584 research outputs found
Non-discursive knowledge and the construction of identity. Potters, potting and performance at the bronze age tell of Százhalombatta, Hungary
No full textThis article explores the relationship between the making of things and the making of people at the Bronze Age tell at Százhalombatta, Hungary. Focusing on potters and potting, we explore how the performance of non-discursive knowledge was critical to the construction of social categories. Potters literally came into being as potters through repeated bodily enactment of potting skills. Potters also gained their identity in the social sphere through the connection between their potting performance and their audience. We trace degrees of skill in the ceramic record to reveal the material articulation of non-discursive knowledge and consider the ramifications of the differential acquisition of non-discursive knowledge for the expression of different kinds of potter's identities. The creation of potters as a social category was essential to the ongoing creation of specific forms of material culture. We examine the implications of altered potters' performances and the role of non-discursive knowledge in the construction of social models of the Bronze Ag
Sandy coastlines under threat of erosion
No full textSandy beaches occupy more than one-third of the global coastline1 and have high socioeconomic value related to recreation, tourism and ecosystem services2. Beaches are the interface between land and ocean, providing coastal protection from marine storms and cyclones3. However the presence of sandy beaches cannot be taken for granted, as they are under constant change, driven by meteorological4,5, geological6 and anthropogenic factors1,7. A substantial proportion of the world’s sandy coastline is already eroding1,7, a situation that could be exacerbated by climate change8,9. Here, we show that ambient trends in shoreline dynamics, combined with coastal recession driven by sea level rise, could result in the near extinction of almost half of the world’s sandy beaches by the end of the century. Moderate GHG emission mitigation could prevent 40% of shoreline retreat. Projected shoreline dynamics are dominated by sea level rise for the majority of sandy beaches, but in certain regions the erosive trend is counteracted by accretive ambient shoreline changes; for example, in the Amazon, East and Southeast Asia and the north tropical Pacific. A substantial proportion of the threatened sandy shorelines are in densely populated areas, underlining the need for the design and implementation of effective adaptive measures.Accepted Author ManuscriptCoastal Engineerin
Crushed rock and clay amelioration of a nutrient decifient, sandy soil of Maputaland
No full textBibliography: leaves 57-62.Various studies have suggested the possibility that food derived through subsistence agriculture in the Mseleni region of Maputaland contributes to malnutrition within the local community, particularfy within the high proportion of the population which suffers from a severe, disabling form of osteoarthritis. This study was conducted to determine if the application of local crushed rock or black clay to these nutrient deficient, sandy soils would increase available nutrient concentrations and improve the growth of plants in the ameliorated soil
The Great Sheep Shenanigans by P. Bently
No full textBently, Peter. The Great Sheep Shenanigans. Illus. M. Matsuoka. London: Andersen Press, 2011. Print. In this tale, it is really the wolf, Lou Pine (hear the French loup and Lupin, the werewolf from Harry Potter), who gets up to shenanigans, rather than the sheep. The text is a clever and funny rhyme that tells the story of the wolf trying to catch a lamb to eat. Along the way, we hear sheep-related cultural and literary references from, “the wolf in sheep’s clothing,” to Red Riding Hood. “I’m just in the mood for a Gran-flavoured snack,” the wolf tells us. The wolf makes many attempts to catch a lamb, but is always thwarted, if not by his own silliness, then by the water-gun toting Ma Watson, by bees, by Red Riding Hood’s Granny, and finally, by Rambo the Ram, who butts him into “a big pile of poo!” While the intended audience is pre-school, the author sprinkles in some big words, such as “derrière”, “kersplat”, “skedaddling” and “vindaloo”, that children will enjoy and repeat, but adults will need to explain and pronounce on the first reading. The text is often printed over the illustrations, sometimes in extra-large font to emphasize a point. Sometimes it is part of the illustration. When “Lou found a thicket of blossoming trees,” the words from the phrase “Down came the blossom” float down the page with the blossoms. The illustrations are as much fun as the text. The sheep are most often depicted as balls of white with heads, ears and four small pegs for legs. Lou Pine is a two-dimensional creature, while Rambo the Ram blows steam out his nose and wears boxing gloves. The sheep occasionally have glasses, bow-ties or hair-bows. Because the rhyme is jaunty and the illustrations are fun and inventive, this will be a book that small children will want to have read to them over and over. Highly recommended for public and elementary school libraries. Recommendation: 4 stars out of 4Reviewer: Sandy CampbellSandy is a Health Sciences Librarian at the University of Alberta, who has written hundreds of book reviews across many disciplines. Sandy thinks that sharing books with children is one of the greatest gifts anyone can give
