bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Recycling and Composting: Making a Molehill Out of a Mountain
Authors: Tammemagi Hans
Published: November 2020

Recycling, which includes composting, is the current rage. Almost every community in North America has established some kind of recycling program in the past few years. This chapter focuses on the science and technologies that are involved in recycling programs and explores what is needed to make these programs successful. This section describes the part of recycling that is associated with blue-box or streetside programs. It includes paper, cardboard, metal, aluminum, and plastics; composting is described in the next section. A successful waste recycling program relies on more than a systematic application of equipment and other resources. It also depends very significantly on attitude. It is vital that everyone participate. To achieve a meaningful level of participation, some degree of legislative guidance may be necessary. In fact, studies have shown that mandatory recycling programs are much more effective than those run on a voluntary basis (Platt et al., 1991). Legislation or bylaws can also be used to • stipulate that soft-drink, beer, wine, and other bottles be Reused • require the use of recycled material in manufacturing new products • avoid excessive packaging • reduce tipping fees for recyclable or compostable materials brought to designated drop-off sites • set higher tipping fees for waste from which recyclables have not been removed • ban the landfilling of certain substances, such as yard wastes Public education is an indispensable part of an integrated waste management system. First, the public must be informed of the details that involve them: what days pickups are made, how to obtain recycle containers, what materials can be recycled, how they are to be sorted, and so on. This information can be disseminated by flyers, newsletters, ads in the local paper, features on local television channels, and telephone hot lines. Second, an ethic of conservation should be instilled so that people will want to participate in three Rs programs. Methods of achieving this objective include videos and slide shows at schools, posters, buttons, and awards to businesses and groups that make outstanding contributions to recycling.
Wastes: Know Your Enemy
Authors: Tammemagi Hans
Published: November 2020

When Sherlock Holmes solves a mystery, he studies the strengths, weaknesses, foibles, egos, sensitivities, and other traits of the villains. It is the same with wastes: a detailed understanding of their characteristics is fundamental to being able to manage them properly. To determine the size of a disposal facility, we must know the volumes and rate of generation of waste. A MRF cannot be designed unless it is known what recyclables are contained in the waste stream. A knowledge of the physical and chemical nature of waste allows engineers to select landfill construction materials that will be compatible with the waste. We must understand the toxic and hazardous components in order to design the facility to endure for a period of time commensurate with the hazardous lifetime of the waste. Because of the incredibly large number of existing waste compounds, it is useful to categorize them. Unfortunately, there are no well-established categorization systems in place. We will describe wastes using two main classification systems, and then we will describe their most important characteristics. The first system is a functional one; that is, the wastes are classified by generator. The second is a classification by chemical type. This somewhat arbitrary system combines different kinds of waste primarily by the group or industry that generates the waste. These waste types include: • municipal wastes • industrial wastes • hazardous wastes • radioactive wastes This is a convenient classification because each of these waste classes is generally managed and disposed of as a group. In addition, substantial volumes of waste are generated by the mining and agricultural sectors; these are not discussed in this book. Municipal solid wastes, as the name implies, are produced by the everyday activities in a community. They arise from the following sources: • residential—houses and apartments • commercial—stores, restaurants, office buildings, service stations, etc. • institutional—schools, courthouses, hospitals, etc. • construction and demolition—construction sites, road repair, building demolition, etc. • municipal services—street-cleaning, garden and park landscaping, wastewater treatment, etc. We are a wasteful society. Every person in North America generates approximately 2 kilograms of garbage each day.
Perspectives
Authors: Haroutounian Joanne
Published: November 2020

Four friends were observing the Grand Canyon for the first time—a geologist, an environmentalist, a photographer, and a poet. The geologist scientifically appraised the ancient formations of rock before him, examining and explaining fine details of this wondrous sight to his friends. The environmentalist stood close to the edge, peering into the canyon. She began a brisk dialogue with her scientific friend, pointing to different vegetation and the winding river in the canyon floor, explaining her views of the contextual changes of nature and its impact on the canyon. The photographer listened halfheartedly, busily clicking one shot after another, catching the changing light and shadow against the canyon walls. The poet listened attentively to the friendly scientific banter. She smiled while watching her photographer friend immersed in his work and sat quietly with pen and pad in hand, savoring the unique aesthetic experience. Four very different perspectives of the Grand Canyon—one analytically defined, one naturally developmental, one phenomenological, and one reflective. You observe this scene. You realize the value of each perspective of the Grand Canyon experience. You also are aware of the behavior of distinct personalities as they connect with the environment. Their views are specialized and focused to their particular interests. If you try to understand these perspectives and synthesize them with your own, you discover that you can enjoy a richer aesthetic awareness of the Grand Canyon. With imaginative juices in high gear, visualize the concept of musical talent as that vast Grand Canyon. Part I of this book offers unique perspectives of “what talent means” from specialists across different fields. The more specialized a person becomes in a respective field, the more a perspective becomes intensely focused and defined. The scientific psychometricians convey the importance of measuring music aptitude, the sensory base of musical talent. Developmental psychologists offer ideas about the growth of talent through musical learning. Performers and teachers of performers focus on the attributes of the talented performer. You may find the parameters of “talent” stretched in our discussions of musical creativity.
Population Structure
Authors: Nunney Leonard
Published: November 2020

