3,239 research outputs found
The ecological significance of saltmarshes to the Peel-Harvey Estuarine system. In: McComb, A.J., Kobryn, H.T. and Latchford, J.A. (eds) Samphire marshes of the Peel-Harvey estuarine system Western Australia.
No full textThe saltmarshes of the Peel-Harvey system are important to the environmental health of the estuary and to this region of the Swan Coastal Plain. Although there have been few scientific investigations specific to this area, a number of world-wide studies on the ecological characteristics of saltmarshes have indicated they are very important to the environmental health of estuaries and coastal ecosystems (Mann, 1982; Kennish, 1990). Unfortunately, there is a paucity of studies on Australian saltmarsh ecosystems (Fairweather, 1990). However, in a local context there is evidence that saltmarshes in the Peel-Harvey system are critical to the overall ecological health of the Estuary (Table 6.1). For example, over 83 bird species have been observed in the saltmarshes of the estuary (Ninox, 1990) (Plate 6.1) and between 18 and 25 of these species are known to be trans-equatorial migrants (Jaensch et al., 1988; Wilkes, 1990). This provides the basis for listing the whole Peel-Harvey Estuarine area as a RAMSAR bird treaty area as well as for the estuary being listed in the JAMBA and CAMBA treaties.
The area is also significant for other ecological reasons which will be briefly outlined, along with the major ecological points suggested in the previous chapters, and compared with data and literature generated from saltmarsh research elsewhere in the world. In this way it is hoped that a better appreciation of the ecological significance of the saltmarshes in the Peel-Harvey Estuary will be reached
The significance of saltmarshes. In: McComb, A.J., Kobryn, H.T. and Latchford, J.A. (eds) Samphire marshes of the Peel-Harvey estuarine system Western Australia.
No full textSaltmarshes are complex ecosystems. Numerous studies have been undertaken on them in different parts of the world, mostly in the northern hemisphere. A few previous studies have been made of the marshes of the Peel-Harvey System (Rose & McComb, 1980; Backshall & Bridgewater, 1981; McComb & Lukatelich, 1986) but increased pressure for development, and the need for an understanding the possible effects of the then proposed Dawesville Channel highlighted the lack of information about saltmarshes in the area. This report endeavours to addresses this lack of information by presenting recent research into the extent, composition and functioning of the Peel-Harvey saltmarshes
What Can Be Done about Semantic Perversion?
No full textToday’s communication produces an incredible amount of what could be described as ‘semantic perversion’. Moreover, it seems that the critical faculties of too many people have been dulled, dried up, and withered. These conditions make people particularly susceptible to demagoguery, to enslavement by perverse power. The discussion, based on the book The Rhetoric of Manipulation by Robert Harvey, centres on a frank exposure of vicious discursive practices and the gullibility that accompanies them; it aims to address the damage already done, to help reverse the trend and improve the current situation in view of a far more ethical immediate future. Robert Harvey is Distinguished Professor Emeritus (Stony Brook University) and former Program Director at the Collège International de Philosophy. His research explores the interpenetrations of literary and philosophical discourse, the relations between art and philosophy, and how both dynamics may inform ethics. Author of many books, his latest are Parmi les gisants: penser le cimetière (Presses Universitaires de France, 2024), which visits burial grounds and explores what the living think they can learn from the dead; and The Rhetoric of Manipulation, which has just appeared with Bloomsbury Press (2025). Sverre Raffnsøe is Professor of Philosophy at Copenhagen Business School. Author of the following monographs: A History of the Humanities in the Modern Universities: A Productive Crisis (Palgrave 2024); Philosophy of the Anthropocene: The Human Turn (Palgrave 2016); Michel Foucault: A Research Companion. Philosophy as Diagnosis of the Present (Palgrave 2016); History, Diagnostics and Metaphysics in Nietzsche’s ‘On the Genealogy of Morality’ (Palgrave 2025); Aestheticizing Society: A Philosophical History of Sensory Experience and Art (Bloomsbury 2025). He has contributed to the fields of philosophical aesthetics, social philosophy, management philosophy and recent French and German philosophy
Recommendations for the future management and conservation of saltmarshes in the Peel-Harvey estuarine system. In: McComb, A.J., Kobryn, H.T. and Latchford, J.A. (eds) Samphire marshes of the Peel-Harvey estuarine system Western Australia.
