bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Postdoctoral fellows: A diminishing supply
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

Highlighting the modern concept of what used to be positions of status are descriptive terms such as the ‘perennial postdoc.’ The research scientists with new Ph.D. degrees in hand that were awarded postdoctoral fellowships have been likened to ‘planes… stacked in a holding pattern’ (E. M. Leeper, Acad. News Rep., 31, p. 3, 1981). In the fields of physics, chemistry, and biology a situation of ‘extended appointments’ for postdocs still exists because of a lack of full‐time positions at the Ph.D. level.The situation in the earth sciences contrasts sharply. Recent hiring patterns by petroleum and mining companies and by the federal government have followed a quickened pace. Geoscientists at the bachelors' and masters' levels are going directly into industry. Graduates in earth science with Ph.D. degrees are accepting research positions in industrial and government laboratories and thus are bypassing the postdoctoral experience. As a consequence, the number of graduate students and postdocs in earth science academic departments has fallen sharply over the past year.
Political action committee for scientists
Authors: Richman Barbara T. 
Published: October 2011

Spurred by budget proposals that could severely reduce science funding (Eos, March 24, March 3, February 10), seven scientists currently serving as Congressional Science or State Department Fellows recently founded a political action committee (PAC) for scientists. The Science and Technology Political Action Committee (SCITEC‐PAC) aims to make scientists more politically aware and better informed about potential legislative actions that affect research. It will also serve to ‘establish a political presence’ with respect to science, said Donald Stein, SCITEC‐PAC's chairman.The organization is not a lobbying group, explained Stein, professor of neurology and psychology at Clark University and the University of Massachusetts Medical Center. ‘Lobbyists seek to influence officials by presenting information to them,’ he said, ‘while a PAC tries to influence the outcome of elections through campaign contributions of money, time, and effort in behalf of candidates that share similar goals and aspirations.’ In other words, the PAC will be a vehicle for promoting candidates for federal office who advocate strong support for scientific research and training. In addition, the PAC will develop and study science policy and budget issues and will attempt to stimulate government and private sector interest in these issues.
Looking ahead to Voyager 2
Authors: Richman Barbara T. 
Published: October 2011

Voyager 2 will whiz past Saturn late next month, giving scientists yet another look at the planet's intricate ring system, its satellites, and the atmosphere. The encounter will concentrate on selected targets, though, rather than take a sweeping look at the entire Saturnian system, as Voyager 1 did. Voyager 2 will take higher‐resolution photographs of five satellites—Enceladas, Tethys, lapetus, Hyperion, and Phoebe—than did its sister ship. Higher‐resolution pictures of the rings also are expected.Closest approach to the planet will be on August 25 at 8:25 P.M. PDT (11:25 P.M. EDT). Transmission of signals from the spacecraft to earth will take nearly another hour and a half.
NRC: Wait on SPS research
Authors: Richman Barbara T. 
Published: October 2011

A National Research Council committee recommends that funds not be allocated during this decade for research and development of a satellite power system (SPS). Instead, NASA should monitor relevant technical developments and report periodically to Congress.Cost is the major obstacle to pursuing SPS, according to the Committee on Satellite Power Systems. Earlier estimates of $1.3 trillion are 2½ times too low, even in the most optimistic view, according to the committee. Better energy R&D prospects—technologically and economically—include breeder reactors, advanced coal burning technologies, and solar power from terrestrial photovoltaic cells. The committee also felt that, among other problems, SPS could interfere with terrestrial radio communications and with optical and radio astronomy.
Magnetic monopole
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

The magnetic monopole, or magnetic point source (as opposed to the conventional concept of a north‐south magnetic dipole), is again in the news, as it has been off and on for the past 50 years. Perhaps it is more precise to say that another episode in the continuing search for the elusive monopole is underway.In a recent report by the National Science Foundation (Mosaic, 12, 1981, p. 19) it was stated of the monopole, ‘If there is a dogma in modern physics, it might be that in nature anything not expressly forbidden to exist by a specific law must be presumed to exist… Physicists are just going to have to get clever enough to find them.’ In the eyes of the numerous investigators who have searched, monopoles are not just objects that exist by theoretical default, they are arcane, perhaps, but real.
NSF and NASA budgets increased
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