Population structure is a ubiquitous feature of natural populations that has an important influence on evolutionary change. In the real world, populations are not homogenous units; instead, they develop an internal structure, created by the physical properties of the environment and the biological characteristics of the species (such as dispersal ability). However, our basic ecological and population genetic models generally ignore population structure and focus on randomly mating (panmictic) populations. Such structure can profoundly change the evolution of a population. In fact, the myriad of influences that population structure exerts can only be hinted at in a single chapter. Since an exhaustive review is not possible, I will focus on presenting the conceptual issues linking mathematical models of population structure to empirical studies. To do this, it is useful to recognize two different kinds of population structure that both reflect and influence evolutionary change. The first is genetic structure. This is defined as the nonrandom distribution of genotypes in space and time. Thus, genetic structure reflects the genetic differences that develop among the different components of one or more populations. The second is what I will call proximity structure, defined by the size and composition of the group of neighbors that influence an individual’s fitness. Fitness is commonly influenced by local intraspecific interactions. Perhaps the most obvious example is competition. When individuals compete for some resource, they don’t usually compete equally with every other member of the population; in general, they compete only with a few of the most proximate individuals. These two forms of population structure, genetic structure and proximity structure, provide a foundation for understanding why we have shifted away from viewing populations as homogenous units. For good reason, this is a theme that is explored in many of the other chapters in this book. Genetic structure can develop within a population over a single generation, generally either as a result of local family associations or as a result of spatial variation in selection. For example, limited seed dispersal results in genetic correlations among neighbors even in the face of long-distance pollen movement, due to the clustering of maternal half sibs.
Age and Size at Maturity
Authors: Roff Derek A.
Published: November 2020

Age and size at maturity have been an object of interest to humans since the domestication of animals and plants, for one of the objectives of domestication was to produce an organism that grew fast and matured early at a large size. Selection was also practiced to produce animals that could be used for such purposes as hunting and portaging, and to produce products for pleasure alone, as seen in the many ornamental varieties of dogs, cats, goldfish, pigeons, and plants. All of these instances demonstrate that age and size at maturity are traits that are relatively easily molded by artificial selection and, by extension, natural selection. Historically, artificial selection experiments were concerned not with the evolution of age and size at maturity in natural populations but with the production of economically more valuable plants and animals. Recently, there has been a substantial increase in the quantitative genetic analysis of nondomesticated organisms, which has shown that, with respect to morphological traits such as adult size, there is typically abundant additive genetic variance, with heritabilities averaging approximately 0.4 (reviewed in Roff 1997). Life history traits, such as the age at maturity, show, on average, lower heritabilities (approx. 0.26) but still enough for rapid evolutionary change. Quantitative genetic analyses have shown that age and size at maturity can evolve, but the most significant advances in our understanding of the factors favoring particular age at maturity/body size combinations are due to mathematical models predicated upon the assumption that selection maximizes some fitness measure such as the rate of increase, r. In a paper entitled “Adaptive Significance of Large Size and Long Life of the Chaetognath Sagitta elegans in the Arctic,” McLaren (1966) produced a seminal analysis in which he incorporated all the important elements that have appeared in subsequent analyses of the evolution of age and size at maturity. Specifically, McLaren attempted to take into account the trade-offs produced by increased fecundity being bought at the expense of delayed maturity and increased mortality. In this chapter, I shall primarily consider analyses that have followed in McLaren’s footsteps.
Sexual Selection
Authors: Savalli Udo M.
Published: November 2020

