Development of Trigger Levels to Assess Catchment Disturbance on Stream Suspended Sediment Loads in the Magela Creek Catchment,Northern Territory,Australia

Trigger levels for fine suspended sediment (FSS) load in streams are required to identify rainfall-runoff events that have significantly elevated FSS loads, compared with expected background loads, as a result of catchment disturbance. Stream FSS load data collected in the mine-impacted Magela Creek catchment in the wet-dry tropics were used to derive water quality management trigger levels for two approaches – a Before-After-Control-Impact Paired difference design (BACIP) and a regression relationship between observed FSS load and corresponding event discharge characteristics. The results indicate that both the BACIP and regression relationship approaches behave similarly, with similar FSS load events elevated above trigger levels. Notwithstanding this, it is recommended that in order to reliably assess the location and magnitude of a catchment disturbance on FSS load, a combination of BACIP and regression relationship approaches must be adopted. In this study, an event with a FSS load above trigger levels associated with both BACIP and the regression relationship fitted for the downstream site is considered to be significantly elevated as a result of a disturbance within the mine-impacted region. While this technique cannot conclusively determine whether the cause of the disturbance is mine-related or natural (such as fire or bank erosion), it is an efficient statistical method of identifying events that warrant further investigation and management action, if required.     

Inns,innkeepers and the society of later medieval England, 1350–1600

The inns and innkeepers of medieval England form a poorly documented and neglected group of institutions and individuals. Yet at a time of growing specialism, they were a crucial part of the economic infrastructure of the country. This study is focused on the documentation for central southern England but seeks to place this in a wider perspective. There was now a regular provision of inns in accordance with the size and importance of the towns. Inns generated substantial rent and were evidently felt to be worth considerable investment. Innkeepers were among the rich and influential members of the town. Inns played a vital role in the evolving and prospering economic, social and political life of the nation in this period.     

Nitrogen cycling in western India as revealed by nitrogen isotopes,and the historic production of saltpetre

Saltpetre (KNO₃) manufacture was a principal monopoly industry in early Modern India when the United Kingdom governed the social and economic systems. The process represented microbial transformation of excrementitious livestock and human wastes deposited around habitats, resulting in formation of salt efflorescence at an economic scale. Low caste people collected these wastes for extraction and production of rough saltpetre under the administrative control of British India. Stable isotope composition (δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O) was used to trace details of the microbial transformation processes, often involving the isotopic fractionation of nitrogen and oxygen. Marked elevation in δ¹⁵N and δ¹⁸O values for nitrates in soils and deposits, relative to those of primary organic nitrogen in diets and water sources, characterizes the unique processes of historic saltpetre manufacture in British India.     

The ripple effects of large-scale transport infrastructure investment

We analyze the general equilibrium effects of an asymmetric decrease in transport costs, combining a large-scale spatial dynamic general equilibrium model for 267 European NUTS-2 regions with a detailed transport model at the level of individual road segments. As a case study, we consider the impact of the road infrastructure investments in Central and Eastern Europe of the European Cohesion Policy. Our analysis suggests that the decrease in transportation costs benefits the targeted regions via substantial increases in gross domestic product (GDP) and welfare compared to the baseline, and a small increase in population. The geographic information embedded in the transport model leads to relatively large predicted benefits in peripheral countries such as Greece and Finland, which hardly receive funds, but whose trade links cross Central and Eastern Europe, generating profit from the investments there. The richer, Western European nontargeted regions also enjoy a higher GDP after the investment in the East, but these effects are smaller. Thus, the policy reduces interregional disparities. There are rippled patterns in the predicted policy spillovers. In nontargeted countries, regions trading more intensely with regions where the investment is taking place on average benefit more compared to other regions within the same country, but also compared to neighboring regions across an international border. We uncover that regions importing goods from Central and Eastern Europe enjoy the largest spillovers. These regions become more competitive and expand exports, to the detriment of other regions in the same country.     

Invasive cordgrass (Spartina spp.) in south‐eastern Australia induces island formation,salt marsh development,and carbon storage

Invasive vegetation species can lead to major changes in the geomorphology of coastal systems. Within temperate estuaries in the southern hemisphere, especially Australia and New Zealand, the cordgrass Spartina spp. has become established. These species are highly invasive, and their prolific growth leads to the development of supratidal environments in formerly intertidal and subtidal environments. Here, we quantified the impact of Spartina invasion on the geomorphology and sequestration capacity of carbon in the sediments of Anderson Inlet, Victoria, Australia. Spartina was first introduced to the area in the 1930s to aid in land reclamation and control coastal erosion associated with coastal development. We found that Spartina now dominates the intertidal areas of the Inlet and promotes accretion (18 mm/year) causing the formation of over 108 ha of supratidal islands over the past 100 years. These newly formed islands are calculated to potentially contain over 5.5 million tonnes of CO₂ equivalent carbon. Future management of the inlet and other Spartina‐dominated environments within Australian presents a dilemma for resource managers; on the one hand, Spartina is highly invasive and can outcompete native tidal marshes, thereby warranting its eradication, but on the other hand it is likely more resilient to rising sea levels and has the potential for carbon sequestration. Whether or not the potential advantages outweigh the significant habitat change that is anticipated, any management strategies will likely require additional research into costs and benefits of all ecosystem services provided by Spartina including in relation to nutrient cycling, shoreline stabilisation, and biodiversity as well as in response to the longevity of carbon found within the sediments.     