Relationships between community structure of the intertidal macroinfauna and sandy beach characteristics along the Chilean coast
No full textEight sandy beaches were seasonally sampled along the coast of Chile, from ca. 21 to 42degrees S (about 3000 km) to study the relationship between community structure 2 of the intertidal macroinfauna and beach characteristics. Sediment samples (0.1 m(2), 30 cm deep) were collected (July-September 1998 and December 1998-January 1999) with plastic cylinders at 15 equally spaced levels along three replicated transects extending from above the drift line to the swash zone. The sediment was sieved through a 1 mm mesh and the organisms collected stored in 5% formalin. To define beach types, Dean's parameter (0) was calculated from wave heights and periods, and fall velocity of sand particles from the swash zone. Crustaceans (mainly peracarids) were the most diverse group with 14 species, followed by polychaetes with 5 species. The talitrid amphipod Orchestoidea tuberculata, the cirolanid isopods Excirolana braziliensis and E. hirsuticauda and the anomuran decapod Emerita analoga were the most widely distributed and common species. Regression analyses between species richness, abundance and biomass of the whole macroinfauna versus sediment characteristics, beach face slopes and morphodynamic beach states showed no significant relationships. Thus, macroinfaunal community characteristics did not increase linearly from lower intermediate to higher intermediate or dissipative beach states as had been found before in Chile or in other coasts. A comparative analysis with data from sandy beaches of other world regions showed that the number of species inhabiting Chilean sandy beaches was generally lower, whereas total population abundances were generally higher compared with values reported elsewhere.PT: J; CR: ANSELL AD, 1972, MAR BIOL, V17, P38 BRAZEIRO A, 1996, ESTUARINE COASTAL SH, V21, P587 BROWER JE, 1977, FIELD LAB METHODS GE CROKER RA, 1975, CAN J ZOOL, V53, P42 DEFEO O, 2000, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V212, P159 DERUYCK AMC, 1992, CAH BIOL MAR, V33, P147 DUGAN JE, 1996, REV CHIL HIST NAT, V69, P579 DUGAN JE, 2000, 5 CAL ISL S, P339 EMERY KO, 1938, J SEDIMENT PETROL, V8, P105 EMERY KO, 1961, LIMNOL OCEANOGR, V6, P90 ETTER RJ, 1992, NATURE, V360, P576 FOLK R, 1980, PETROLOGY SEDIMENTAR FONSECA T, 1987, INVEST PESQ, V34, P33 GIBBS RJ, 1971, J SEDIMENT PETROL, V41, P7 GOMEZ J, 1999, MAR ECOL-PROG SER, V182, P209 JARAMILLO E, 1987, THESIS U NEW HAMPSHI JARAMILLO E, 1993, ESTUAR COAST SHELF S, V37, P615 JARAMILLO E, 1996, REV CHIL HIST NAT, V69, P641 JARAMILLO E, 1998, REV CHIL HIST NAT, V71, P459 JARAMILLO E, 2000, REV CHIL HIST NAT, V73, P771 JARAMILLO E, 2001, ECOL STU AN, V151, P61 MCLACHLAN A, 1990, J COASTAL RES, V6, P57 MCLACHLAN A, 1993, J COASTAL RES, V15, P27 MCLACHLAN A, 1995, OCEANOGR MAR BIOL, V33, P305 MCLACHLAN A, 1996, REV CHIL HIST NAT, V69, P451 MCLACHLAN A, 1998, J COASTAL CONSERVATI, V4, P181 SEWARDTHOMPSON B, 1973, SEDIMENTOLOGY, V11, P83 SHORT AD, 1983, SANDY BEACHES ECOSYS, P133 SOKAL RR, 1995, BIOMETRY PRINCIPLES; NR: 29; TC: 11; J9: MAR ECOL-P S Z N I; PG: 20; GA: 509UHSource type: Electronic(1
Biostabilization of a Sandy Soil Using Enzymatic Calcium Carbonate Precipitation
No full textAbstractThe use of soils with poor mechanical properties frequently requires the improvement of their characteristics, mainly the strength and stiffness. One possible technique utilizes precipitated calcium carbonate (CaCO3). However this methodology usually requires a complex and sensitive process of cultivation and storage of the bacteria, which may make field applications difficult. In order to avoid this, an alternative process to promote CaCO3 precipitation is the enzymatic CaCO3 precipitation which is performed by mixing the soil with urea, calcium chloride and the urease enzyme. Thus, the aim of this work is to analyze the effect of the amount of the urea and calcium chloride on the biocalcification process. Initially, the methodology is studied in test-tube experiments, through the evaluation of the amount of CaCO3 precipitated and XRD tests to verify the existence of CaCO3. After these tests, the methodology is tested with a sandy soil to examine its strengthening effects, using the results of unconfined compressive strength tests. The results obtained confirm the precipitation of CaCO3 and the effectiveness of this methodology in improving the characteristics of a sandy soil, they also show that the increase of the urea-CaCl2 concentration may inhibit the activity of urease
Morphodynamic acceleration techniques for multi-timescale predictions of complex sandy interventions