When Charles Darwin wrote On the Origin of Species (1859), he issued a challenge to potential critics: “If it could be proved that any part of the structure of any one species had been formed for the exclusive good of another species, it would annihilate my theory, for such could not be produced through natural selection”. Darwin went even further by identifying several traits that seemed especially problematical: the sterile worker castes of social insects and extravagant ornaments that appear to benefit potential predators more than their bearers. It is this latter problem and Darwin’s solution to it—sexual selection—that are the focus of this chapter. I begin by providing a very brief historical overview of sexual selection, focusing on the initial controversies and its resurgence in the 1970s. I then provide an overview of the conditions that lead to sexual selection and the kinds of traits that are favored by it. Sexual selection usually involves evolutionary changes in both males and females. Thus, I first address the evolution of extravagant male traits (it is typically males that exhibit such traits). Since female choice is one of the mechanisms that can lead to the evolution of extravagant male traits, I also address the evolution of female preferences. Finally, I will identify those areas of the field that are the most controversial, unresolved, and promising for future research. This review is, of necessity, brief and selective. I have tried to cite recent reviews rather than the extensive primary literature to provide an easy entry point into the literature. Readers wishing for more detailed treatment would do well by starting with Andersson’s (1994) excellent book. Darwin introduced the concept of sexual selection in On the Origin of Species (1859) and greatly elaborated the idea in The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex (1871). Darwin defined sexual selection as depending “not on a struggle for existence, but on a struggle between males for possession of the females”.
Cooperative Transport by Insects and Robots
Authors: Bonabeau Eric , Dorigo Marco , Theraulaz Guy
Published: November 2020

Collective robotics is a booming field, and cooperative transport—particularly cooperative box-pushing—has been an important benchmark in testing new types of robotic architecture. Although this task in itself is not especially exciting, it does provide insight into the design of collective problem-solving robotic systems. One of the swarm-based robotic implementations of cooperative transport that seems to work well is one that is closely inspired by cooperative prey retrieval in social insects. Ants of various species are capable of collectively retrieving large prey that are impossible for a single ant to retrieve. Usually, a single ant finds a prey item and tries to move it alone; when successful, the ant moves the item back to the nest. When unsuccessful, the ant recruits nestmates through direct contact or trail laying. If a group of ants is still unable to move the prey item for a certain time, specialized workers with large mandibles may be recruited in some species to cut the prey into smaller pieces. Although this scenario seems to be fairly well understood in the species where it has been studied, the mechanisms underlying cooperative transport—that is, when and how a group of ants move a large prey item to the nest—remain unclear. No formal description of the biological phenomenon has been developed, and, surprisingly, roboticists went further than biologists in trying to model cooperative transport: perhaps the only convincing model so far is one that has been introduced and studied by roboticists [207] and, although this model was not aimed at describing the behavior of real ants, few adjustments would be required to make it biologically plausible. This chapter first describes empirical research on cooperative transport in ants, and then describes the work of Kube and Zhang [205, 206,207, 209]. A small prey or food item is easily carried by a single ant.
Climates, Cultures, and Founding Myths
Authors: Meyer William B.
Published: November 2020

The size, scope, and variety of changes in weather-society relations that history records are a great embarrassment to climatic determinism, for they have occurred without the weather itself becoming drastically different. But if determinism cannot account well for change, it surely holds more promise in explaining continuity. And indeed a pattern that goes back to the earliest years of Anglo-American settlement has long been a favorite illustration for climatic determinists of how environments shape societies. The Atlantic seaboard communities in the North and South of what is now the United States have for centuries differed markedly in their political culture and social structure. The environment has often been held responsible according to a general law supposedly governing such matters. Here as elsewhere, the enduring influence of heat made the South "traditional and conservative"; that of cold made the North "innovative and progressive." But it is conceding nothing to determinism to note that those contrasts do indeed have something to do with climate. They are merely related to it by another and far more tortuous pathway, time- and place-specific rather than universal, than the one suggested. The contrasts were not imposed by different climates molding originally similar groups of settlers and their descendants. Rather, the mixes of resources and hazards that different climates seemed to offer in one particular period attracted different kind of colonists and colonization, giving rise to different institutions and societies whose effects are still apparent. The contrasts between North and South do not bear out any timeless truth about climate-society relations, nor do they reflect anything that higher and lower latitudes always mean for their inhabitants. They reflect, rather, what those latitudes happened to mean in a certain time and place and social order, what they meant to the elites of Tudor and Stuart England. Late-sixteenth-century England was not in an enviable position economically. It could feed and clothe itself, but its surplus productions for export were few and unimpressive. The most important of them was woollen cloth, which was not an article much in demand in the warmer Mediterranean countries that supplied England with many of its necessities and luxuries: wine, sugar, olive and other oils, citrus fruits, silks, and spices.
Eye of Newt
Authors: Lewis William M.
Published: November 2020