No full textEstuarine saltmarshes can stimulate a number of senses. In a visual way, they provide a pleasing vista of procumbent to tall shrubs and trees tinged with colours ranging from red in autumn to succulent green in spring. This view is often enhanced by the sight of hundreds of wading birds feeding and dabbling along the shores and flying low over this interface between land and water. Saltmarshes also provide a contrasting sense when the rich productive smells of the marsh are detected. These smells are composed of decaying sun-baked vegetation mixing with the rotting gases of fetid muddy land. To some, the landscape features and the close proximity of open estuarine waters provides a potentially dollar-rich urban development challenge. With enough fill and re-contouring, these areas could be converted into expensive waterside homes. To all, however, the swarming mosquito hazes can drive us into our homes or cars making us wonder why nature has been so free in creating such a varied environment.
Overall, samphire marshes truly embody a large ecotone metaphor. On one side is a unique habitat providing an interface and link between land and water, and on the other side an environment fertile for human cultural conflict. Unfortunately, humans are an ecotone species and are drawn to the fringes of estuaries. To reduce conflict and successfully manage these environments requires an understanding of current land ownership, reserve status of fringing land, international treaty obligations, the planning process and the use of practical management plans and structures. It is also important to recognise the wisdom of using applied management and theoretical research plans to provide answers to management questions. They are most helpful if these plans recognise the uniqueness of most saltmarshes and give the public and estuarine manager the kind of information which allows saltmarshes to be conserved and sustained well into the future. Ultimately, any management plan must provide direction to help prevent the degradation of saltmarsh functions, such as ecologically important biodiversity, productivity and nutrient storage and release functions
Trends and Persistence in Primary Commodity Prices
No full textThis paper applies new time-series procedures to examine the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis of a secular deterioration in relative primary commodity prices and the nature of their persistence. Employing a dataset of 24 relative commodity prices for the 1900-98 period, the pervasiveness of the Prebisch-Singer hypothesis is shown to be a function of a priori selected decision criteria, providing an explanation of conflicting findings in the recent literature. Moreover, much less persistence is found in the relative commodity prices than previously reported, since 23 out of the 24 commodities can be classified as trend-stationary. This implies there may well be more room for stabilization and price support mechanisms than previously advocated.primary commodities, unit root tests, structural breaks
Water regimes and marsh distribution. In: McComb, A.J., Kobryn, H.T. and Latchford, J.A. (eds) Samphire marshes of the Peel-Harvey estuarine system Western Australia.
No full textTide has long been recognised as the most influential factor determining plant zonation and the development of saltmarsh communities, and it is the tide that largely determines the structure and function of saltmarshes (Clarke & Hannon, 1969).
The zonation of species with increasing distance from the water's edge and increasing elevation is initially determined by the frequency of tidal flooding and the tolerance of various species to this (Huiskes, 1990). Tidal range usually sets the upper and lower limits of the marsh. The lower limits are set by depth and duration of flooding, and the consequent mechanical effect of the waves, sediment availability and rate of erosion. The upper limits are influenced mainly by soil water salinity and nutrient availability, both of which are linked to tidal flooding frequency (Mitsch & Gosselink, 1993), tidal water being the main source of soil salt and the major mechanism for nutrient transport (Clarke & Hannon, 1971)
Hurricane Harvey Report: A fact-finding effort in the direct aftermath of Hurricane Harvey in the Greater Houston Region
No full textOn August 25, 2017, Hurricane Harvey made landfall near Rockport, Texas as a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of approximately 200 km/hour. Harvey caused severe damages in coastal Texas due to extreme winds and storm surge, but will go down in history for record-setting rainfall totals and flood-related damages. Across large portions of southeast Texas, rainfall totals during the six-day period between August 25 and 31, 2017 were amongst the highest ever recorded, causing flooding at an unprecedented scale. More than 100,000 residential properties are estimated to have been affected in southeast Texas. It is likely that Harvey will rank among the costliest storms in U.S. history.In the wake of Hurricane Harvey, Delft University of Technology has initiated a Harvey Research Team to undertake a coordinated multidisciplinary investigation of the events with a focus on the greater Houston area. This ‘fact-finding’ research is based on information available from public sources during and in the first weeks after the event. Results are therefore preliminary, but aim to provide insight into lessons that can be learned for both Texas and the Netherlands. As part of the investigations, a hackathon with more than 