 1841 to 1997, though from 1941 to 1945 it was actually under the Japanese occupation. Then on 28th September 2014 a surprised sociopolitical event erupted that arguably marked a most important milestone in Hong Kong’s post-1997 development when pro-democracy protestors occupied the Admiralty, Causeway Bay, Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui areas of Hong Kong. This momentous campaign, dubbed by the world media as the “Umbrella Movement”, was initially planned out earlier by the “Occupy Central with Love and Peace” (OCLP movement, but launched earlier than scheduled when overtaken by the development of events, metamorphosised into unprecedented scale of demonstrations in multiple locations. One can of course argue that the post-Mao China has changed so much, and that the economic success brought about by ditching Maoist central command economy for rugged capitalist market economy has legitimised the CCP’s continued monopoly of political power, but how would one explain the reaction of the Hong Kong people, especially the major part of the intelligentsia and the younger generation – that fear for and that distaste towards the CCP regime? How would one explain their reaction towards the death of persecuted dissidents, be they Li Wangyang, Cao Shunli or Liu Xiaobo, and towards Beijing’s creeping authoritarian intervention in Hong Kong’s governance, be it introduction of brainwashing school curriculum extoling the CCP, time-and-again interpretation of the Basic Law, or kidnapping of Hong Kong booksellers and publishers? How would one explain the eruption of 2014’s Occupy Campaign a.k.a. Umbrella Movement? It is to answer such questions and to delve analytically into the complex State-civil societal relations twenty years after the Handover, background of determining

Estimation of selenium loads entering the south arm of Great Salt Lake, Utah, from May 2006 through March 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Naftz, David L.; Johnson, William P.; Freeman, Michael L.; Beisner, Kimberly; Diaz, Ximena; Cross, VeeAnn A.

2009-01-01

Discharge and water-quality data collected from six streamflow-gaging stations were used in combination with the LOADEST software to provide an estimate of total (dissolved + particulate) selenium (Se) load to the south arm of Great Salt Lake (GSL) from May 2006 through March 2008. Total estimated Se load to GSL during this time period was 2,370 kilograms (kg). The 12-month estimated Se load to GSL for May 1, 2006, to April 30, 2007, was 1,560 kg. During the 23-month monitoring period, inflows from the Kennecott Utah Copper Corporation (KUCC) Drain and Bear River outflow contributed equally to the largest proportion of total Se load to GSL, accounting for 49 percent of the total Se load. Five instantaneous discharge measurements at three sites along the railroad causeway indicate a consistent net loss of Se mass from the south arm to the north arm of GSL (mean = 2.4 kg/day, n = 5). Application of the average daily loss rate equates to annual Se loss rate to the north arm of 880 kg (56 percent of the annual Se input to the south arm). The majority of Se in water entering GSL is in the dissolved (less than 0.45 micron) state and ranges in concentration from 0.06 to 35.7 micrograms per liter (ug/L). Particulate Se concentration ranged from less than 0.05 to 2.5 ug/L. Except for the KUCC Drain streamflow-gaging station, dissolved (less than 0.45 um) inflow samples contain an average of 21 percent selenite (SeO32-) during two sampling events (May 2006 and 2007). Selenium concentration in water samples collected from four monitoring sites within GSL during May 2006 through August 2007 were used to understand how the cumulative Se load was being processed by various biogeochemical processes within the lake. On the basis of the Mann-Kendall test results, changes in dissolved Se concentration at the four monitoring sites indicate a statistically significant (90-percent confidence interval) upward trend in Se concentration over the 16-month monitoring period. Furthermore

The Costa Maya:  Evolution of a Touristic Landscape La Costa Maya : évolution d'un paysage touristique La Costa Maya : evolución de un paisaje turístico

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klaus J. Meyer-Arendt

2010-06-01

ecotourism.  Development so far has been concentrated in Puerto Costa Maya, where a cruise ship pier and terminal were built in 2001.  The nearby beach resort (balneario of Majahual became dependent upon the 10-12 shiploads of tourists that descended upon it every week.  In spite of big development plans, the more remote beaches of the Costa Maya cater to fewer, but well-heeled ecotourists and dive tourists.  Hurricane Dean made landfall in August 2007 as a category-5 storm, and economic recovery only began in late 2008 when the cruise ship pier re-opened and Majahual rebuilt.  As of late 2009, the cruise-ship traffic had still not recovered to pre-Dean levels, and a global recession coupled with swine-flu and drug violence scares has lowered U.S. tourism to Mexico.  To what degree new tourism infrastructure such as an international airport at Tulum, a proposed causeway from Chetumal to the beach, and a new resort complex at Xahuayxel will stimulate tourism on the Mexican Costa Maya and eventually lead to a coastal highway link with San Pedro, Belize is still unknown.

PREFACE: Kelvin and Ireland

Science.gov (United States)

Flood, Raymond; McCartney, Mark; Whitaker, Andrew

2009-07-01

frequent visitor. While the most celebrated example of his engineering work was his massive contribution to the Atlantic telegraph cable, and his maritime and other inventions were used throughout the world, he was especially pleased to contribute to two important technical accomplishments in the north of Ireland, the occulting Holywood lighthouse and the Giant's Causeway tramway. Kelvin's interest in Ireland came again to the fore in the Home Rule debate at the end of the nineteenth century; Kelvin was vehemently opposed to Home Rule and became a passionate member of the Liberal Unionist party, a crucial factor in his becoming a peer. Accounts of these aspects of Kelvin's involvement with Ireland are given in our first four papers. The fifth paper was particularly appropriate for the meeting. It describes how an important contribution of Kelvin on optimal packing has been improved in Ireland by the speaker, Denis Weaire, himself, and how the result has been seen by the whole world in Beijing. Finally there is a discussion of Kelvin's place in the story of Irish science. There have been many highly accomplished Irish scientists, and the meeting showed clearly that Kelvin certainly deserves to be included among the greatest. Acknowledgments The meeting was the second regional event of the Institute of Physics (IOP) in Ireland, the first being the meeting on John Desmond Bernal: Science and Society held in Limerick in June 2006 and published in the same series as this volume. The meeting also benefited from the support of many bodies and institutions. We would like to thank the committee of the IOP in Ireland for providing finance and also giving their full support. We would particularly mention Vincent Casey, the Chair, who also chaired the afternoon session, Emma Sokell, the Secretary, and Denise Gabuzda and Kevin McGuigan, past and present Treasurers. We would also thank Sheila Gilheany and Alison Hackett for general help and encouragement, including assisting the