Whoever would identify a wetland objectively must cook up some combination of evidence from hydrology, soil, and vegetation. Many recipes have been proposed, but all have proven unappealing to many and downright nauseating to some. Some favor one ingredient over the other two, while others insist on all three. These differences go beyond mere matters of taste; they relate directly to probability of error and feasibility of practice. Use of observations or measurements to make conclusions always involves some probability of error. Statistics is the discipline to which we turn in our attempt to attach probabilities of error to a particular judgment. That judgments about wetlands lie within the reach of statistics seems to be forgotten most of the time. Statistics, while regarded by many as an ugly discipline, has been reborn in several more comely forms. One of these is risk analysis, which involves the assignment of probability to outcomes that society views as undesirable. Given that risk analysis has been recently as much a rage as statistics itself was a generation ago, wetland identification should be steeped in it, but this is not the case. In arguing over the identification of wetlands, critics of a particular type of evidence are likely to say that it is unreliable. No such generalization is reasonable; the reliability of a particular type of evidence depends on the situation. For example, a plant community strongly dominated by obligate wetland plant species (or equivalently, showing a prevalence index below 2) will support the identification of a wetland with very little risk of error if there has been no recent change in hydrology. The risk thus could be framed as a statement of conditional probability: given that hydrologic conditions have not changed recently, strong dominance of the plant community by obligate wetland species indicates the presence of wetland with a probability exceeding 90%.2 On the other hand, dominance of facultative species (e.g., prevalence index of 2.5) would be a very different matter.
Air Pollution Dispersion
Authors: Whiteman C. David
Published: November 2020

Air pollutants are harmful airborne substances (solids, liquids, or gases) that, when present in high-enough concentrations, threaten human health or welfare, harm vegetation, animals, or structures, or affect visibility. Visibility alone is not, however, a reliable indicator of the presence of pollutants. A visible plume of condensed water vapor from an industrial cooling tower decreases solar radiation and increases the frequency of fog and icy road conditions near the cooling tower, but it is not an air pollution plume because it is composed entirely of water. In contrast, an industrial pollutant plume may be nearly invisible after the gross particulate matter has been removed by pollution control equipment, but it may still contain large quantities of pollutant gases. Air pollutants can come from either natural or anthropogenic (human) sources. The distinction between the two categories is not always clear. Natural emissions include ash and dust from volcanoes, certain highly volatile chemicals from forests, aeroallergens such as ragweed pollen, wind-entrained dust from natural land surfaces, and smoke and ash from wildfires. Wind-entrained dust can, however, come from roadways or land surfaces that have been disturbed by man, some aeroallergens come from plant species introduced to a new habitat by man, and many fires are prescribed fires —natural or man-made fires (whether accidental or deliberate) that are allowed to burn in order to meet forest or land management objectives. Pollutants can be emitted directly into the atmosphere (primary pollutants] or produced in the atmosphere (secondary pollutants) as a result of chemical or physical transformations of primary pollutants when exposed to other components of air, including other pollutants or water vapor. Examples of transformations include the clumping or coagulation of small particulates into larger particles and the conversion of sulfur dioxide gas emitted from coal-fired power plants to particulate sulfates under humid conditions or to acid rain droplets if clouds are present. Some secondary pollutants, such as photochemical smog or ozone, result from photochemical reactions, that is, chemical reactions that occur only in the presence of solar radiation. Pollutants may come from point, area, or line sources; the emissions may be continuous or intermittent; and the source strength may be variable or constant.
History of Scientific Exploration in the Sea of Cortés
Authors: Lindsay George E. , Engstrand Iris H. W.
Published: November 2020

The Sea of Cortés (el Mar de Cortés), also known as the Gulf of California, is the body of water that separates the California peninsula from the mainland of Mexico. It extends in a northwest-southeast axis for 1070 km, varying in width from 100 to 200 km. The gulf was formerly much longer, but sediments carried by the Colorado River created a delta and dammed off its upper end, forming what is now the Imperial Valley. The western side of the gulf is dotted with islands, the longest of which is Ángel de la Guarda, measuring 67 km long, up to 16 km wide, and 1315 m high (see app. 1.1 for a list of island names and measurements). Most of the islands are geological remnants of the peninsula's separation from the mainland, a continuing process that started 4 or more million years ago. One central gulf island, Tortuga, is an emerged volcano, whereas San Marcos Island to its west is largely gypsum, possibly precipitated from an ancient lake. The largest island in the gulf is Tiburón, with an area of approximately 1000 km2. It is barely separated from the mainland to the east and has a curiously mixed biota of peninsular and mainland species. One tiny island, San Pedro Nolasco, is only 13 km off shore in San Pedro Bay, Sonora, but has an unusual flora that includes a high percentage of endemics. The isolation of organisms that colonized or were established previously on the Sea of Cortés islands provided an opportunity for genetic and ecological change. In one plastic and rapidly evolving plant family, the Cactaceae, about one-half of the 120 species found on the islands are endemic. Similarly, populations isolated by climate on peninsular mountains are well differentiated. Because of the topographical diversity of the area and its effect on the disruption and integration of populations, the Sea of Cortes and its islands have been called a natural laboratory for the investigation of speciation.
Tenebrionid Beetles
Authors: Sanchez Piñero Francisco , Aalbu Rolf L.
Published: November 2020