Research budgets of several of the federal government agencies were increased significantly over the Reagan administration's requests in the House of Representative's appropriations bill H.R. 4034. These budgets had been removed from the Reagan administration's omnibus reconciliation bill, and thus there were worries expressed that certain research funding could be in jeopardy. The rationale was that because the requests were voted on individually on the floor of the House, many sections of the budgets would be subjected to extra scrutiny, which would lead to more cuts.The National Science Foundation (NSF) budget request had been cut and reordered by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) by making sharp reductions in programs of the social sciences and in programs of science and engineering education. There were fears that these programs would be reinstated to the original request level, at the expense of the budgets of other research activities. These fears materialized, but only momentarily. Efforts to cut the research activities by the House Appropriations Committee were soundly defeated. The budget was supported, with additional increases to provide for the education programs, by a high margin, which included most Republican and Democratic members of the House of Representatives. The overall NSF budget, as passed, has a total appropriation of $1103.5 million, compared with the Administration's request of $1033.5 million (the Fiscal Year 1981 appropriation for the NSF was $1022.4 million). The House approved budget included increases of $44.9 million in research and $25.1 million in science and engineering education. Included in the research budget increase were recommendations by the House Appropriations Committee for support of the social sciences and for the international affairs programs. Also included in the recommendations was support of interdisciplinary research programs that cut across the directorates of the NSF.
Ocean drilling reorganized
Authors: Richman Barbara T. 
Published: October 2011

The National Science Foundation has combined its proposed Ocean Margin Drilling Program (OMPD) with the existing Deep‐Sea Drilling Program (DSDP). This reorganization calls for the retirement in 1983 of DSDP's mainstay, the Glomar Challenger, which is nearing its 14th year of operation. The Glomar Explorer, the former CIA ship, with 5 times the carrying capacity of the Challenger, will become the sole NSF drilling ship.Engineering and science planning for OMDP will continue largely unchanged with the new plan, though the schedules for achieving some scientific objectives may change, according to the Joint Oceanographic Institutions, Inc. (JOI), a consortium of 10 academic oceanographic institutions. Additional industry and foreign support will be sought under the new plan.
A mapping, charting, and geodetic tour through China
Authors: Williams Owen W. , Mancini Armando , Ayers Lawrence F. 
Published: October 2011

For two weeks last December, we had the opportunity and privilege to visit the mapping, charting, and geodetic (MC&G) facilities in the People's Republic of China (PRC) as guests of the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (NBSM). There are two principal departments in the PRC that deal with the field of mapping: namely, the National Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, a civilian organization; and the Military Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (MBSM), which is the military MC&G counterpart. Both organizations have worked the national mapping program in China during the last 20 to 30 years.Our tour was spent mostly with the NBSM and included visits with its provincial bureau in Guangzhou (Canton), the Wuhan College, the Research Institute in Beijing (Peking), and the Publishing House in Beijing. It also included a meeting with the NBSM headquarters' staff, also in Beijing; near the end of the tour we spent a full day with the Military Bureau.
Wanted: Aid to OES
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The National Research Council's Office of Earth Sciences (OES) and the office's advisory board are anxious to have the assistance of earth scientists in advancing the office's work, according to a recent statement by John C. Crowell, OES chairman. He identified the responsibilities of OES as continued awareness and active concern for the health of the earth sciences; identification of opportunities for the earth sciences in meeting national needs; and fostering awareness of scientific advances that may help to resolve national problems. Crowell invited atmospheric, oceanographic, and solid‐earth scientists to suggest activities at the national level to the office and its advisory board.The OES uses the solicited suggestions to complement its perception of important national topics that need attention. Research is not supported, but the suggestions receive attention in several ways, Crowell explained. They are sent to appropriate units of the National Research Council when related activity is underway. In some cases, a suggestion may result in the establishment of an independent committee to study and report on the topic. For example, a report is being prepared on the geological aspects of industrial waste disposal. Such reports are usually read by government officials, scientists in the field, and the public.
Nation's water OK despite dry spots
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Streamflow conditions across the United States improved somewhat during August, with more areas reporting normal flows than in previous months, according to a month‐end check by the U.S. Geological Survey.USGS hydrologists said that areas of low flow conditions persisted in much of the West and stretched across the Southeast from Virginia south to Florida and west to Louisiana. A small area of New York and most of Connecticut and Rhode Island were also well below normal–within the lowest 25% of record; that is, 75% of the time, streamflow will equal or exceed the measured levels.
NSF FY1982 update: Support for basic research
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

When the Appropriation Committees of the House of Representatives and the Senate meet in conference this month, discussion of the Astronomical, Atmospheric, Earth, and Ocean Sciences (AAEO) sections of the National Science Foundation (NSF) will be limited. Both the House and the Senate committees made some slight increases to the Office of Management and Budget requests, and the program by program agreement between the two was unusual.The House appropriation bill, H.R. 4034, provides $70 million over the administration request of $1033.5 million. Of the increase, $44.9 million was added in the area of research and related activities and $25.1 million for science and engineering education.
Kimberlites: Strange bodies?
Authors: Pasteris Jill Dill 
Published: October 2011