No full textThirty one percent (31%) of the world's coastline consists of sandy beaches and dunes that form a natural defense protecting the hinterland from flooding. A common measure to mitigate erosion along sandy beaches is the implementation of sand nourishments. The design and acceptance of such a mitigating measure require information on the expected evolution at time scales from storms to decades. Process-based morphodynamic models are increasingly applied, together with morphodynamic acceleration techniques, to obtain detailed information on this wide scale of ranges. This study shows that techniques for the acceleration of the morphological evolution can have a significant impact on the simulated evolution and dispersion of sandy interventions. A calibrated Delft3D model of the Sand Engine mega-nourishment is applied to compare different acceleration techniques, focusing on accuracy and computational times. Results show that acceleration techniques using representative (schematized) wave conditions are not capable of accurately reproducing the morphological response in the first two years. The best reproduction of the morphological behavior of the first five years is obtained by the brute force simulations. Applying input filtering and a compression factor provides similar accuracy yet with a factor five gain in computational cost. An attractive method for the medium to long time scales, which further reduces computational costs, is a method that uses representative wave conditions based on gross longshore transports, while showing similar results as the benchmark simulation. Erosional behavior is captured well in all considered techniques with variations in volumes of about 1 million m3 after three decades. The spatio-temporal variability of the predicted alongshore and cross-shore distribution of the morphological evolution however have a strong dependency on the selected acceleration technique. A new technique, called 'brute force merged', which incorporates the full variability of the wave climate, provides the optimal combination of phenomenological accuracy and computational efficiency (a factor of 20 faster than the benchmark brute force technique) at both the short and medium to long time scales. This approach, which combines realistic time series and the mormerge technique, provides an attractive and flexible method to efficiently predict the evolution of complex sandy interventions at time scales from hours to decades.Coastal Engineerin
Facies reconnaissance of the upper Miocene Big Sandy Formation near Wikieup, Mohave County, Arizona
No full textabstract: A brief reconnaissance (5-8 November 2008) of the Big Sandy Formation near Wikieup (on US Highway 93 in Mohave County, Arizona) was undertaken to reconcile a reported dominance of lacustrine beds (Sheppard and Gude, 1972, 1973) with the largely terrestrial mammalian fauna reported from the formation (MacFadden et al., 1979; Lindsay and Mead, 2005). The issue is resolved satisfactorily by appreciation that nearly all fossil localities occur in fluvial beds that intertongue with and grade laterally into the dominant lacustrine strata.Contributed report (Arizona Geological Survey) ; 08-DIncludes bibliographical references (p. 5-6)
Wave generation of gravity-driven sediment flows on a predominantly sandy seabed
No full textThese data accompany a paper submitted to Geophysical Research Letters.Wave-supported gravity flows (WSGF) generate rates of sediment flux far exceeding other cross-shelf transport processes, contributing disproportionately to shelf morphology and net cross-shelf fluxes of sediment in many regions worldwide. However, the conditions deemed necessary for the formation of WSGF limit them to a narrow set of shelf conditions; they have been observed exclusively in regions where the seabed consists of very fine-grained sediment and typically co-occur with nearby river flood events. Here we document the occurrence of a WSGF event on a predominantly sandy seabed and in the absence of a preceding river flood. Our measurements confirm that the dynamics are governed by the friction-buoyancy balance observed in other WSGF, but also reveal how grain size influences the structure and transport rate of WSGF. We observe that, although sufficient concentrations of fine sediment are required for their formation, WSGF can form in mixed grain-size environments and can transport high concentrations of sand. The occurrence of WSGF on a sandy seabed suggests that they may occur under a much wider range of conditions and, given the global prevalence of sandy shelves, they may be a more frequent and more ubiquitous feature of shelf dynamics than previously thought
Influence of Hydrological Processes on Phosphate Leaching in Tile Drained Sandy Soils: A Case Study in the Bollenstreek
No full textLeaching of phosphorus (P) from agricultural land is an important source of eutrophication in the Bollenstreek in the Netherlands. This is because floriculture has led to high P concentrations in the sandy soils with low organic carbon content, which are characterised by a low retention capacity for P. In this study, P concentrations in groundwater from three plots in the Bollensteek were found to exceed the water framework directive (WFD) by a factor of 40. The case study on a single plot showed a phosphate load of 5.5 kg/ha/year leached through the tile drains, which is an order of magnitude higher than fields outside the Bollensteek. To understand where phosphate comes from and how hydrological processes influence leaching, hydraulic and chemical measurements of soil, groundwater and tile drain outflow were taken in a field with regulated tile drainage, and two hydrological models were created to simulate wet winter and dry summer conditions. The results showed the flow paths from this plot under wet and dry conditions and illustrated how hydrological processes can influence phosphate leaching through the soil and tile drains.Civil Engineerin
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