Desert islands in the Sea of Cortés are inhabited by a rich arthropod fauna. Although the seemingly barren landscape may appear devoid of arthropods at midday, at night one may often see members of one of the dominant groups of animals on the islands, the tenebrionid beetles. Highly variable in shape and size, the Tenebrionidae are one of the most highly evolved and diverse families of beetles. Tenebrionidae is perhaps the fifth largest beetle family (>2000 genera), and about half of these are uniquely adapted to arid environments and form a dominant group in desert ecosystems (Crawford 1991). For example, the adult biomass of one species (Asbolus verrucosus) at a site in the northern Mojave Desert was found to be greater (275 g/ha) than the combined biomass of all mammals, birds, and reptiles (a total of 263 g/ha) in the same area (Thomas 1979). The major problem that insects encounter in desert environments is water loss; their relatively high surface-volume ratios cause rapid desiccation in dry air (Crawford 1981). Water is lost mainly through transpiration (combined cuticular and respiratory water loss) but also through defecation, defensive secretions, and oviposition. Adaptations to desert conditions can thus be categorized as either ecological adaptations (finding or creating moist conditions) or morpho-physiological adaptations (protection and resistance against desiccation) (Ghilarov 1964). Adaptations which have made tenebrionids desert specialists all contribute to either reducing transpiratory or other water loss or allowing survival in harsh desert environments: body-shape diversity; the ability to seek refuge underground by either digging or using existing holes and crevices; omnivorous feeding habits; timing of both daily and seasonal activities to coincide with the most favorable environmental conditions; fused elytra composed of unique, straight-chain hydrocarbons (which allow tight molecular packing), creating a protective, sealed subelytral cavity; the ability to secrete protective wax layers on the cuticular surface; and loss of defensive glands (for review, see Aalbu in press). Tenebrionid species found in arid environments can be categorized into three groups according to their capacity to withstand harsh desert conditions. The tenebrionids most highly adapted to arid environments are characterized by flightlessness, fused elytra, subelytral cavities, and lack of defensive glands.
Human Impact in the Midriff Islands
Authors: Bahre Conrad J. , Bourillón Luis
Published: November 2020

Although many students of island biogeography consider the midriff islands one of the world’s last major refuges of pristine desert-island biota, humans have been a part of that ecosystem for possibly 10,000 years or more. Humans have long affected the terrestrial and inshore marine biota, but the most serious injuries they have caused apparently began in the mid- to late nineteenth century with the start of guano mining on Patos, Rasa, and San Pedro Mártir islands. Since then, most of the major human impacts affecting the Midriff are related to rapid population growth in northwestern Mexico and increasing demands for the Midriff’s fishery and tourist resources. This chapter offers both historical and ecological perspectives on the human occupancy of the Midriff, so that a cultural-historical foundation will be available for ecological studies in the region as well as for land-use planning and conservation. The Midriff, located between 28° and 29°45´N and 112° and 114°W, includes the coasts of Lower California and Sonora and 39 islands and islets. Tiburόn, with an area of 1223.53 km2 and a maximum elevation of 1219 m, and Ángel de la Guarda, with an area of 936.04 km2 and a maximum elevation of 1315 m, are among the largest and most mountainous islands of Mexico. The other major islands of the Midriff, in order of decreasing size, are San Esteban (40.72 km2), San Lorenzo (33.03 km2), Smith (Coronado) (9.13 km2), San Lorenzo Norte (Las Ánimas) (4.26 km2), San Pedro Mártir (2.9 km2), Mejía (2.26 km2), Partida Norte (1.36 km2), Dátil (Turner) (1.25 km2), Alcatraz (Tassne or Pelícano) (1.2 km2), Salsipuedes (1.16 km2), Estanque (Pond) (1.03 km2), Rasa (0.68 km2), and Patos (0.45 km2) (Murphy, unpublished data). The entire region is extremely arid, and Tiburón is the only island that has permanent potable water, found in a few springs or in tinajas, although several tinajas on Ángel de la Guarda may contain water for long periods. The only island permanently inhabited since initial European contact is Tiburón, the historic stronghold of the Seri Indians or Comcáac, once a seminomadic, nonagricultural, seafaring, hunting, fishing, and gathering people.
The Chemical Environment of Lakes
Authors: Cohen Andrew S.
Published: November 2020