Several years ago I asked a well‐known mantle petrologist why kimberlites had been studied relatively little in comparison with kimberlite‐transported xenoliths from the upper mantle and lower crust. He replied, ‘When I see a bus full of people travel by, I'm more interested in the passengers than in the bus.’ For many years kimberlites were relegated to the status of the vehicle for a petrologically intriguing load of xenoliths.There are several reasons for the initial lack of attention to kimberlites. (1) They are highly brecciated and inclusion‐rich. Many petrologists viewed them as a confusing potpourri of exogenous and endogenous fragments. In fact, some were uncertain whether kimberlites had any primary magmatic/liquid component. (2) Kimberlites usually have undergone a high degree of alteration, principally serpentinization and carbonation, but in some cases localized phlogopitization. Initially, most of the alteration was viewed as very late‐stage, probably post‐magmatic, and some of it perhaps due to weathering. (3) Because of their brecciated, altered condition, kimberlites often are porous, friable, and difficult to make into thin sections.
Solar neutrinos captured at Homestake
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The nuclear fusion processes in the sun are not clearly understood, but solar geophysicists Ray Davis, of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, and Ed Fireman, of the Smithsonian Institution, are improving on physical models of solar processes by studying the solar neutrino flux. They are doing this by capturing neutrinos and analyzing them with apparatus located a mile below the earth's surface in the Homestake gold mine in South Dakota.This study has led recently to a few surprise findings related to fundamental properties of both the solar system and matter. The flux rate of solar neutrinos is closely tied to the fusion rates and thus the solar system release of energy. The rates are also a measure of the ultimate stability of matter in the universe, the ultimate loss of mass.
Special report: Krafla Volcano
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

Careful study of a series of intrusions and eruptions at Krafla has added substantially to our understanding of processes at rifting plate boundaries. During more than a dozen deflation events between 1975 and 1979, most of the magma that left the shallow reservoirs beneath Krafla formed dikes in the fissure zone extending north and south of the caldera, with only minor amounts reaching the surface in associated eruptions. The character of Krafla's activity changed in 1980, and the largest eruptions since the rifting episode began in 1975 were associated with events in July and October 1980 and January— February 1981.Krafla Caldera, Mývatn Area, Iceland (65.73°N, 16.6°W). All times are GMT. After more than 9 months without an intrusive event or eruption at Krafla, instruments recorded the simultaneous onset of deflation and harmonic tremor at 0036 on November 18, followed by the start of a fissure eruption at 0152. Between 0400 and 0500, geologists flew over the active fissure and observed vigorous lava fountaining, feeding flows that had advanced as much as 5 km to the west. Rates of lava extrusion along the fissure varied but were probably the most voluminous seen since activity began in December 1975. Extrusion occurred along the entire fissure, which extended from near the center of the caldera about 8 km to the north (the October 1980 fissure vents were in almost the same location but stopped about 1 km north of the southern end of the November 1981 fissure). Strong northerly winds blew some scoria onto the nearby power station, but no damage occurred. Discrete earthquakes initially accompanied harmonic tremor but stopped after a few hours. By 1000, lava extrusion had weakened considerably and was confined to three 1‐km‐long segments of the fissure. Inflation resumed November 22, but minor eruptive activity continued. Lava extrusion stopped early November 23, but late that afternoon occasional minor spattering resumed. Initial reconnaissance mapping indicates that lava flows covered 16–20 km2 and that the longest flow traveled roughly 6 km from the fissure.
Trend toward multiple authors in research publications: Failure of the universities to support research
Authors: Fraser‐Smith A. C. , Hitchcock Z. R. 
Published: October 2011

In a previous letter to this column [Fraser‐Smith, 1979] one of us drew attention to the marked decline since 1950 in the percentage of single‐author papers in the Journal of Geophysical Research, 1, Space Physics (JGR 1) and the commensurate increase in the percentage of articles by three or more authors. The decline in single authors is certainly not confined to JGR 1, as is shown by more recent work (according to the Institute for Scientific Information, which indexes 2800 journals, the average number of authors per paper rose from 1.67 to 2.58 between 1960 and 1980) [Broad, 1981], so it seems clear that there is a widespread change taking place in the way scientists report the results of their research. It is perhaps important for us to point out that this is not an academic change; it is taking place right now, and most readers of this column are likely to be affected by it.There is undoubtedly an element of fashion involved in the decline of single authors, and it may well be that what we are all experiencing individually as scientists is a subtle process of rhinocerization, as described in the play by Ionesco [1960]. However, it would be unusual for a fashion to persist for 30 years or more unless other more substantive factors were involved. The question is, what are these factors?
[Comment on “A former editor views the editorial process”] More on the editorial process
Authors: Tscherning C. C. 
Published: October 2011