In pursuit of productive conflict in strategic planning: project identification

This paper discusses three normative standpoints on conflict in strategic spatial planning: no conflict, conflict for consensus and conflict for meta-consensus on the validity of dispute. These views apply to the questions of whether and why projects, as a major source of conflict, should be identified in the process of strategic planning. In their approaches to these questions, the performance school advocates the production of general guidelines to avoid conflict, the collaborative perspective supports the identification of projects in strategic planning in order to utilize their potential in a conflict-to-consensus journey and the conflict-oriented perspective favours the identification of projects in strategic planning in order to arrive at meta-consensus on the immediate disputability of robust agreements. Reflecting on the collaborative perspective, this paper tests a hypothetical model of how conflicts created in the face of project identification can feed in making consensual strategies. Findings in the North West region of England support the model and suggest some difficulties with reviewing such consensus around which a resistance network forms. The paper puts forward some recommendations for overcoming the review challenge.     

A gender analysis of everyday mobility in urban and rural territories: from challenges to sustainability

Gender differences in mobility patterns between women and men have long been acknowledged. This study analyses how these differences are reproduced in different urban and rural contexts. Using mobility data from a large travel survey taken in 2006 in Spain, we examine the differences between gender mobility through age, modal split and trip purposes. Special attention is paid to how territory shapes mobility and how these territorial settings differently affect gendered mobilities. The use of this data source allows the comparison of all trips made by the total population, including all means of transport. By taking a global view on mobility, the uneven relationships that men and women have with different means of transport become more visible. After disaggregating data by age and territorial settings, results show that women are using sustainable transport modes more often than men, and travelling for more diverse reasons. Gender is thus a fundamental variable in understanding modal split and, by extension, transport sustainability, in terms of energy consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases. From this point of view, we consider women's mobility knowledge and practices – typically related to the most sustainable means of transport – as factors with rising value that could effectively guide public policy in its way to promote more sustainable mobility patterns.     

Ming dynasty maritime provisions transport during the second stage of the East Asian War (1597–98)

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of the Ming army's maritime shipping of supplies during the second stage of the East Asian War of 1597–8. Despite the lack of historical sources and difficulty in finding accurate numbers, Zhang Yangmeng's 張養蒙 memorials include records of maritime transport decisions, implementation, effectiveness, and limitations and are of great help to filling in the blank areas of research in Ming army logistics.     

格尔木盐湖化工产业集群发展研究

产业集群的发展壮大是提升城市竞争力的最有效途径。本文对格尔木盐湖化工产业集群的发展阶段进行了初步判断,在此基础上,分析了格尔木盐湖化工产业集群的发展状况,提出了加快发展产业集群的具体对策建议。     

Hydrothermal dolomitization,mixing corrosion and deep burial porosity formation: numerical results from 1‐D reactive transport models

Major corrosion has been found at depth in carbonate hydrocarbon reservoirs from different geologic provinces. Fluid inclusion microthermometry and stable isotopic compositions of carbonate cements, predating major corrosion, constrain the interpretation of the evolution of parental fluids during progressive burial and prior to the major corrosion event. Post‐major corrosion mineral paragenesis includes pyrite (‐marcasite), anhydrite, kaolinite (dickite) and fluorite. Although the post‐corrosion mineral paragenesis represents minor volumes of rock, it may provide valuable insights into the post‐corrosion brine chemistry. Using reactive transport numerical models, the roles of cooling and/or mixing of brines on corrosion have been evaluated as controls for dolomitization, deep burial corrosion and precipitation of the post‐corrosion mineral paragenesis. Modelling results show that cooling of deep‐seated fluids moving upward along a fracture may cause minor calcite dissolution and porosity generation. Significant dolomitization along a fracture zone and nearby host‐rock only occurs when deep‐seated fluids have high salinities (4 mol Cl kg^?1 of solution) and Darcian flow rates are relatively high (1 m³ m^?2 year^?1). Only minor volumes of quartz and fluorite precipitate in the newly formed porosity. Moreover, modelling results cannot reproduce the authigenic precipitation of kaolinite (dickite at high temperatures) by cooling. As an alternative to cooling as a cause of corrosion, mixing between two brines of different compositions and salinities is represented by two main cases. One case consists of the flow up along a fracture of deep‐seated fluids with higher salinities than the fluid in the wall rock. Dolomite does not precipitate at a fracture zone. Nevertheless, minor volumes of dolomite are formed away from the fracture. The post‐corrosion mineral paragenesis can be partly reproduced, and the results are comparable to those obtained from cooling calculations. Minor volumes of quartz and fluorite are formed, and kaolinite‐dickite does not precipitate. The major outputs of this scenario are calcite dissolution and slight net increase in porosity. A second case corresponds to the mixing of low salinity deep‐seated fluids, flowing up along fractures, with high salinity brines within the wall rock. Calculations predict major dissolution of calcite and precipitation of dolomite. The post‐corrosion mineral paragenesis can be reproduced. High volumes of quartz, fluorite and kaolinite‐dickite precipitate and may even completely occlude newly formed porosity.