Understanding lake chemistry is critical for correctly interpreting the geochemical archives of lake deposits. Elemental and isotopic distributions in lakes are closely linked to external climatic and watershed processes. Solute concentrations regulate the distribution of organisms, and the precipitation or dissolution of mineral phases. Both fossils and minerals leave sedimentary archives, and when we can interpret aspects of ancient water chemistry from these records we may be able to reconstruct paleoclimate or prior human activity around the lake. Interpretation of isotopic records likewise requires an initial understanding of their behavior in lakes and the links between this behavior and external factors such as rainfall or nutrient discharge. Oxygen (O2) is the second most abundant component of the atmosphere (∼ 21%) after nitrogen (∼ 78%): Paleolimnological indicators of oxygenation at the sediment–water interface may provide clues as to the nature and frequency of water-column mixing, water depth, the lake’s trophic condition, and possibly climate. Thus, it is important to understand how oxygen is generated and consumed in lakes to properly interpret the oxygenation archives and filters. Oxygen is dissolved in lakes directly from air, and as a byproduct of photosynthesis by autotrophic organisms (multicellular plants, algae, and photosynthetic bacteria), greatly simplified as: . . . 6CO2 + 6H2O + sunlight → C6H12O6 + 6O2 (4:1) . . . Photosynthesis is performed by both organisms on the lake floor (phytobenthos), and by floating algae and bacteria (phytoplankton). Molecular oxygen is lost from the water column through respiration, secondary oxidation of organic or inorganic compounds in the water column or sediments, or directly to the atmosphere following supersaturation. Oxygen concentrations in the water column are a function of productivity, respiration, temperature, and mixing, all of which vary both diurnally and seasonally within a lake, and because of climatic or morphometric differences between lakes. To understand this variation, it is useful to return to our examples at Junius Ponds #5 and #7. In dimictic Junius Pond #7, the water column just below the ice is well oxygenated during the winter, but is anoxic at the lake floor.
Paleoecological Archives in Lake Deposits 2: Records from Important Groups
Authors: Cohen Andrew S.
Published: November 2020

The lacustrine fossil record comprises a mixture of endogenic fossils, such as cladocerans, derived from lakes, and exogenic fossils, such as insects or pollen, which are carried into lakes, by wind and water from surrounding areas. Our primary emphasis here will be on the endogenic fossil record of lakes; we will only briefly consider general aspects of the taphonomy and paleoecological significance of exogenic fossils for terrestrial plant and insect fossils. Information about lake fossils varies greatly between groups. Some taxa, such as diatoms, are virtual workhorses of the field, with numerous investigators, and established methods of sampling, analysis, and interpretation. At the other extreme are organisms such as copepods, which, despite their importance in lacustrine ecosystems, are so poorly fossilized that they are unlikely to ever play a major role in paleolimnology. In between these extremes lie the majority of lacustrine organisms. Many relatively common groups have great potential for paleoecological interpretation, but, for reasons of inadequate study, a lack of researchers, or difficulties in taxonomy, have thus far been little used by paleolimnologists. Major opportunities await new students in the field who are willing to take up the challenges of studying these clades. Despite their importance in lacustrine communities, cyanobacteria remain a relatively unexploited source of information for paleolimnology. Isolated cells have poor preservation potential, and fossil cyanobacterial cells are preserved in Late Quaternary lake muds primarily by their more resistant reproductive spores (akinetes), or occasionally by filaments. Planktonic cyanobacteria are only rarely recorded in older sediments. In contrast, benthic cyanobacterial communities are well represented in ancient lake beds by their constructional deposits, lithified algal mats, stromatolites, and thrombolites. Although their body fossils have been used only rarely to solve paleolimnological problems, planktonic cyanobacteria have great potential for this purpose, given their obvious importance in many lacustrine communities. Relatively resistant akinetes might be very useful for understanding changes in plankton communities, especially in cases where better- studied siliceous microfossils (diatoms and chrysophytes) are not well preserved, for example, in very alkaline lakes. However, almost nothing is known of the taphonomic biases that control the planktonic cyanobacterial fossil record.
Designing Genetic Algorithms to Solve GIS Problems
Authors: Thierens Dirk , Berg Mark De
Published: November 2020