80 participants was organized to collect and analyze available public information.Houston was especially hard hit by flooding. During the event, all 22 watersheds in the greater Houston area experienced flooding. Many of Houston’s creeks and bayous exceeded their channel capacities, reaching water levels never before recorded. Across large portions of Harris County, rainfall totals exceeded the 1000-year return period. In addition, the water from the two reservoirs protecting downtown Houston (Addicks and Barker) were opened on August 28 to prevent catastrophic damages to the dams and further flooding in upstream communities. The releases exacerbated flooding in the areas downstream of the dams and an estimated 4,000 homes in neighborhoods downstream of the dams were impacted by flooding. The consequences of the event in the greater Houston area have been characterized in terms of economic damages, loss of life and impacts on critical infrastructure, airports and industry. In total, more than 100,000 homes were affected more than 70 fatalities were reported in the greater Houston area. The event highlighted the vulnerability of industrial facilities, as several cascading impacts (releases of toxic materials and explosions) were reported. Emergency response has been assessed. No large-scale mandatory evacuation was ordered before or during Harvey. However, it appeared that several local evacuations were ordered for areas with specific risks and circumstances. During the event, many people were trapped by rising waters necessitating a major rescue operation. In total, more than 10,000 rescues were made by professional and volunteer rescuers. Social media played an important role during the event and recovery, as an additional source of information, to inform emergency managers and as a means to organize community response e.g. for clean-up. Also, messages were conveyed through social media, e.g. a report of a levee breach that appeared to be incorrect afterwards.Major flooding is a problem that has multiple causes from both physical and social origin. Based on the investigations, recommendations for future research and lessons for flood management have been formulated. A better understanding of the issues studied in this report is expected to contribute to a knowledge basis for further in-depth investigations and future directions for flood risk reduction.Data collection and Report production funded by DIMI and DSysSpecial Case 'Houston Galveston Bay Region, Texas, USA'Project 'Harvey hackathon' and follow-up researchHydraulic Structures and Flood RiskPolicy AnalysisIntegral Design & ManagementSafety and Security ScienceSystem EngineeringMathematical Geodesy and Positionin
Expanding the boundaries of Marxism: David Harvey\'s historical-geographical materialism
No full textEsta pesquisa tem como objetivo analisar a construção do materialismo histórico-geográfico de David Harvey em sua primeira quinzena de produção marxista (1971-1985). Para isso, buscou-se analisar os marcos da sua adesão teórica ao marxismo expressos em A justiça social e a cidade, o momento de maior elaboração teórica de sua síntese presente em Os limites do capital, bem como a aplicação de sua teoria sobre um objeto da realidade, expressa em Paris, capital da modernidade. Verificou-se que, a partir dos estudo sobre o urbano, o autor buscou revelar as caixas vazias da teoria marxiana, e o fez analisando os deslocamentos espaciais e o desenvolvimento geográfico desigual como produtos das crises capitalistas de sobreacumulação. Na obra sobre Paris, o autor amplia seu escopo analítico para além dos temas mais vinculados à economia, adentrando às esferas política, social e cultural. Concluiu-se que o materialismo histórico-geográfico de David Harvey incorporou temas da Geografia ao marxismo sem abrir mão de seu núcleo duro teórico, e o fez sem negar o papel da história. Assim, o empreendimento teórico do autor representa uma ferramenta potente na análise do capitalismo contemporâneoThis research aims to analyze the construction of historical-geographical materialism by David Harvey in his first fortnight of Marxist production (1971-1985). To do this, we sought to analyze the milestones of his theoretical adherence to Marxism expressed in Social Justice and the City, the moment of greatest theoretical elaboration of his synthesis in The Limits of Capital, as well as the application of his his theory to an object of reality, expressed in Paris, Capital of Modernity. It was found that, from his study of the urban, the author sought to reveal the empty boxes of Marxian theory, and did so by analyzing spatial displacements and uneven geographical development as products of capitalist crises of overaccumulation. In his work about Paris, the author broadens his analytical scope beyond economic issues, entering the political, social and cultural spheres. It was concluded that David Harvey\'s historical-geographical materialism incorporated themes from geography into Marxism without giving up its hard core, and did so without denying the role of history. In this way, the author\'s theoretical enterprise represents a powerful in the analysis of contemporary capitalis
The internationalization and localization of professional services: The case of executive search firms in Australia
No full textThis is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Routledge / Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this record.William Harvey would like to acknowledge the financial support of the University of Sydney Business School in 201
- …