R. Allan Freeze's article (Eos, September 22, p. 673) on the editorial process brings up also the question of the reviewer's role. Having authored and reviewed papers for a number of different journals gives me the impression that Freeze's experience with WRR must hold for most refereed journals.My experience can be concluded in the following statements: (1) As an author I have always felt that the paper revised following the comments of the reviewers came out better than the original version. (I even know about authors who do not hide the fact that they use the review process to get new ideas and better papers.) (2) As a reviewer I many times felt unsure about whether my criticism was appropriate. As a consequence of this I never ask to get a paper back for a second review.
Pathological feldspar crystals
Authors: Bell Peter M. 
Published: October 2011

Zoned plagioclase crystals have long been used as a petrologic tool for marking magma fractionation trends. In the early part of this century, N.L. Bowen solved many of the riddles of feldspar zoning and of even reverse zoning. Now, C.J. Allegre et al. [Oscillatory zoning: A pathological case of crystal growth, Nature, Nov. 19, 1981] proposes a new theory on a secondary feature of plagioclase crystal zoning, namely, it is an explanation of the oscillatory character of the zoning of many naturally formed plagioclases.The results reported by Allegre and colleagues reflect the increasing number of studies being done on igneous melts in the laboratory. The model proposed takes into account the coupling between ‘interface kinetics’ and the diffusion of chemical species in the melt. In Allegre's examples, plagioclase zones oscillate back and forth rather uniformly in varying albite content, as one tracks across a zoning profile from the crystal center to its edges. The theoretical analogy is described as ‘the perturbation equations result in almost undamped, dissymmetric oscillations in the concentration profile.’ The growth rate equations developed in the study predict a given episode of oscillatory zoning in all cases where the supersaturation of a given crystallizing‐diffusing component is not large.
[Comment on] Scientific Freedom and the Sea, II
Authors: Wooster Warren S. 
Published: October 2011

Although I also have endured a few sessions of the UN Law of the Sea Conference, I have a very different interpretation of events from that described by Riddihough in a recent Eos Oceanography Report (Eos, 62, Dec. 1, p. 1162). In fact, his letter is sufficiently misleading to demand comment.It is certainly difficult to distinguish among academic, economic (commercial?), and military research solely on the basis of the types of measurements made. A more useful test is whether the results are openly published. For example, in this country, academic research (about 11% of which is supported by the Office of Naval Research) is openly published, while that of corporations and of military laboratories often is not.
An AGU Fellowship on Capitol Hill
Authors: Anonymous  
Published: October 2011

The AGU Congressional Science and Engineering Fellows program provides an opportunity for highly qualified, accomplished scientists, engineers, and other professionals to spend a year in the office of a congressman or senator or on the staff of a committee. Fellows perform many of the same duties as regular staff members; in the past they have been involved in legislative, oversight, and investigative activities.The fellows bring to the Congress new insights, fresh ideas, and extensive knowledge and education in a variety of disciplines. Not only are fellows provided with an opportunity to make a significant public service contribution but they also obtain firsthand experience in the legislative and political processes. In short, they offer their special knowledge, skills, and competence in exchange for the opportunity to acquire experience in a unique forum and for the chance to contribute to the formulation of national policy.
Polar ice melting
Authors: Calvert Jack G. 
Published: October 2011

Shrinking polar ice caps may be causing the earth's sea level to rise and its days to lengthen. ‘Rising mean sea level is a significant indication of global climate change,’ R. Etkins and E. Epstein report, pointing out that global sea levels have risen slightly more than one‐tenth of an inch each year, on the average, since 1940, for a total of nearly 5 inches (Science, 215, 287–289, 1982). This is triple the rate of rise measured during the preceding half century, from 1890 to 1940.Etkins and Epstein estimate that more than 10,000 cubic miles of polar ice, most of it presumably from Antarctic ice sheets, must have melted in the past 40 years. They calculate that transfer of this great mass to the equivalent of a thin layer of water spread over the world's oceans also would tend to reduce the speed of the earth's rotation. This would lengthen each day by about one‐thousandth of a second, they say, accounting for about three‐fourths of the actual increase in the length of the day observed by scientists over the past 40 years.
February streamflow shows upturn
Authors: Richman Barbara T. 
Published: October 2011

Streamflow conditions across the country took a strong upturn during February, with many streams in a broad band from Maryland through the Ohio Valley and into the Midwest and the Dakotas and much of the Far West reporting well‐above normal streamflows according to a month‐end check of water resources conditions by the U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior.USGS hydrologists said that the strong February upturn was reflected in the combined flow of the nation's ‘Big Five’ rivers—Mississippi, Ohio, St. Lawrence, Missouri, and Columbia—which averaged 1180 billion gallons a day (bgd) during February, 47% above normal and the highest flow above the monthly average in more than 2 years. The Big Five drain more than half of the conterminous United States and serve as a quick check on the status of the nation's water resources. Working in cooperation with federal, state, and local officials across the country, USGS hydrologists regularly collect information on surface and groundwater conditions at more than 65,000 gaging stations.