What makes a problem hard for a genetic algorithm (GA)? How does one need to design a GA to solve a problem satisfactorily? How does the designer include domain knowledge in the GA? When is a GA suitable to use for solving a problem? These are all legitimate questions. This chapter will offer a view on genetic algorithms that stresses the role of the so-called linkage. Linkage relates to the fact that between the variables of the solution dependencies exist that cause a need to treat those variables as one “block,” since the best setting of each individual variable can only be determined by looking at the other variables as well. The genes that represent these variables will then have to be transferred together. When these genes are set to their optimal values, they constitute a building block. Building blocks will be transferred as a whole during recombination and the building blocks of all the genes make up the optimal solution. As will become apparent, knowing the linkage of a building block is a big advantage and will allow one to design efficient GAs. Sadly, in the majority of problems, the linkage is unknown. This observation has given rise to a lot of development in linkage learning algorithms (for an example, see Kargupta 1996). However, there is a specific class of problems that allows for relatively easy determination of linkage: spatial problems. This is because in these problems, the linkage is geometrically defined. We will focus in this chapter on certain hard problems that arise in the context of geographical information systems and for which the linkage can be easily found. Specifically, we will fully detail the design of a GA for the problem of map labeling, which is an important problem in automated cartography. The map labeling problem for point features is to find a placement for the labels of a set of points such that the number of labels that do not intersect other labels is maximized.
Replicators and Larger-than-Life Examples
Authors: Michele Evans Kellie
Published: November 2020

After watching a substantial number of cellular automaton dynamics generated by rules containing suitable ingredients, eventually a particular time-dependent pattern catches the eye. A configuration of occupied sites makes copies of itself, then the copies make copies of themselves, and these copies move toward one another and also toward the boundaries of the evolution. This continues as long as there is room for the evolution. When the innermost copies collide, they annihilate one another. Meanwhile, the outermost copies continue to reproduce, provided that no occupied sites from the outside impede. The pattern repeats, ad infinitum. We first saw this kind of evolution, which we call a replicator, in our studies of the Larger-than-Life (LtL) family of cellular automaton (CA) rules. The first replicators we found were all in the same region of LtL space. We thought an intrinsic property of this specific region was necessary for the existence of a replicator. However, we began seeing similar configurations, with slight variations, in many different subregions of LtL space. Then we learned of the range 1 HighLife cator. However, we began seeing similar configurations, with slight variations, in become quite famous. We saw more examples on Christopher Langton’s computer at the Santa Fe Institute in 1995; this convinced us that the behavior was not exclusive to LtL-like rules. Since then, new replicators have been discovered for a variety of CA rules. In this chapter, we define a replicator using an axiomatic approach and prove various theorems that follow from the axioms. We also present a collection of Larger-than-Life replicator examples, HighLife’s famous example, and propositions that generalize several of the LtL examples. We will begin by presenting a collection of Larger-than-Life replicator examples, but first let us define the family of Larger-than-Life update rules. Larger-than-Life (LtL) is a four-parameter family of two-state cellular automaton rules. The four parameters are the upper and lower bounds of the birth and survival intervals. At each time t, each site x∊ Zd is either live or dead. We think of a live site as being in state 1 and a dead site as being in state 0.
Regional Activities in a Global Framework: Developing and Developed Countries
Authors: Rosenzweig Cynthia , Hillel Daniel
Published: November 2020

Regional studies and activities related to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and other oscillations, seasonal climate prediction, and agricultural impacts are in progress around the world (figure 7.1). Here we describe some regional impacts and programs in place that are entraining climate information into decision making. Elements of these activities include the definition of the agricultural or other targeted systems; exploration of the social, political, and cultural contexts; examination of the temporal and spatial patterns of physical and biological impacts related to ENSO; analysis of economic effects; development and testing of seasonal climate forecasts and their delivery; investigation of crop management and other adaptations leading to implementation of dynamic risk-management strategies; and the development and evaluation of programs. In northern Peru, El Niño events bring torrential rains and floods that damage crops by eroding slopes, silting valleys, and oversaturating soils. The precipitation regime of Chile is likely to be intensified as well when El Niño events occur (Meza et al., 2003). Downscaled seasonal climate forecasts and crop growth models have been used to evaluate the impact of ENSO and management responses on crops in the Andean highlands of Peru (Baigorria, 2007); and Meza (2007) combined stochastic modeling of meteorological variables, a simple soil crop algorithm, and a mathematical programming model to assess the value of ENSO information for irrigation in the Maipo River Basin, Chile. Central America, being a narrow strip of land tightly squeezed between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, is particularly influenced by major global climate variability systems, especially the El Nino–Southern Oscillation and the Arctic Oscillation (AO; M. Campos and P. Ramirez, personal communication, 2007; Rosenzweig et al., 2007). El Niño events are associated with dry summers on the Pacific coast and wet summers on the Caribbean coast, while the opposite pattern is associated with La Niña. A decrease in winter rainfall on the Caribbean coast since the late 1970s has been linked to changes in the Arctic Oscillation. Events with important economic and social consequences affected Central America in 1926, 1945–56, 1956–57, 1965, 1972–73, 1982–83, 1992–94, and 1997–98 (Ramirez, 2005).
The Eulerian Picture Principles of the Eulerian Approach to Modeling the Transport of Solutes
Authors: Rubin Yoram
Published: November 2020

In this chapter we consider the diffusive and mixing properties of fluids moving in heterogeneous porous media by means of Eulerian velocity fields. We shall discuss here the basic principles of advection and dispersion in heterogeneous media from an Eulerian perspective. The common theme for the various methods we shall explore is the treatment of the concentration as an SRF. The first approach models the concentration through its statistical moments, such as the expected value and the variance, and computes them through a set of differential equations, an equation for each statistical moment. The second approach is MC based, and it computes an ensemble of physically plausible realizations of the concentration field, which can then be used for computing the statistics of the concentration, and from there the probability of events such as the concentration exceeding a threshold value at specified locations and times. Let us emphasize that stochastic modeling of contaminant transport is not just about the effects of media heterogeneity. There is also room for stochastic modeling in uniform media if there is uncertainty with regard to the media's parameters. Prediction with parameter error is discussed in chapter 13. Let us consider the case of passive solutes which are injected into a fluid body at rest.
Athens
Authors: Fant Clyde E. , Reddish Mitchell G.
Published: November 2020

In the Mediterranean world, only Rome rivals Athens as a city famed for its antiquities. Ancient travelers came to marvel at its grand temples and civic buildings, just as tourists do today. Wealthy Romans sent their children to Athens to be educated by its philosophers and gain sophistication in the presence of its culture. Democracy, however faltering its first steps, began in this city, and education and the arts flourished in its environment. Even at the height of the Roman Empire, the Western world’s government may have been Roman but its dominant cultural influence was Greek. Latin never spread abroad as a universal language, but Greek did, in its Koine (common) form. By the 4th century B.C.E. this Attic dialect of Plato and the Athenian orators was already in use in countries around the Mediterranean. The monuments of Athens and the treasures of its National Museum still amaze and delight millions of visitors from every nation who come to see this historic cradle of Western culture. A settlement of some significance already existed at Athens in Mycenaean times (1600–1200 B.C.E.). Toward the end of the Dark Ages (1200–750 B.C.E.) the unification of Attica, a territory surrounding Athens of some 1,000 square miles, was accomplished under the Athenians. The resulting city-state was governed by aristocrats constituted as the Council of the Areopagus, named for the hill below the Athenian Acropolis where they commonly met. But only the nobility—defined as the wealthy male landowners—had any vote in the decisions that influenced affairs in the city, a situation increasingly opposed by the rising merchant class and the peasant farmers. The nobles seemed paralyzed by the mounting social tensions, and a class revolution appeared imminent. In 594 B.C.E. the nobles in desperation turned to Solon, also an aristocrat, whom they named as archon (ruler) of the city with virtual dictatorial powers. Solon, however, refused to rule as dictator of the city, instituting instead a series of sweeping reforms that mollified the lower classes without destroying the aristocracy.
Thessalonica
Authors: Fant Clyde E. , Reddish Mitchell G.
Published: November 2020

In 315 B.C.E. Cassander, king of Macedonia, once a general in the army of Alexander the Great, founded a new city in his kingdom. He named it for his wife, Thessalonike, daughter of Philip II of Macedon and the half sister of Alexander. In the centuries that followed, Thessalonica became the premier city of northern Greece, enduring and flourishing under Hellenistic, Roman, and Greek control. Many famous figures in world history played important roles throughout its lengthy and colorful existence, including Alexander the Great, Cleopatra, Cicero, Pompey, and Sulëyman I the Magnificent, among others. But no resident or visitor to Thessalonica had a greater influence on the city than an obscure Christian missionary who visited there in the first century, Paul of Tarsus. The first New Testament writing is believed to be Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. Modern Thessaloniki (biblical Thessalonica), second only to Athens among the cities of Greece, is easily reached by automobile or by frequent flights from Athens. Although its ancient ruins and monuments are overshadowed by those of Athens, this city is well worth visiting for its fine archaeological museum and as a point of departure for the spectacular Royal Tombs at Vergina, home to the amazing riches of the family of Alexander the Great. Increasingly, more of ancient Thessalonica is being unearthed by archaeologists and made available to public view. According to Strabo, Thessalonica was established at the site of ancient Therme and formed from the incorporation of twenty-five smaller villages. The ancient city was laid out according to the Hippodamian plan, that is, in rectangular blocks. Its development was encouraged by its fine port and, during the Roman period, by being made the capital of Macedonia. When the Romans connected the Via Egnatia, the historic road linking east and west, to Thessalonica, the city prospered even more. The Roman orator Cicero was exiled in Thessalonica (58–57 B.C.E.) and wrote to his friend Atticus on July 21, 57 B.C.E., that he had delayed leaving the city “owing to the constant traffic along the road” (the Via Egnatia; M. Tullius Cicero, Letters 69).